Even though I grew up surrounded by a sizeable community of Asian Indians it is still a culture I know very little about. It was interesting to learn about the culture through my outside research and my interview with my neighbor, Nimita Kommogu. I learned a lot about the various waves of Indian immigration as well as the significance of the visa process. I also gained a more in-depth understanding of what it means to grow up Indian in California.
The history of Indian immigration to the United States was surprising because I did not realize how recently the immigration began. Widespread India migration to the United States did not truly begin until 1965. Between 1820 and 1960, less than 15,000 Asian Indians were allowed to legally enter the United States (Das, 135). This changed in 1965 with the Immigration and Nationality Act, which started the increased flow of Indian immigrants (Keely, 162). It is important to note that Indian immigration was restricted by level of skills. Only men and women "with professional skills needed in American society could emigrate from the Indian subcontinent" which drastically changed the makeup of the immigrants (Das, 139). Indian immigrants before the 1960s immigrated primarily to California and Western states. (Li, 168) However, as more immigrants move here, the Indian population has spread out and now has significant populations on the East Coast too. (Li, 168) There is a predominant trend of Indians, as well as other Asians moving to suburbs instead of urban areas. This is especially relevant in California where large communities of Indians have begun to characterize certain suburban cities.
I interviewed my neighbor Nimita, who goes by Nate, for my paper. She identifies as American Indian...
... middle of paper ...
... wealthy or being in the middle class. Nate explained that the majority of Indians that were allowed to immigrate, especially in earlier years, had to be well off. This made me think more about various stereotypes and what we associate with different ethnicities and how these may come from historical or social events. If Indians were allowed to immigrate with different skill levels or without needing to be well off would the perception of Indian’s in the United States be different? How many other stereotypes of various ethnicities were created by similar happenstances? These questions, though hypothetical, help situate my thoughts about Indians in the United States as well as different ethnic communities. It is interesting to think about what might have been and how much of my perception of the world has been affected by things that have never even crossed my mind.
It had previously been the policy of the American government to remove and relocate Indians further and further west as the American population grew, but there was only so much...
In The White Man’s Indian, Robert Berkhoffer analyzes how Native Americans have maintained a negative stereotype because of Whites. As a matter of fact, this book examines the evolution of Native Americans throughout American history by explaining the origin of the Indian stereotype, the change from religious justification to scientific racism to a modern anthropological viewpoint of Native Americans, the White portrayal of Native Americans through art, and the policies enacted to keep Native Americans as Whites perceive them to be. In the hope that Native Americans will be able to overcome how Whites have portrayed them, Berkhoffer is presenting
Immigration is, and has been, never a fair game for the people who do not possess certain privileges. Broadly for the poor and for the people of color, but specifically for people of color, immigration (and perhaps life thereafter) was a site of struggle, then and now. It is not an imagination; however, it is a daunting truth that many of the immigrants live by, both during the turn of the twentieth century and the immigration in the later twentieth century until now. At both times, some were able to assimilate and fully achieve the American status, while some did not, and people who were allowed full incorporation were people with certain privilege: the racial privilege. In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, race was
In the years from 1860 through 1890, the prospect of a better life attracted nearly ten million immigrants who settled in cities around the United States. The growing number of industries produced demands for thousands of new workers and immigrants were seeking more economic opportunities. Most immigrants settled near each other’s own nationality and/or original village when in America.
According to Deloria, there are many misconceptions pertaining to the Indians. He amusingly tells of the common White practice of ...
