Arguments For The Idea Of Polyculturalism By Prashad

The author of the book is arguing for the idea of polyculturalism. Cultures live within and through us every day and that everyone within the world is a product of many different “living” cultures. Prashad urges us to rethink race and culture as it applies in the American context by his problematizing of the African and Asian standard histories. Prashad also shows us that the roots of racism are deeply rooted in the world’s past and not just with the concerning of the African race but within many races. That for as long as there has been interactions between races one has dominated another, for the means of elevating one’s own culture to superiority. Dispelling the myths of and contributing to the thoughts of cultural purity. The author
He is very good when showing how each of the cultures, African and Asian alike, are discriminated against albeit in different ways. While dealing with these issues within his book he shows that discrimination is not always about negative things but you can be discriminated against due to positive things. He states: “Essentially the argument is that Asians are good citizens and hardworking they do not need state assistance. Blacks need state assistance they must be bad citizens and lazy.” This statement shows discrimination through stereotyping giving us the notion that black people are always on state assistance never trying, and that Asians are always incredible workers never needing help. Which neither one of these statements are correct due to many black people live very well without state assistance and work hard at what they do. Their nature of working hard can be reflected in the fact of our own countries decision to use them as slave labor. On the other hand Asians all over the world even today that are on state assistance and have the predisposition to be as lazy as the next culture. Although Asians were used to help build the railroads, essentially through slave labor, in the United States many writings by the foreman of the crews talk about how they constantly had to be on top of the Chinese due to their laziness and lack of willingness to work. Prashad rather seamlessly takes us through the journey of each of the cultures struggles with the other then showing us how through time those struggles turned into influences upon one another. He does this by showing, in more modern times, the connections of many black leaders and goups such as Malcolm X and the Black Panthers to Asian individuals and groups such as Yuri Kochiyama and the Red Guard. Prashad states that: “If the Black Panthers inspired the multicolored Left,