Undocumented Workers Stereotypes are present in our everyday life, but just because they are present, does not mean we should place each other in these boxes. Specifically, there are stereotypes of Mexicans and Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz gives insight on these workers in her article “Willing to Work.” Gomberg-Muñoz uses logos in her writing and it is effective because it shows a different side, conveys reasonable emotion, and shows no favoritism. The term Wetback is a derogatory term used to describe illegal Mexican immigrants that swam across the Rio Grande to come to the United States. Commonly, the term is heard from non-Mexicans, but in this article, Gomberg-Muñoz interviews hardworking Mexican men and they give the term strength with their …show more content…
“They know we are illegal, so if I complain, what do you think they will say to me? ‘There’s the door if you don’t like it.” Any normal person would refrain from complaining if they knew they had a family to feed and bills to pay. She does not give personal anecdotes, only interviews. The writer does not show bias or favoritism towards the workers in an effort to end racial stereotypes against Mexicans. But, she uses facts and many in-text citations to describe and support the experiences of her …show more content…
But, personal experience can shadow a reader’s judgment on the article. For example: my sister’s boyfriend lives in the U.S. and he does not have a social security number. He travels to different states working and picking corn among several other difficult jobs. He would like to buy a car, but the group travels too much and he would have no one to sign off on it. He is doing his best to provide for his family. If he were to read this article, he would understand it on another level. He would understand the long hours, not being able to talk back, and haunted by the thought that his employer can crush his dream with just two words, “You’re fired.” However, there is no bias because the writer avoids the expression of her personal opinion. Taking a stab in the dark, I would say that since the writer’s name is hyphenated, it can be assumed that the writer’s spouse may be Mexican or of Hispanic descent. A personal anecdote from Gomberg-Muñoz would have done wonders for her writing and would have definitely helped the audience better understand the perspective of immigrants. This would have been possible because she can better communicate her story or her husband’s story in respect to her extensive background in writing. But, she does not use this to her advantage. Instead, the writer just sticks to being the narrator and
In April of 2006 the reformation of immigration laws was a major topic. Wondering why immigrants should be able to come to the United States without rights and still be able to work here and eventually becomes a U.S. citizen. In the article “The Border on our Backs” written by Roberto Rodriguez, an illegal immigrant supporter wrote about the failure of the bill. In response to Rodriquez’s article Parker wrote an article titled “Se Habla Entitlement.”
Ngai, Mae M. Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America. Princeton, N.J. [u.a.: Princeton Univ. Press, 2004. Print.
Labor and Legality by Ruth Gomberg-Munoz is an intense ethnography about the Lions, undocumented immigrants working in a Chicago restaurant as busboys. The ten undocumented men focused on in Gomberg-Munoz’s are from Leon, Mexico. Since they are from Leon, they are nicknamed the Lions in English. She describes why they are here. This includes explaining how they are here to make a better future for their family, if not only financially, but every other way possible. Also, Gomberg-Munoz focuses on how Americans see “illegal aliens”, and how the Lions generate social strategies, become financially stable, stay mentally healthy, and keep their self-esteem or even make it better. Gomberg-Munoz includes a little bit of history and background on “illegal”
Mexican immigrants in the United States are willing to work hard and long hours throughout the day regardless of the amount of sleep or rest they may get. Conversely, this is not how Efren Mendoza, a public city bus driver, views Mexicans and he believes they are not motivated to achieve things in life. One would assume that he would understand how difficult it is for immigrants to assimilate in a new foreign country without knowing anyone or anything here, but he is not on their side and it is somewhat hypocritical of him because he himself is Mexican. It is as though Efren sees his own people as invisible individuals because he does not acknowledge all their hard work and sacrifices they may have gone through in order to arrive in the United States. He further proves his insincerity when he mentions that the “new wetbacks [are] picky about what jobs they’ll do [and that they] half-ass [the] work” that they are given to do (77).
