The lessons I learned this semester through the Scholars Latinx Initiative program have profoundly given my life a new meaning. Something magical occurred within Greenlaw Hall -- in the midst of exploring conflicting identities, social injustice, racism, fear, and the immigrant struggle we, nineteen compassionate students and one passionate instructor, rediscovered empathy and humanity. The reality however, is that outside of this bubble that is Chapel Hill, I live in a nation in which my neighbors and governmental representatives voted for a presidential candidate who said no to tolerance and promised to take back the economy of a country that had been stained by the dreams of immigrants. My response to Donald Trump and his supporters is that …show more content…
It is through Sli and its never-ending community of stories that I have grown as a scholar and a human unmeasurably. I was delighted by Victor Villaseñor’s insight in his book, Burro Genius, about the appreciation of nature, and the perspective of indigenous people being resilient weeds that can break through even concrete. I was enchanted by the love story within YA novel, Return to Sender, by Julia Alvarez - Tyler and Mari building bridges across diverse worlds through their innocent friendship. I was touched by Richard Rodriguez’ sentiments of the struggles of living a private and public life in his novel Hunger of Memory. For the first time in my life I found a name for my experience fraught by a sense of validity; because of Rodriguez’s words and the Sli community, I now have a deeper understanding of myself and am on a journey to merge my two identities into a single empowered identity. Through my teary eyes, I learned the great distance a child’s love for their mom can take them. Enrique’s journey as told by Sonia Nazario, from Tegucigalpa, Honduras to the U.S.A. by train, defeating thugs, corruption, and even death, is a heart-wrenching and eye-opening narrative of Central American immigration. We, the “developed” world, are oblivious to how the other half lives. I was made to recall the injustices of our public school system as detailed by Luis Rodriguez’ novel, Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gangs Days in L.A. As are part of the privileged collegiate world, we cannot forget about our colored children who’s dreams are severed because of the geographical variation of their birth. We cannot forget that as long as our youth worries about their safety rather than their education, the progress of our country is heart-breakingly limited. I was motivated by Angy Rivera, the fearless undocumented activist, to never doubt the impact of a single person speaking
Part Three of the book “Just Like Us” written by Helen Thorpe is comprised of illegal undocumented individuals residing in Denver Colorado. The individuals consist of a group of four Mexican young adults all with the dream of one day attending college and finally obtaining a legal status within the United States. In this portion of the readings, Yadira, Marisela, Clara, and Elissa are entering their senior year at their University and have defined the odds of successfully completing college while maintaining an illegal status. Helen Thorpe clearly demonstrates a passion in tracking individuals that are determined to become legal citizens within society; however, lack the proper advocacy and documentation to do so. Part Three of the book envelops the complexity of maintaining a legal status among society members through the lives of these four influential young ladies striving to achieve higher education in the
In a story of identity and empowerment, Juan Felipe Herrera’s poem “Borderbus” revolves around two Honduran women grappling with their fate regarding a detention center in the United States after crawling up the spine of Mexico from Honduras. While one grapples with their survival, fixated on the notion that their identities are the ultimate determinant for their future, the other remains fixated on maintaining their humanity by insisting instead of coming from nothingness they are everything. Herrera’s poem consists entirely of the dialogue between the two women, utilizing diction and imagery to emphasize one’s sense of isolation and empowerment in the face of adversity and what it takes to survive in America.
After having viewed a few films in Chicano History class like A Class Apart, A Struggle for Educational Equality, and Latin and African Americans: Friends or foes, one cannot help but wonder how it is possible that you might be learning about the intense racism towards Latinos in the United States for the very first time after having devoted your life to the American country. I, myself, was born and raised in Arizona, a state south of the United States, in the city of Tucson that lies only about an hour away, or around 68 miles away from the Nogales, Sonora, Mexican border. One would assume to know a sufficient amount of history of the neighboring land or at least be aware of some fundamental facts about America and Mexico’s relationship throughout time.
Harvest of the Empire is a valuable tool to gaining a better understanding of Latinos. This book helps people understand how varied Latino’s in the United States are. The author also helped give insight as to how Americans reacts to differences within itself. It does this by giving a description of the struggles that every Latino immigrant faced entering the United States. These points of emphasis of the book were explained thoroughly in the identification of the key points, the explanation of the intersection of race, ethnicity, and class, in addition to the overall evaluation of the book.
