In Don't Tell Anyone/No Le Digas a Nadie by Mikaela Shwer, the film documents the life of Angy Rivera and her struggles dealing with her immigration status in the United States of America. Furthermore, Rivera articulates her shared experience of expressing hatred and loss when trying to explain her identity. A common phenomenon among immigrants in the United States is a common feeling of loneliness, depression, and suppression of the cultures of their background. Specifically, Angy travels place by place to find opportunities for higher education, which invigorates her desire to be seen and represent who she is. Through Angy’s search for resources and finding an outer community for immigrants in New York, she finds identity by proudly showing her immigrant status. Thus, her revelation of accepting her identity gives Angy the …show more content…
At this point, Angy begins to accept her identity as an immigrant but her family does not truly support her in this decision. The boys do not seem to see the reasoning behind her exploration of finding the immigrant group in New York, and Angy’s mother disapproves of Angy creating social tension both physically and virtually because of her undocumented reveal video. In the article ”’ I Can”t Go to College because I don’t Have Paper’: Incorporation Patterns of Latino Undocumented Youth,” Leisy Janet Abrego discusses the implications of Latino immigrant groups and their contemporary position within socio-political culture and socio-economic status. Specifically, Abrego states, “Southern, Central, and Eastern (SCE) European immigrants who arrived during the late 19th and early 20th century faced relatively open immigration policies that helped shape their upwardly mobile incorporation patterns (Steinberg, 2001). Unlike them, contemporary immigrants face different, often harsher, policies and contexts of reception (Portes and Manning, 1986; Rumbaut,
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 Subtractive Schooling: US-Mexican Youth and the Politics of Caring, Angela Valenzuela investigates immigrant and Mexican American experiences in education. Valenzuela mentions differences in high schools between U.S born youth and immigrants such as how immigrants she interviewed seemed to achieve in school as they feel privileged to achieve secondary education. However, she found that her study provided evidence of student failure due to schools subtracting resources from these youths. Both are plagued by stereotypes of lacking intellectual and linguistic traits along with the fear of losing their culture. As a Mexican American with many family members who immigrated to the U.S to pursue a higher education, I have experience with Valenzuela’s
In Sueños Americanos: Barrio Youth Negotiating Social and Cultural Identities, Julio Cammarota studies Latina/o youth who live in El Pueblo, and talks about how Proposition 187, the anti-immigrant law, is affecting Latina/o youth in California (Cammarota, 2008, p. 3). In this book review, I will write about the two main points the author is trying to get across. The two main points I will be writing about are how Proposition 187 is affecting the Latina/o community, and about how Latina/o youth are copping in the El Pueblo barrio. Afterward I write about the two main points the author is trying to get across, I will write a brief description of the author and write about the author’s strengths and weaknesses.
Differences present between immigrant and non-immigrant families in terms of opportunity, social inclusion and cultural acceptance is a prominent issue in the world today. In the novel, Brother, David Chariandy shows how these inconsistencies affect the opportunities present for second-generation migrants. Francis, Michael and Aisha are all children of migrants residing in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough or “Scar-Bro” as Michael refers to it (Chariandy). This suburb is home to immigrants of colour struggling to raise families on minimum wage jobs and the institutional racism present. This essay will first examine how the opportunity of second generation migrants is affected due to the preconceived idea of what opportunity is from the first
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.
