This video is from the 70th annual Tony Awards. The clip starts off with former President Obama and first Lady. They are introducing the broadway show Hamilton: An American Musical. Former President Obama say that the show is “a project that belongs to all of us.” Not just the white male, but every person who lives in America, no matter gender or race.The musical is about Alexander Hamilton's life. What makes this musical about one of our founding fathers so amazing is that the cast is multicultural cast and instead of show tones it is a rap and hip hop musical. In the clip the cast of Hamilton performs the beginning of History has it's eyes on You and Yorktown. Yorktown is about how they won the battle of Yorktown in 1781 and how they won the war all together.
In the article Multiculturalism by James A. Banks it talks about immigrants in America. In the 1800s until 1924 America experienced massive immigration from southern, central, and eastern Europe. The article goes on to talk about how earlier immigrants argued that the new immigrants are going to pose a threat to the democracy. Even today their are people who don’t want immigrants in America. What's great about Hamilton: An American Musical is that it’s about America's history and it's cast is people of all different races. The creator of Hamilton, Lin Manuel Miranda wanted to make the show with people of different races because he wants to show that America’s history isn’t just the white males it's everyone, doesn’t matter the gender, religion, or race. We shouldn’t be banning people from our country or making them leave, America from the very beginning was built by immigrants.
I really enjoy that you used the musical Hamilton to demonstrate multiculturalism in today's society. I have never seen the musical but have heard many great things about it and the way it is structured. It is incredible that a musical can give off so much symbolism for today's society even when referring to an earlier time in history. I definitely agree with you that we should not be banning people from our country because we all are essentially immigrants living in America. Our ancestors have immigrated to America whether it was recently or a century ago. America would not be great without all the immigrants that live here today.
ReplyDeleteThe most common argument I have seen in defense of allowing both immigrants from Latin America and refugees from the middle east is that "we are a nation of immigrants." But what i never see mentioned is that many, if not most of the immigrant groups clashed or were exploited by U.S. born citizens. The economic climate we are currently in is similar to the conditions to when the Irish and Italian immigrants were entering America. Little to no economic advancement opportunity as well as racial/economic friction resulted in the Italian and Irish mobs. The same is possible from any group of migrants, particularly if they are predisposed to distrusting/ hating America.
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