Indians were expected to fail. “... we were expected to fail in the non-Indian world.” Indians were not treated right many
I could tell where my mom got her warm hugs from. During our two-week vacation to Korea, I had the chance to experience the authenticity of my culture and learn about the significance of it. By spending time with my relatives who truly cared about me and accepted me into their lives, I was able to come to the realization that being an Asian was a meaningful part of my
The differences between whites and Indians are mentioned many of times throughout the book. For instance, when Junior went to the dentist to get his wisdom teeth removed the dentist gave him less novocaine just because he is a Native American, how messed up is that?? What kind of person would do that?? That dentist probably would have given a white person more just so that the pain wasn’t noticeable. Another example of the differences between whites and Indians is, when Junior goes into Geometry class and he gets his textbook for the first time, he looks on the inside cover and his mother's name is written in it. That means that the same textbook he has his mother had thirty years ago! That is just one example of how poor Indian reservations are, white schools can afford new textbooks every few years at the most. Furthermore, Junior ends up transferring schools to a school right off the reservation, Rearden, it's where all the white kids go who want futures for themselves. Most days Junior couldn't get a ride to and from school from his dad, so he would end up walking to school or he got lucky enough to hitch-hike. A huge difference between Native Americans and whites is, the amounts of deaths Indian culture as a whole endure. Junior had experienced a copious amount of deaths in his fourteen years of being alive, he attended 5 funerals in his life; His grandmother, sister, his dad's friend, his dog, and his sister’s husband. That is a lot of funerals to attend for a fourteen year old kid, and the average white person doesn't usually attend that many funerals in a lifetime. As an overall statement, the main effect on Junior's life is the poverty and the deaths on the
In the United States, the cliché of a nation of immigrants is often invoked. Indeed, very few Americans can trace their ancestry to what is now the United States, and the origins of its immigrants have changed many times in American history. Despite the identity of an immigrant nation, changes in the origins of immigrants have often been met with resistance. What began with white, western European settlers fleeing religious persecution morphed into a multicultural nation as immigrants from countries across the globe came to the U.S. in increasing numbers. Like the colonial immigrants before them, these new immigrants sailed to the Americas to gain freedom, flee poverty and famine, and make a better life for themselves. Forgetting their origins as persecuted and excluded people, the older and more established immigrants became possessive about their country and tried to exclude and persecute the immigrant groups from non-western European backgrounds arriving in the U.S. This hostile, defensive, and xenophobic reaction to influxes of “new” immigrants known as Nativism was not far out of the mainstream. Nativism became a part of the American cultural and political landscape and helped to shape, through exclusion, the face of the United States for years to come.
Chowdhury, Nahrin. "The Assimilation Of Bengali Immigrants In The United States." Conference Papers -- American Sociological Association(2005): 1-20. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
Generally, the Second Great Migration proved to be an impactful event in American history that shifted the balanced of race in northern cities. There are both positive and negative outcomes from this transition that are directly related to the discrimination faced by minorities in American society. As more awareness reaches the public, hopefully these outdated perceptions can be altered to benefit those who have been restricted from obtaining greater
Many people do not realize that Indian people are around us everyday. They could be our neighbors, our bus driver, or anyone that we see on a daily bases. In Thomas King’s essay “You’re not the Indian I Had in Mind,” and his video “I’m not the Indian You Had in Mind,” he exemplifies the stereotype that many people make about Indians. King mentions in his essay that people always would say to him, “you’re not the Indian I had in mind,” because he did not look like the stereotypical Indian. Through King’s essay and video, I have been educated about this stereotype that I was unaware of. Since I now have an understanding of how unrealistic this stereotype is, I now can educate friends and family members on this issue.
While the media and educational institutions use the term “Native American” at times this term has been controversial.
Ethnic immigration in America has been a topic of much research, where sociologists attempt to understand why immigrants choose to permanently settle to the US, especially from Latin America and Asia. Some come for the chance at a better life, and others come for family reunification. In the case of Michael, a 2nd generation American whose parents emigrated from the Philippines, it was both. Michael discusses the struggles his family experienced, his self-identification, educational achievements and goals, along with reasons why his parents chose to immigrate and permanently settle within an ethnic enclave of Los Angeles. Immigrants may be cast in a harsh light, with some natives fearing they may replace American culture with their own, crime, or fear of hurting the economy. However, Michael’s life experiences demonstrate that he is like most immigrants who come to America; in reality, they are actually assimilating to American culture in an upwardly mobile
Even though the initiatives were successful in creating a generation of Indians with confused identities, it did not succeed in eliminating the remnants of the Indian culture. These children did not become white as anticipated in the euro-American experiment, which was a major failure. This experiment suggests that every individual adapts to behaviors and beliefs in a new culture while maintaining those associated with their own culture that is learned through enculturation as a