In Lives in Limbo, Roberto G. Gonzales dissects the disastrous effects of US immigration policy on young Latina/os struggling in the often untouched, unnoticed, uncared for, American underbelly. Through a striking ethnography, Gonzalez examines 150 illuminating case-studies of young undocumented Latina/os, shedding light on their shared experience in the struggle for legitimacy in the United States - their lives, effectively, in limbo. He develops two major groups with which to classify the struggling youth: the college-goers, like Cesar, who received strong marks in high school and was able to land himself a spot within the UC system, and the early-exiters, like Silvia, who was unable to attend college, resigned to a paranoid life plagued
Even if these students have achieved the highest honors and have the brains of an engineer, they aren’t able to reach their greatest potential because they simply do not have documents. Those who are undocumented are doomed to working backbreaking jobs that pay substantially below minimum wage. Spare Parts has challenged and shown me that it takes an immigrant double, or even triple the amount of toil to achieve anything in life. These boys endeavoured through adversities that many of us will never encounter. Luis luckily had a green card, but Lorenzo, Oscar, and Cristian were all living under the fear of deportation. They all wanted more after graduating from Carl Hayden but their dreams quickly vanished because the reality was that they’re illegal immigrants. When we hear the word “immigration”, we automatically think “illegal”, but what we don’t see is that these illegal immigrants are trying to reach their own American Dreams by coming to America. As the author includes Patrick J. Buchanan’s perspective on immigrants, “...families came to the United States to leech off government services.” (35), it shows us how immigrants are perceived.
Mari and her family are in an unstable housing cycle, the family’s inability to afford their rent becomes clear and homelessness becomes one of the main points of Mari’s character. In addition to being a queer Latina, Mari belongs to a single-parent immigrant household and is dealing with an unsuccessful educational experience. Mari’s mother work long hours at a minimum wage job, and Mari feels a strong sense of responsibility to help financially. In Latino households, we are taught to place family above one’s self. The tradition of Latino teenagers hustling to help family stay above water is important. It
Moving from the unpleasant life in the old country to America is a glorious moment for an immigrant family that is highlighted and told by many personal accounts over the course of history. Many people write about the long boat ride, seeing The Statue of Liberty and the “golden” lined streets of New York City and how it brought them hope and comfort that they too could be successful in American and make it their home. Few authors tend to highlight the social and political developments that they encountered in the new world and how it affected people’s identity and the community that they lived in. Authors from the literature that we read in class highlight these developments in the world around them, more particularly the struggles of assimilating
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 brings awareness of how Latino/as are affected.
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
In comparison to other migrating groups, Latinos have had different experiences that have prevented them from completely assimilating into American society. Throughout our history and presently, Latinos continue to face acts of cruelty and...
Above all else the ten Latino boys Richard Mora observes over this time, have a want for control. Mostly control of their social identity; however, due to various social inequalities and differences that come attached to being working or poor class Latino children in urban areas, the boys are forced to overcompensate and exaggerate the one favorable aspect and privilege they have: Male privilege. The socialization of this happens early on and in certain cases has to if the boys even expect to survive contently in their social environment or even get half of the recognition their white male peers receive.
In the essay "It’s Hard Enough Being Me," Anna Lisa Raya relates her experiences as a multicultural American at Columbia University in New York and the confusion she felt about her identity. She grew up in L.A. and mostly identified with her Mexican background, but occasionally with her Puerto Rican background as well. Upon arriving to New York however, she discovered that to everyone else, she was considered "Latina." She points out that a typical "Latina" must salsa dance, know Mexican history, and most importantly, speak Spanish. Raya argues that she doesn’t know any of these things, so how could this label apply to her? She’s caught between being a "sell-out" to her heritage, and at the same time a "spic" to Americans. She adds that trying to cope with college life and the confusion of searching for an identity is a burden. Anna Raya closes her essay by presenting a piece of advice she was given on how to deal with her identity. She was told that she should try to satisfy herself and not worry about other people’s opinions. Anna Lisa Raya’s essay is an informative account of life for a multicultural American as well as an important insight into how people of multicultural backgrounds handle the labels that are placed upon them, and the confusion it leads to in the attempt to find an identity. Searching for an identity in a society that seeks to place a label on each individual is a difficult task, especially for people of multicultural ancestry.
Montoya, Margret E. "Masks and Identify," and "Masks and Resistance," in The Latino/a Condition: A Critical Reader New York: New York University Press, 1998.