In Gerstle 's historical study the, American Crucible: Race and Nation in the Twentieth Century, he explains how the Rooseveltian nation collapsed because of the Civil Rights movement, Vietnam war and the revolt against assimilation. The Civil Rights movement caused the racialized nation to become weaker because it allowed minorities to assume citizen responsibility and rights, such as being officers in the military and getting more rights like the ability to vote. “In 1965 congress passed the Voting Rights Act to insure that white southerners could no longer manipulate state laws to keep blacks from going to the polls” (Gerstle 269). That racial nation became less exclusive in structure. Gerstle explains how with the racial nation becoming
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Gerstle considers himself to be part of the “soft multiculturalism” group, he doesn’t have faith that “hard multiculturalism” could be achieved because the history of the racial nation is too powerful. Gerstle questions the ability for hard multiculturalism to succeed. As he says on page 317, "Can civic nationalism regain it 's older authority without resorting to new patterns of exclusion?" He also questions the rehabilitation of the racial nationalist tradition. Gerstle strongly believes that the American civic nation is not capable of being within reach. Those who believe in "hard multiculturalism" believe that the virtue of goodness of America 's nation can not be salvaged, this is where Gerstle strongly disagrees. He defiantly thinks that it can be salvaged, there is need for change but the concept that a nation should be based on racial identity because the history of the nation is so damning, he believes to be …show more content…
She proves this through multiple examples such as exposing racial hierarchies along with embracing physical appearance and african traditions. Shakur exposed racial hierarchies by being truthful about what it’s like to live as a black person. “As long as you 've got a system with a top and a bottom, Black people are always going to wind up at the bottom, because we 're the easiest to discriminate against. One of the physical appearances she describes is that of black hair”(Shakur, 190). Shakur explains how girls constantly tried to straighten their hair and assimilate to the white culture but Shakur promoted the embrace of natural black hair! “I became aware of a whole new generation of Black women hiding under wigs. Ashamed of their hair-if they had any left. It was sad and disgusting. At the time, my hair was conked, but the hairdresser said it was "relaxed." To make it natural, i literally had to cut the conk off. I cut it myself and then stood under the shower for hours melting the conk out. At last, my hair was free” (Shakur, 174). One of the african traditions she describes is that of dancing to cultural songs. Shakur explains how blacks tried to learn the right way to dance, which means dancing like white people do. Shakur talked about her experience in school and how she learned to embrace her
Gerstle considers himself to be part of the “soft multiculturalism” group, he doesn’t have faith that “hard multiculturalism” could be achieved because the history of the racial nation is too powerful. Gerstle questions the ability for hard multiculturalism to succeed. As he says on page 317, "Can civic nationalism regain it 's older authority without resorting to new patterns of exclusion?" He also questions the rehabilitation of the racial nationalist tradition. Gerstle strongly believes that the American civic nation is not capable of being within reach. Those who believe in "hard multiculturalism" believe that the virtue of goodness of America 's nation can not be salvaged, this is where Gerstle strongly disagrees. He defiantly thinks that it can be salvaged, there is need for change but the concept that a nation should be based on racial identity because the history of the nation is so damning, he believes to be …show more content…
She proves this through multiple examples such as exposing racial hierarchies along with embracing physical appearance and african traditions. Shakur exposed racial hierarchies by being truthful about what it’s like to live as a black person. “As long as you 've got a system with a top and a bottom, Black people are always going to wind up at the bottom, because we 're the easiest to discriminate against. One of the physical appearances she describes is that of black hair”(Shakur, 190). Shakur explains how girls constantly tried to straighten their hair and assimilate to the white culture but Shakur promoted the embrace of natural black hair! “I became aware of a whole new generation of Black women hiding under wigs. Ashamed of their hair-if they had any left. It was sad and disgusting. At the time, my hair was conked, but the hairdresser said it was "relaxed." To make it natural, i literally had to cut the conk off. I cut it myself and then stood under the shower for hours melting the conk out. At last, my hair was free” (Shakur, 174). One of the african traditions she describes is that of dancing to cultural songs. Shakur explains how blacks tried to learn the right way to dance, which means dancing like white people do. Shakur talked about her experience in school and how she learned to embrace her