The Chicano Movement was a time that pressed forth for the equal opportunity of the Latino community and proved to America that Mexican Americans were a force to be reckoned with. In the documentary Latino Americans – Episode 5: Prejudice and Pride, it centralizes on the success of the oppressed community through significant leaders in that period. Union activists César Chavez, along with Dolores Huerta, playwright Luis Valdez, teacher Sal Castro, US Congressman Herman Ballido, and political activist José Ángel Gutiérrez all contributed to egalitarianism of Latinos across the nation. This documentary reflects on the importance of equal prospects within the workplace, the academic setting, and the social and political features in society.
Instead of loving and caring for her baby, and forgetting about Danny, she became worse than him. Rodriguez presents many aspects of the minority class that live in the United States, specifically the South Bronx. Even though the cases presented in Rodriguez’s short stories are difficult to mellow with, they are a reality that is constant in many lives. Everyday someone goes through life suffering, due to lack of responsibility, lack of knowledge, submission to another entity or just lack of wanting to have a better life. People that go through these situations are people who have not finished studying, so they have fewer opportunities in life.
Latino grassroots politics in the academic realm has been considered as predominantly Chicano in nature. However, the geometry of this academic sector is no longer one dimensional, due to the formation of a Chicana feminist consciousness; the rise of an identified gay community within the Chicana/o student populace; and the emergence of “Latinos” in era of Chicanismo, The abrupt growth of Latinos (e.g. Spanish speaking of Mexican, Central or Latin American decent) in the United State’s educational system led the general population to characterize them as subjects on the cusps of political power and influence. But this widespread depiction of Latinos as an untapped potential is intrinsically linked to an impression of civic cohesion within the Latino student population. Although there is a correspondence between these parties in terms of the alienation they have felt and the discrimination they have endured throughout their academic careers, there is a minimal collective effort in confronting against their oppressive status. This is mainly a result of conflicting ideologies and social agendas within the Latino student community, as well as the relegation of Hispanic subgroups into the lower echelons. Latino students, nevertheless, have demonstrated their capacity, when both Chicanos and the marginalized Hispanic subgroups join efforts to reach a communal objective. This debunks the historical notion that Chicano students are the only group of Hispanics in the academic sphere that have been actively challenging the processes of social exclusion, and also displays the capacity of a collaborative effort.
In “My Two Lives”, Jhumpa Lahiri tells of her complicated upbringing in Rhode Island with her Calcutta born-and-raised parents, in which she continually sought a balance between both her Indian and American sides. She explains how she differs from her parents due to immigration, the existent connections to India, and her development as a writer of Indian-American stories. “The Freedom of the Inbetween” written by Sally Dalton-Brown explores the state of limbo, or “being between cultures”, which can make second-generation immigrants feel liberated, or vice versa, trapped within the two (333). This work also discusses how Lahiri writes about her life experiences through her own characters in her books. Charles Hirschman’s “Immigration and the American Century” states that immigrants are shaped by the combination of an adaptation to American...
Torres, Hector Avalos. 2007. Conversations with Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Writers. U.S.: University of New Mexico press, 315-324.
The Chicana/o identity has developed through the history of Mexican-Americans living in the United States. Chicana/o identity is multi-layered and self-identified. Although, it does not have a set definition, I will highlight examples of different forms of representations that helped claimed this identity. Through various examples of Denise A. Segura and Beatriz M. Pesquera article “Beyond Indifference and Antipathy”, “Chicana Identity Matters” article by Deena J. Gonzalez, “Chicano Teatro” article by Jorge A. Huerta, “Their Dogs Came With Them” novel by Helena María Viramontes, and Murals by Judith Baca and David Alfaro Siqueiros, they will illuminate the historic struggle that creates and defines Chicana/o identity. The Chicana/o term has been very complex throughout time as a form of identity. However, Mexican-Americans were given this long history of misrepresentation as being dumb, lazy, inferior, servile, sexualized and/or criminal. One example of it would be the creation of Olvera Street in Los Angeles. In I will argue that through numerous forms of representations, Chicana/o identity is multi-dimensional and has developed through Mexican-Americans life experiences and the influence from the larger white U.S society. Lastly, I will demonstrate this by including the representations of gender, race, citizenship, and class to expose the self-identified Chicana/o identity.
