Eleanor Roosevelt said, “the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” That statement holds strong for immigrants in America. Equal access to opportunities allows immigrants to achieve the American dream. Their success correlates with America’s success because of the contributions immigrants provide to America. Unfortunately, the current immigration policy in America denies many immigrants the American dream. It is crucial to understand the historical context of immigration in America. Initially, most immigrants were from Europe and were not restricted by any immigration laws. Now, most immigrants come from Latin America but are restricted to severe immigration laws. The Latino/a community is one of the most severely affected groups because the current immigration system disproportionally affects Latino/as. Recognizing how the experience of Latino/a immigrants have been both similar and different in the past from other immigrant groups and dispelling common misconceptions about Latino/as today bring an awareness how Latino/as are affected. Latino/a immigrants share similar experiences of anti-immigrant rhetoric just like other immigrant groups. Many Latino/as in America have faced negative comments based on their identity. For example, Rush Limbaugh, a radio host, expounds negative comments toward Latino/as, particularly Mexicans. He claimed that Mexicans are “a renegade, potential[ly] criminal element” that is “unwilling to work” (Media Matters for America, 2/28/06). These malice comments were similar to that of other immigrants. As other immigrant groups of non-English descent started arriving in America, there was an immigrant phobia towards the newcomers. During the mid-1700s, Benjamin Franklin said ... ... middle of paper ... ...ves of immigrant groups such as the Indians, Chinese, and Germans have proved that prior policies have been based on anti-immigrant rhetoric at that time. Therefore, reforming the immigration policies today should not be based on racism, or nativism. In addition, it is important to dispel the misconceptions of the Latino/a immigrations today because it is a mistake to formulate polices based on preconceptions of racialized groups. Works Cited Aoki, Andrew, and Okiyoshi Takeda. Asian American Politics. Polity Pr, 2009. Print. Fernandez, Lilia. "Introduction to U.S. Latino/Latina History." History 324. The Ohio State University. Jennings Hall 0040, Columbus, OH, USA. Address. Media Matters for America n. pag. Web. . "World War II by the Numbers." National World War II Museum n. pag. Web. .
America is a land filled with immigrants coming from different corners of the worlds, all in hopes of finding a better life in the country. However, No one had an easy transition from his or her home country to this foreign land. Not every race thrived the same way—some were luckier than others, while some have faced enormous obstacles in settling down and being part of the American society. Many people have suffered
Immigration is a large aspect of American history. In the book Breaking Through by Francisco Jimenez, we are able to see the struggles of one Hispanic boy immigrating to the United States from Mexico. Many of the people in the community that Francisco lived in didn’t really accept Hispanic people. It was really depressing that he would make friends, go over to their house and their parents wouldn’t let him come over again, simply because he was Hispanic. In Diversity Matters the text states, “Unique stresses created by the process of immigration to another country and discrimination faced in the new country can create psychological distress for many immigrants” (Spradlin 126). During this time in America, there was still a lot of discrimination going on not only with Hispanics, but other minority races like African Americans. This really goes to show how far our country has come over the years. There is still a long way to go, but I think that if people are more educated and aware of the discrimination people face on a daily basis they will be more open-minded. The United States is becoming more open to diversity, but first we will look at the struggles of one Hispanic boy growing up here illegally in Breaking Through.
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.
“ Ironically I faced discrimination from other immigrants rather than Americans themselves”, stated Valentina Luma when she was been interviewed. This quote was the most relatable to my experience of being an immigrant to United States of America compares to hers. Valentina Luma was the age of nine when her and her family immigrated from Dominican Republic to the United States. Luma’s journey to the United States wasn’t arduous physically rather mentally where the process to get accepted took almost a decade, she admits to understand why some immigrants would rather come to America illegally than wait almost a decade to come. Some of the positive
As the Latino population in the United States continues to grow, U.S. Census Bureau, 2001, increasing attention is being turned toward understanding the risk and protective factors of immigrant Latino and U.S.-born Latino children and families. The demographic data relating to Latinos in the United States estimate that one of every two people added to the U.S population was Latino, in July 2009 Latino population was the fastest growing minority group U.S Census Bureau, 2010. Despite the increased risk of growing the immigrant families are in lower risk of Social Economic Status, having parents with less education and limited with language and knowledge about education. Immigrating to one place to another is often the most stressful event
Henderson, T. "Modern Latin American History Lecture." Auburn University Montgomery, Montgomery, AL. Sept. 2011. Lecture.
Martínez, Elizabeth Sutherland. 1998. De Colores Means all of us: Latina Views for a Multi-Colored Century. U.S.: South End Press.
