...Caught Between Cultures Gloria Anzaldúa’s The Homeland, Aztlán / El Otro México, explores the political and social impact of creating borders between places and their residents. Through use of her unique and diverse writing style, Anzaldúa is able to capture the struggle faced by displaced Mexicans and their posterity. Not only is she able to accurately portray their hardships, but she is also able to alienate her white audience by using both English and Spanish. This is done in a way that provides some insight into the cultural barriers that Mexican-Americans encounter. Her use of historical context illuminates the injustice that these people were subject to, while her incorporation of firsthand experiences and family history give the reader a more personal view of the trials and tribulations of a typical Mexican family. The combination of these different writing techniques make the reader empathize with the Mexican people’s struggle, by providing a new perspective on the conflict between Mexico and the United States and its impact. Anzaldúa uses a substantial amount of background information and history to provide context for her audience. She begins by explaining that the oldest evidence of human existence in the United States, is from the ancestors of the Chicanos, who settled there in 35,000 B.C. (Anzaldúa 41). This initial piece of history is important because it shows that the ancestors of the Chicanos were the first inhabitants of the land that is now modern day...
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...“Protecting Our America” After researching on America’s problems with border control and illegal immigration, I first have realized that two of the most important aspects of this highly controversial topic, relate to America’s economy and culture. Certain people, such as Anna Quidlen, author of essay “Immigration: Newcomers by Numbers”, believe that America relies on both legal and illegal immigrants to boost our economy and help our nation become more universal. My research presents the other side of this argument, by showing how illegal immigration has actually threatened our nation’s economy and culture more so than anything else. I originally agreed with Anna Quindlen, after reading her essay; all of her points describing the economic benefits America receives by employing undocumented workers seemed reasonable and accurate. Her plea states that they are just regular people in search of work, trying to make a better life for themselves and their families. I’m sure this is true in a lot of cases but unfortunately, there are more repercussions for allowing illegal immigrants to stay in our country than what meets the eye. Yes, it is true that these Mexican workers will take jobs that Americans turn down and yes, they will do them for cheaper. So in that sense, yes, illegal workers do benefit our economy, “but what is good for corporate America is not necessarily what is good for Middle America (Buchanan 49).” Simply paying taxes and filling lower income jobs such as farmhands...
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...Arthur 1 Morgan Arthur April 23, 2009 Final Essay Prof. Medlin English 1020 United States-Mexican Border Wall Immigrants founded the United States of America and ever since then there have been people from all over the world coming to America for a chance at a better life for themselves and their families. Immigrants from all over the world come, some legally and some illegally. A majority of these immigrants come from southern-border country Mexico. Everyday, the United States has hundreds of illegal immigrants come into the country. They cross over from the Rio Grande into Texas; they cross over into Arizona, New Mexico, and California. With all of the problems that the United States is facing from illegal immigration, maybe it is time that the American government should have a stronger form of border control. For years there has been talk of a stronger border and in some cases there has been action. However, with the opinions in favor of a stronger border security, such as a border wall, there are also strong opinions against the idea. A border wall would help the United States with security issues; it might also slow down the number of immigrants coming across the border every year. The fact is that something must be done to slow down illegal immigration before this country becomes over populated. Illegal immigrants are taking jobs away from American citizens, who at this moment during the recession need those jobs more than ever. The United States government...
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...Road to Revolution Essay I think that Texas did have a right to begin a revolution against Mexico. The Mexican officials and land commissioners didn’t stay true to their promises (laws). The first Mexican official we learned about was Haden Edwards. He was a Kentucky businessman who enraged many settlers in Texas when he threatened to sell the land of the settlers who didn’t have a land title, even if their family had been living on the land for years. After his contract was canceled by the Mexican government, Benjamin Edwards (his brother) started the Fredonian Rebellion. The huge amount of interest in the revolt worried the Mexican government, so they decided to send Mier y Teran to Texas so he could investigate conditions there, find out how much control Mexico had, and to give recommendations about how to change the conditions. His recommendations to the president convinced the Mexican government to pass the Law of April 6, 1830, which changed rules on immigration and trade in Texas. Instead of strengthening Mexico’s control, the Law of April 6, 1830 angered many settlers who wanted their family and friends to move to Texas and who feared the restrictions would hurt the economy. Francisco Madero approved land titles for settlers in the Anahuac settlement until Bradburn arrested him; saying that Madero was working illegally (according to the Decree of April 6, 1830), which angered many Texans. George Fisher, a customs official, demanded that all ships landing...