As a group, we believe that popular culture does in fact perpetuates stereotypes. Television is a main source of information of popular culture. Television has forever changed how humans have interacted with another and introduce a world of diversity and knowledge. But with this profit, television has also harbored negative aspects. As a group, we studied how racial stereotypes are portrayed in television. In the history of television, different racial and ethnic groups have been widely underrepresented and television itself has been overwhelming represented by white figures. And when racial groups are presented on TV, the characters are often played in limited roles based on stereotypes. A stereotype isn’t necessarily untrue, but it is an assumption based on an incomplete and complex ideas that are oversimplified into something that isn’t what it meant to be, and it’s usually negative. For example, African Americans are often depicted as violent or involved in some kind of criminal activity. Their characters often portrays a person who is always sassy and angry or that isn’t intelligent and won’t succeed in life and inferior to whites in some manner. Asian characters are
The doormen’s consensus is that the tenants tend to not acknowledge their doorman when they are not in the professional state that the apartment building creates. Another situation that parallels this treatment is that of the undocumented workers and their employers. Though many upper class citizens are more than willing to hire undocumented workers, if questioned, the employers are unlikely to admit their relationship with the employees. However, as with doormen and their tenants, the likelihood of the upper class employers happening upon the lower class employees is small. Yet, if the employees do greet the employers in a context other than work, the employers will ignore them or become irritated that the employees show recognition of the employers. This denial of acquaintance may be due to the employees’ lower social status, but can also be a consequence of the fact that the employees were illegally hired and the employers wish to distance themselves from their illicit
Through the experiences of over 150 individuals, the apparent divisiveness of American public policy and political climate comes to the forefront in a dispiriting dichotomy of the undocumented experience coping in the
The drive to keep jobs out of the hands of Mexicans had the highly undesirable result of forcing many families to depend on welfare to survive. Many Mexicans were forced to leave and rounded up by immigration officials, while others were intimidated by immigration practices and left voluntarily. While some left willingly because of the poor economic outlook, hoping things would be better in Mexico, others were deported even if they had come to the United States legally. One reporter called for an investigation of immigr...
Whether they were on Broadway or in Hollywood, being a Hispanic actor meant you were put into this stereotyped box that was and is hard to break through. How many times has there been a Hispanic or Latino in the role of a hero, wealthy man/woman, or doctor in film or television? The following quote from Lin Manuel Miranda is to explain the struggles of a male Hispanic actor aspiring to be on Broadway. “I couldn’t see a way for me [a Latino man] to have a career in musical theater based on the musicals that already existed. I don’t dance well enough to play Bernardo [of ‘West Side Story’], or Paul in ‘A Chorus Line.’ And I don’t have an operatic voice enough to play the ‘Man of La Mancha.’ And if you’re a Latino man, that’s all you get… I
The author is using personal experience to convey a problem to his or her audience. The audience of this piece is quite broad. First and foremost, Mexican-Americans just like the author. People who can relate to what the author has to say, maybe someone who has experienced something similar. The author also seems to be seeking out an audience of white Americans who find themselves unaware of the problem at our borders. The author even offers up a warning to white America when she notes, “White people traveling with brown people, however, can expect to be stopped on suspicion they work with the sanctuary movement”(125). The purpose of this writing is to pull out a problem that is hidden within or society, and let people see it for what it is and isn’t.
When the class was first asked to think of a topic for our reflective paper, this scenario was one that I could vividly remember as if it had just occurred yesterday. After I read Jose Antonio Vargas’s “Life as an Undocumented Immigrant” and Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue”, I noticed a common theme across these two pieces that I could very much relate to. Jose Antonio Vargas’s mother reminded him to fit into the American way of living by saying “If anyone asked why I was coming to America, I should say I was
When I was a toddler, I had blonde hair, blue eyes and white skin, and still presently do. My parents are Guatemalan, however they fit the stereotype of a Guatemalan, small, a bit chunky, and tan. My siblings also carry the same genes as my parents, but yet I stand out like the moon in a night sky. But just like the moon, the public looks at me different. Growing up in a hispanic community and having a Latino family I gained numerous titles for my abnormality. “Canche” is the George Clooney of my nicknames, it means white boy.
Ngai, Mae M. 2004 “Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America” Publisher: Princeton University Press.
...abriel Medina. "Some Mexican immigrants experience discrimination at the hands of their fellow citizens." Nebraska mosaic. Nebraska School of Journalism, 15 Nov. 2011. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.
We daily see many common terms of body type in media like long legs, small waists, flawless skin, and nice clothes represented by actresses or models. The ABC’s episodic introduced to all Americans “Modern Family”, supports this stereotype with the role of the actress named “Gloria.” Gloria Delgado is a sexy Colombian woman that represents a ditzy person, often misusing phrases, mispronouncing worlds and saying whatever is on her mind even though it might come off wrong. The character always acts as unintelligent, but that does not matter to people because she has a good appearance that controls the audience to just laugh at her and not to realize the stereotype the show is giving. People look at her because of her physical appearance, not