I think the issues of Anglo-centrism and coerced assimilation have somewhat resolved; yet they are definitely still present in today’s society. They haven’t affected me as much since I am half white and my peers are much more accepting of differences than some adults are, but I know that these issues exist.

In “Assimilation,” Gordon says “Becoming ‘white’ helped the Irish gain public respect and offered them a psychological escape from their menial status.’ I think this was definitely true in my high school. It wasn’t that being anything other than white was considered negative; it was just better for you to act white. All the “popular” girls were either white or did “white people things” like listening to Taylor Swift and shopping at Juicy Couture. Although this was the case for the most part, there were times when it was considered cool if you were from a different background. I have never really felt strong pressures to be more “American” through discrimination or anything like that, but I have felt like my ethnicity wasn’t enough to set me apart. I am Irish and Mexican, but in High School I always felt like I was never enough of either. I was never white enough for the white girls and never Hispanic enough for the Hispanic girls. If I was talking about tanning with the white girls, they’d say things like “Yeah, but you’re Mexican. You can get a real tan.” Yet among my Hispanic friends I was a “gringa.” I eventually decided to just be white since it’s easier to fake that than to pretend I know how to speak Spanish.

I think that today’s celebrities have a problem very similar to mine. They feel pressure to be more “American” if their other ethnicity is not strong enough. You never really hear about a celebrity’s ethnicity unless that is the quality for which he or she is known. It is fine for Sofia Vergara to be famous and not be white because she is known for her accent. On the other hand, hardly anybody knows that Demi Lovato is Hispanic because that part of her is not strong enough to set her apart from the other white singers of her level, like Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift. While I think that today’s society is much more accepting of differences, I still think people are made to believe that being white is better if they have a choice.

Patricia Ruiz