As long as civilizations have been around, there has always been a group of oppressed people; today the crucial problem facing America happens to be the discrimination and oppression of Mexican immigrants. “Mexican Americans constitute the oldest Hispanic-origin population in the United States.”(57 Falcon) Today the population of Mexican’s in the United States is said to be about 10.9%, that’s about 34 million people according to the US Census Bureau in 2012. With this many people in the United States being of Mexican descent or origin, one would think that discrimination wouldn’t be a problem, however though the issue of Mexican immigrant oppression and discrimination has never been a more prevalent problem in the United States before now. As the need for resolve grows stronger with each movement and march, the examination of why these people are being discriminated against and oppressed becomes more crucial and important. Oppression and Anti-discrimination organizations such as the Freedom Socialist Organization believe that the problem of discrimination began when America conquered Mexican l...
Tara J. Yosso’s book Critical Race Counterstories along the Chicana/ Chicano Educational Pipeline uses a unique set of critical race counterstories focused on teachers and students in the Chicana / Chicano community. It reveals a great deficiency in appropriate U.S. education and investment but demonstrates the richness of the culture of minorities and interest in innovative approaches to education. This innovative work, in comparison to works published by many leading researchers, uses critical race theory to give stories along the educational pipeline from primary school to university. It is an absorptive work giving voices to the largest minority in the United States, presenting the latest demographic research on the status of Chicana / Chicano students’ education at the time of its publication in 2006.
The city is alive with people of different cultures and worlds all coexisting side by side. Immigrants especially are an integral part of not only New York City but the country of the United States. They work hard, dream big, and want better opportunities for themselves just as any other Americans would. However, their lives are not without conflict. Immigrants today still face racial tensions, persecution of religion, and stereotypes, even from the president. The New York Times’ report on President Trump’s executive order barring people from Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Syria from entering the country for 90 days has shaken many residents from those countries. In response, hundreds of bodegas run by Yemeni owners have shut down as a peaceful but powerful message to Trump. Together they stand as a union against an unfair statute targeting specific groups such as themselves. The bodega owners’ act of opposition shows the large community of immigrants pursuing their happiness through their businesses and their commitment to ensure the sanctity of the free society they came from Yemen to live in. Through their protest, they hope to remind the American citizens and president that there are more similarities between them than differences. Free society prospers because the rights of the Constitution are upheld righteously. These rights are not for leaders to pick and choose which groups deserve to receive them. They should be ensured for people who worked hard to come to America, not only natural citizens, to reach their full
Despite having to battle discrimination and poor neighborhoods, second and third generation Mexican-Americans have made a great strife to overcome large obstacles. Mexican-Americans are finally gaining representation in city government representing the 9.6 million Mexican residents of Los Angeles. White politicians can no longer ignore Mexicans in Los Angeles, as former mayor Richard Riordan saw in the elections of 1997, in which his re-election was largely in part to the high turnout of Mexican voters in his favor. Although Capitalism still exists in the greater Los Angeles, its influence is not as great as it was fifty years ago. Los Angeles continues to serve as the breeding grounds for new cultures, ideologies, and alternative lifestyles. The pursuit of the American Dream becomes a reality for most immigrants in LA. LA is a great place to live, party, and be from. I knew little about the history of Los Angeles prior to this course, but now I am well prepared to answer the question of, “What makes Los Angeles, Los Angeles?”
The eternal endeavor of obtaining a realistic sense of selfhood is depicted for all struggling women of color in Gloria Anzaldua’s “Borderlands/La Frontera” (1987). Anzaldua illustrates the oppressing realities of her world – one that sets limitations for the minority. Albeit the obvious restraints against the white majority (the physical borderland between the U.S. and Mexico), there is a constant and overwhelming emotional battle against the psychological “borderlands” instilled in Anzaldua as she desperately seeks recognition as an openly queer Mestiza woman. With being a Mestiza comes a lot of cultural stereotypes that more than often try to define ones’ role in the world – especially if you are those whom have privilege above the “others”.