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...Congress approved the "Secure Fence Act of 2006" which sanctioned the construction of numerous separation barricades at the Mexican-American border and the installation of a virtual fence entailing surveillance cameras, sensors, and other equipment to cover those parts of the border that do not have a physical wall. The debate is related to the American debate on immigration, and controversies about the fence centre on its effectiveness, expense, representational value, and more. How accurate however, is the claim that the Mexico-US border fence is justified? The main argument for the preservation of the Mexico-US border fence is economic. It is claimed that illegal immigrants drain the benefits system leaving less money to be spent on other areas such as health care and reforms. It is a common misconception that Mexican immigrants do low paid unskilled work which the majority of American citizens are unwilling to undertake. However these facts are disputed by the writer Steven Camarota who states ‘Of the 465 civilian occupations, only four are majority immigrants. These four occupations account for less than 1 per cent of the total U.S. workforce. Moreover, native-born Americans comprise 47 per cent of workers in these occupations.’ Drug trafficking and the resultant violence in Northern Mexico is a real problem for the United States and for the Mexicans themselves. However by constructing a fence which has been called a ‘wall of hate’ then surely this exacerbates the situation...
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...Essay #1 No matter where you go, you will always encounter dominant popular ideologies. The definition of dominant popular ideology is values, morals and beliefs shared by a large group of people or most of the people in a society. It also shows the perspective of the population towards society. Dominant popular ideologies, social labeling, and public policies all share the same concept but are completely different. Social labeling, as we discussed in class has two key dimensions; desirable-undesirable, and independent-dependent (class session 9/17). Not only that but social labeling is also how certain people fit into certain categories. Some examples of that would be such as college students, teachers, workers, teammates and so on. Public policies have two different types which are punitive and incentive. Punitive would mean that the outcome would be negative. A clear example would be what has occurred in Arizona; on how any officer can stop someone and ask for legal papers at any time. Majority of the time this law is targeted towards Hispanics. Incentive policies would be the opposite of punitive and the outcome of that one is positive. Pat Buchanan characterizes the “Hispanic Population” as very powerful and dominant. Very dominant a dominant popular ideology towards Latinos and immigrants is that the citizens see “social non-comformity as threatening to security”. Not only that but citizens fear that the Latino immigrants are coming in huge numbers and they start to see...
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...The city of Chicago has long been considered a prime destination for many immigrant groups coming into the United States. Though, despite its popularity, the city has long shown disdain and disregard for those coming into its borders. This argument is made apparent through the stories of both the Polish and the Mexicans and Puerto Ricans who have come into the city. In the case of the Polish, author and historian, Dominic Pacyga writes on their story and ordeal in his work, Polish Immigrants and Industrial Chicago. His work specifically focuses on Polish in the South Side of Chicago between the years of 1880 and 1922. Pacyga paints a dismal picture for the Chicago Polish communities at the time. Often, many found low paying work in either the...
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...English essay – The Arizona immigration law We get an assignment, to write an essay about the Arizona immigration law. We get some material as, facts, articles and interviews with Barack Obama. In the following part I would make a summary of the materials. To discuss the problems about the Arizona immigration law, I need to know something about the US political system, how you approve the law. In the USA, there are two types of laws: The Federal legislation there applies to all Americans and all the states. It's about everything that is common to all. For example, the civil rights, immigration law, foreign policy laws. There is also The State legislation that stands for the law in the single states, things there can be different from state to state as taxes. In this text we will mostly work with the state Arizona, where the governor signs the Immigration law. ” Immigration - local impact of Arizona law” summary In TV-program about “the Arizona Immigration law”, are about the state Arizona and a new immigration law. The new law makes it possible for Arizona’ police department to check every person they suspect as illegal immigrants. They can hold them at the station, to the suspects background where discovered. Neighborhood state California, see the opportunities in the law because of the many immigrants in California. “President Obama on fixing the broken Immigration system” summery The American President Barack Obama talks about the immigration system. He said every American...
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...Immigration reform essay: According to Pew Research Center, there are roughly 11 million illegal immigrants in the u.s. as of 2015. This is so far one of the best estimates we have today on how many illegal immigrants reside in the u.s. When looking at illegal immigration patterns across other developed nations these numbers tend to be much lower (CITATION NEEDED). In the u.s we have seventy five percent of our illegal immigration coming from mexico while the other twenty five percent is from various latin and south american countries (citation needed). With the current amount of illegal immigrants residing in our country our political leaders must be able to make immigration reform possible. There are a few ways to do this. The Conservative...
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...The House of Fallen Angels: Microcosm of an Immigrant Family In the United States, immigrants, especially those of Mexican descent, tend to be broadly categorized into two groups: documented and undocumented. While both classifications are discriminated against by members of the white majority, they are viewed as standing on two sides of a distinct boundary. However, this metaphorical division is rarely defined, and it often bisects families or even individuals. For example, Mexican-American author Luis Alberto Urrea, known for his works pertaining to the Mexican border and “illegal” immigration, admitted to a reporter that he “often felt like there was a border wall running through his family’s San Diego apartment” (“Mexican-American Author”...