Latinos have struggled to discover their place inside of a white America for too many years. Past stereotypes and across racism they have fought to belong. Still America is unwilling to open her arms to them. Instead she demands assimilation. With her pot full of stew she asks, "What flavor will you add to this brew?" Some question, some rebel, and others climb in. I argue that it is not the Latino who willingly agreed to partake in this stew. It is America who forced her ideals upon them through mass media and stale history. However her effort has failed, for they have refused to melt.
There are many stereotypes set from race to race. Personally when it comes to Mexican immigrants, I feel like they have it rough as far as being called worthless basically implying that they have no intelligence. According to Murillo and Villenas the New Latino Diapora are “areas without traditional Latino presence to which Latinos have increasing moved over the past 15 years (Wortham, 3).” For a better understanding there are areas that are not set to a specific race or ethnicity. According to the reading it is normally located in Pennsylvania and other parts of the world. Many people these days believe that all Mexicans are the “same” in terms on who they are and what they do . This is where racialization comes into play. The dynamics of the different populations over the past years have implemented that there is a difference between the new Latina/o immigrants and other people who have been in the same space. In the Worthham article it stated that Meixcan-Americans African Americans do not work as hard as Mexican Immigrants. This actually makes sense to me because immigrants ha...
Since the creation of the United States of America, immigrants from all backgrounds have sought refuge, a home and a life in this country of prosperity and opportunity. The opportunity of freedom to exercise natural rights is a large pull factor that causes many people to come to America. Others come because it is a country where one can prosper. Prosperity of people in a country, however, is a more challenging phenomenon to explain than opportunity. Immigrants seek economic, social and educational as well as cultural prosperity. The question of how to gain such prosperity is a difficult one to answer. Some immigrants come to America, cast off their past identity and attempt to find a new, less foreign one. By assimilating to American culture with this new identity, they start a long and treacherous journey to seek prosperity in a land vastly different from the one they once called home. Many will gain educational, economic and social prosperity, but never gain cultural prosperity. Assimilating to American culture so hastily, some immigrants are never able to explore and keep up with their cultural backgrounds. Their families grow up and became Americans, never cognizant of their given up ethnic identities. Those immigrants, however, who are able to gain cultural prosperity through the help of other immigrants of their respective background, become integrated into American society while keeping their ethnic identity. This is the sort of opportunity that the United States of America has provided new arrivals since its founding. Although many immigrants become overwhelmed with American culture and assimilate into it, those who contribute to a working ethnic society are able to dela...
Through the history and trends of Latin American immigration, one can begin to understand the impact of immigration on American society. Latin American countries have not always been the leading countries of origin for immigrants to the United States; however, with the Immigration and Nationality Act, they surpassed European countries’ immigration and rose to the top (1). Subsequently, a number of Hispanics ca...
What is the vision of the “American Dream” Hispanic immigrants believe is waiting across the border? What kind of discrimination does the Hispanic public face in their daily lives in the U.S? What kinds of social mobility do Hispanics have in store after crossing the borders of the U.S? These questions define the lives of Hispanic immigrants. The importance of finding out how exactly these topics influence their lives however, is pertinent to finding the hardships and daily boundaries Hispanics face in their day-to-day routines in the United States.
National WWII Museum. (2016). By The Numbers: World-Wide Deaths. Retrieved 22 November 2016 from http://www.nationalww2museum.org/learn/education/for-students/ww2-history/ww2-by-the-numbers/world-wide-deaths.html?referrer=https://www.bing.com/
Similarly, discrimination has been a form of hate against Latinos because of their color and because most people don’t really know the reason why immigrants come to America. The U.S. has benefited from immigration but it has also affected the U.S in some form. The U.S. has tried to stop people from coming into the country but some people like immigrants because we only come to work and get an education. Some people think that the United States is becoming a Hispanic nation (Ramos, 187). While racism remains a problem in America, it can be reduced or eliminated through effective laws and by stopping the Latino wave (Ramos, XVII) that has come to the United States. However, they can also stop it by actually accepting immigrants into the country. The U.S. discriminates Latinos without knowing the real reason why immigrants came into this country illegally.
The idea of living the American Dream, is one that has drawn millions of immigrants to relocate to a different new world, with promises of better economic, social, political, and environmental living situations. At 56.6 million, the Hispanic population is the nation’s largest ethnic or racial minority, making up 17.6% of the nation’s total population. By 2060, it is projected that there will be 119 million Hispanics in the United States.5 Of the 56.6 million Hispanics currently living in the United States, 34.5% are immigrants.5 People migrate with the hopes of getting a new job, better pay, better schooling for their children, and more opportunities overall. The immigration paradox states that despite living in worse conditions, having less access to healthcare, and experiencing more barriers with regards to language and culture, immigrants tend to have better health profiles than compared to their native-born counterparts.13 While this appears to be one good reason to migrate to another country,