Indigenous Identity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Indigenous Identity - Essay Example Religion offers guidance in every matter. People choose to do whatever they like, but refer to religion when they have to assess the legitimacy of their acts. The African American community believes in the power of religion. Although different African Americans have embraced different religions, with the majority of them being Christians or Muslims, yet their underlying belief in religion as the source of guidance is evident from them being the followers of one religion or another rather than being atheists. A vast majority of African Americans are democratic. Issues that are important to them today include but are not limited to racial profiling, poverty, racial disparity, lesser opportunities of health care, and institutional racism. Irrespective of all these socio-economic and political issues, African Americans are just as concerned for the prosperity and well-being of the USA as the White Americans are. African Americans derive their social and cultural values from the religion, and with the majority of them being the followers of Abrahamic religions, African American communities are generally more conservative in their stance on homosexuality and thus condemn gay marriages. According to Jones, the most significant changes in the traditional indigenous identity of the African Americans include gender roles in families, and oppression to racial segregation in the society. African American families have suffered from the torture of slavery resulting into a broken family system for a long time in history. With the end of slavery, men started dominating the women in the African families. But things started to change after the second half of the 20th century. Particularly, near the last three decades, more and more African American women have gained higher education and are contributing to their families financially. This has not only helped alleviate poverty, but has also