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...In this essay will discuss several issues cover in this course, that have helped change and reinforce my ideas for social change. Prejudices and Stereotypes against Mexican Americans and its impact; the color gradient system in America and other societies and the class system around the world and its impact. Finally, the civil rights movement and the impact all of society. Understanding the stereotypes and prejudices against Mexican American people has helped change my stance on many issues including immigration. Mexican-Americans have faced stereotype and prejudices which has leads to unfair treatment and judgment against an entire race of people. The stereotype that all Mexican Americans speak Spanish effectively associates...
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...defined as the tendency to believe that one’s own race or ethnic group is the most important and that some or all aspects of its culture are superior to those of other groups. (Wikipedia, 2009) Directed by Patricia Riggen, the film “La Misma Luna” also known as “Under the Same Moon” provides viewers with a glimpse of what life is like in the Mexican culture. While also introducing Mexican values and norms the film also addresses stereotypes and cultural biases distorted throughout the world. The drama, “Under the Same Moon” centers on a young boy’s journey across the US and Mexico border to be reunited with his mother. (Riggen, 2007)The Mexican adolescent, Carlito lives with his grandmother while his mother works as a maid in Los Angeles, California. Carlito’s mother, Rosario hopes to save up enough money and someday send for her child. When the grandmother dies unexpectedly, Carlito must sneak across the border and seek out his mother. Throughout this heartwarming and inspirational film, Carlito’s struggle to cross the border was depicted. Often called the “forgotten people” because of their lack of inclusion in history books, Mexican Americans are portrayed either in a negative light or as a stereotype. (Oracle Education Foundation, 2008) The comparison of Mexico and the United States was undoubtedly noticeable in “Under the Same Moon”. The ethnocentric mind set displayed in the film was objectively two-sided through subliminal messages. Both cultures believe or see each...
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...Karina Castillo Literature Comp II Professor Oujo the purpose of this essay is to explore several harmful but also positive effects that immigration has the economy of the U.S The Cold war had become a massive dominant influence on different aspects of the American society for much of the 20th century. This had many effects on society, both today and in the past. It expanded due to antagonist values between the United States, it represented capitalism and democracy. The Cold War was different from most wars in that it was as much of a promotion war as a war with military engagements. The Korean and Vietnam Wars are two examples of military intervention by the Americans in the name of stopping communist expansionism. However, these wars did not have the extra-long impact that the Cold War have on American domestic and foreign policy that the cultural, economic and political battles of the Cold War had. Now this leads into the cultural battles between the superpowers had as much, or more. This left more of an impact on the everyday lives of most American civilians. Not being an American civilian or citizen wasn’t an issue either. So is immigration a positive effect in North America? Without immigration, The United States would not be nearly as diverse as it is today. But illegal immigration is a tremendous drain on the resources of The United States. But we must find a way to humanely treat illegal immigrants today without allowing or encouraging a further disadvantage...
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...Essay We all see America as a big country where dreams can become reality, - The American Dream -, and in my opinion it is true. America has become a big destination for immigrants from Mexico, Spain, Africa etc. and in my opinion it is great because for a nation as big as America, it is important to have immigrants from different society to build an even greater society. The society as we know as America. Of course many people think it would be better to have one common culture, nationality or religion because then they might have the same habits, norms and the same sense in terms of policy, but I think they are wrong. I think they are wrong because in a country as big as America you will need many immigrants from different places for the influence of the culture and the people. The influence of immigrants is very good, because it is forming a strong society with a lot of different cultures, which means they get affected by each other in a positive way. The melting pot, also known as “the salad bowl”, is a synonym for a country build with a lot of different immigrants from different places, to build a strong society. Well we can definitely say that America is the melting pot, because of all the immigrants that have built such a strong and big country as America. It is not a surprise that there are many Immigrants in America, because America is a country where people, think that their dreams can become true and they want to secure their kids future. Most of the immigrants...
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...Immigration How many people are deported each year? The Obama administration deported a record 438,421 unauthorized immigrants in fiscal year 2013, continuing a streak of stepped up enforcement that has resulted in more than 2 million deportations since Obama took office, newly released Department of Homeland Security data show (pew research center). Immigration is the action of coming to live permanently in a foreign country. On this essay im going to be talking about the immigration issues in the united states, was the presidents actions constitutional, how much does the government make a year from the immigration, immigration expensives, the places that the immigration is happening at. Executive actions are often controversial, with members...
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