Politics, defined as organized control over a human community, subsists in all convivial levels, in the state of California. The people of California experience politics in many aspects of their lives. Politics impact the educational system, health care, welfare servicess, law enforcement, and even marriage Cultures must conform according to politics. The population must live, work, dress, and behave according to the politics of a few officials in high-ranking regime positions. Plato once verbally expressed,” One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” (Plato) Politics perpetuate to infringe upon the “California Dream” by way of the tax increases, budget cuts, and immigration laws. The politics of immigration change frequently predicated on discriminating political views towards a particular migrating culture. For instance, the Chinese Exclusion Act came into effect to control the incremented population of Chinese immigrants in 1882. Proposition 187, devised to control the sizably voluminous Hispanic population by enjoining illicit immigrant’s access to social services, education, and health care, shows another example of the fluctuating immigration politics.
Albeit the politics of immigration target cultures of the highest population at a given time, these laws and politics can often affect immigrants of other cultures in a different way virtually having an inversion positive result. The lives of the immigrant Latina women seeking opportunity and education in California compared to the immigrant Iranian women seeking liberation from traditional oppressive life of Iran proves an impeccable example of this. The politics on the immigration of Latina women have i...
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...he rest of the world views California as the “ideal place to live.” However, if California continues to infringe the negative, discriminatory political view its immigrants, the “California Dream” will no longer subsist.
Works Cited
Hondagneu-Sotelo, Pierrette. "Maid in L.A." California Dreams and Realities: Readings for Critical Thinkers and Writers. Ed. Sonia Maasik, and J F. Solomon. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's Press, 2001. 116-129. Print.
Plato. ""Plato"." BrainyQuote. Xplore, Inc., 11 Oct. 2012. Web. 22 Feb. 2014. .
Tohisi, Nayereh. "Iranian Women and Gender Relations in Los Angeles." California Dreams and Realities: Readings for Critical Thinkers and Writers. Ed. Sonia Maasik, and J F. Solomon. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's Press, 1993. 149-159. Print.
James J. Rawls perspective of the California Dream consists of promise and paradox. People from all over move to California in hopes of finding opportunity and success. However California cannot fulfill people’s expectations.
The Latino community is a very varied community each with its own unique past and circumstances. In the book Harvest of Empire by Juan Gonzalez the readers can learn and appreciate some of the experiences and history that the different Latino groups had. This book does this with a special emphasis on immigration trends. These points of emphasis of the book are 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 idea of that California is the state to come to where your dreams come true is a very real thing. Also writers, from newspapers, magazines, and even books have a tendency to write the upside of the good things and then tend to leave some of the bad things to chance. Some writers have called California the vanishing dream. The myth of California being a good and bad goes back to the time of the Gold Rush and Dust Bowl. The Gold Rush is a example of the California myth because people were finding gold. There was a problem with people finding gold. People were coming to California for gold, but they found out that once they got here, there wasn’t as much gold as they had hoped to find. When the people were finding gold it was not enough to support any kind of life that was promised. The people wanted to have the luxurious life that went along with finding this mineral. Gold was not at the high price that everyone thought it would be at. Don’t get me wrong some people did do well from finding this mineral, but not a lot. Another incident that California is a myth is the Dust Bowl.
Early in the 20th century, there was a large increase of immigration not only in California, but the whole United states, and according to Dr. Joshua Paddison of Wittenberg University, “One-half million Mexicans migrated, with more than 30 percent setting in California” (Paddison, 1921-present: Modern California). Some of the immigrants’ transition from Mexico and into California be seen in both Ernesto Galarza’s “Barrio Boy”, and Richard Rodriguez’s “Proofs”. While both differentiate by their time period, there are some similar behavior patterns, such as the immigrants crossing over the border and into different states, their work, and their social life.
Rodriguez views California as a reconciliation between comedy and tragedy. It is both the place where many Mexicans immigrated to and the place where Americans move to escape the constraints of society. Mexicans hoped to experience the comedy of California-where it is possible to change your sex, divorce, and become famous. Even Rodriguez’s parents moved to California, and live in a house with many telephones and televisions.
Martinez, Demetria. 2002. “Solidarity”. Border Women: Writing from la Frontera.. Castillo, Debra A & María Socorro Tabuenca Córdoba. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 168- 188.
California represents is not as easy to attain as they once thought. The characters in The Day of the
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.
Spooner, Denise. "A New Perspective On The Dream". California dreams and realities. By Maasik, Sonia and J. Fisher Solomon. 1st ed. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1995. Print.
Los Angeles is a city with a large population which consists of a substantial number of immigrants. A wide range of immigrants from around the world have settled in Los Angeles making it one of the most diverse cities in this country. Many citizens of Los Angeles have strong arguments on whether or not an immigration reform is beneficial or if it is going to harm the city and its residents. The topic of immigration is of great importance because it is an issue that Los Angeles has experience for several of years and will continue in many more to come if action is not taken. Any changes made in regards to immigration are going to affect people in Los Angeles one way or another regardless of the perspective they might sustain about the subject because money and the community are involved in case of any modification. The city of Los Angeles is no stranger to the issue of immigration, which requires a solution through the process of an immigration reform to enforce constitutional value through the process of establishment of citizenship and amnesty. Immigration reforms will develop a political policy that is going to improve, modify and change our current immigration policy. It is essential and beneficial for the city of Los Angeles to obtain an immigration reform which will benefit families by offering broader, equal and fair opportunities as it will provide the city with economic growth.
The American dream, as some may call it, is a cherished idea by those who may lack opportunities. For those in Mexico, it is something that is sure to have crossed their minds sometime in their life. The United States, to foreigners, has been looked at as a sign of opportunity and freedom from oppressive governments or unfortunate living conditions. The Other Side of Immigration takes a look at the Mexican nation and provides thought-provoking interview segments about the people still living in the nation who experience and observe the effects of immigration to the United States.
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...
Immigration has been a topic that has caused multiple discussions on why people migrate from one country to another, also how it affects both the migraters and the lands they go. Immigration is the movement from one location to another to live there permanently. This topic has been usually been associated with sociology to better explain how it affects people, cultures and societies. Sociology has three forms of thinking that are used to describe and analyze this topic. There are three forms of thinking that are used to tell and describe immigration to society; structural functionalist, symbolic interactionist, and conflict theory. Each of these theories uses different forms of thinking and rationality to describe and explain socio topics.
“New people remained ignorant […and] blind not only to the dangers the place still presented but to the shared responsibilities it continued habitation demanded,” writes Joan Didion (321). In Didion’s nonfiction book Where I Was From she describes the historical and cultural privileges through her family and her own experiences that they had encountered in California. She focuses on how newborn generation of Californians thinks life is “supposed to be easy” (312). Furthermore, Didion mentions how new people are irresponsible towards the community they live in and additionally describes how they are ignorant towards California’s history. Moreover, in her nonfiction book Didion uses William Faulkner’s story, “Golden Land” as an example, which
Reading Lolita in Tehran gives us a clear understanding that women around the world, particularly Iran, during the Iranian Revolution of 1979, have suffered through difficult times. Nafisi vividly shows that women in Iran have suffered through abuse and have lacked civil liberties and civil rights. Nafisi’s main argument in this memoir is that Iranian law and government makes it hard for women in Iran to live their life peacefully. Nafisi wanted to show the importance of women suffrage, and that not all women are privileged to have civil rights and civil liberties around the world. Reading Lolita in Tehran is a memoir about the life of the Azar Nafisi, who is an Iranian author and professor. Nafisi writes about her personal experiences in Iran