My Brother

If I were the president of the United States and this whole issue about immigration was still current I would have no idea how to go about it.  This topic is very sensitive to many citizens and immigrants, however when thinking about giving every immigrant papers sounds so wonderful to me, however I stop, and rethink about how the world would function.  I come from an immigrant family; I can say that I have been very lucky to be born in this country.  Seeing some of my family members not having the right to do certain things can be heart breaking.  My mother has family in Mexico who she has not been able to visit for 22 years now.  My brother has dreams about going to a private university, however he has not transferred to any because my family does not have the money to be paying for a private university or any university with out the help of financial aid.  Even though if he were to go to a private university and get a degree how is he suppose to get a job without a social security?  I try to make him think positive, but how can one be positive when one has no rights?  Also how can one stay positive when some citizens do not want you here?

            For example, my brother cause this young man has big dreams about becoming a marketing accountant.  He has dreamed of going to a private university or University of Southern California his whole life.  Even though, has a senior in high school he did apply for states universities and was accepted, he could not go because he did not get any financial aid, the scholarships he received did not cover all the expenses.  I’m sure my brother saw his whole life go down, just because he is not documented.  I feel extremely sad for my brother, for the reason that I know he hates the fact that I will be graduating this year and getting my degree before he does, I’m younger then my brother, but I’ve had the chance to receive a higher education before him not because I’m smarter then him but because I was born in the United States.  Even though, my brother was not born in the States, his homeland still is the U.S.  My brother does not know anything about Mexico; he was brought here at the age of 1 years old.  If I were the president I would give young immigrant adults who are striving for the American education. 

What does Thanksgiving mean to your family?

Thanksgiving to my family means coming together to celebrates each other’s greatness.  Since early age I have always celebrated Thanksgiving with my mother side of the family.  However, my mother is the youngest sibling out of 12. Each year thanksgiving comes around I’m truly excited, for the reason that I get to see families members I have not communicated with for a few months.  Thanksgiving is our kick off celebration for our holiday’s celebration.

            The meaning of thanksgiving to my family means celebrating our family love.  Before we all start having dinner, everyone in our family has to go around and say what they are thankful for.  Usually some of us start tearing up because some of us have gone through difficult times and we let our heart out to our family members.  On the other hand, we support each other by hugging and giving each other a kiss on the cheek, letting each other know that we have to stay strong and be there for one another.  We end our family moment by having my mothers oldest sister saying a pray for the family, blessing each and one of us.  My family’s thanksgiving is a day to thank god for blessing us with this wonderful family even though at times we fight with each other we know how to make up. 

            In continuation, my family celebrates thanksgiving the American culture way.  Even though most of my cousins and I are first generations American citizens our family does not protract our Mexican culture food on thanksgiving.  One would assume that we would have postole and tamales as our dinner or more Mexican ethnic dishes.  However, my family still cooks, turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, ham, pumpkin pie, corn bread, and mac and cheese.  I’m truly glad we do this because it feels like it makes the celebration more meaningful.  Having food that the natives American and pilgrims ate together countless years ago. 

            Now that I’ve taken this ethnic studies class the meaning of thanksgiving for me has slightly changed.  I feel like my family and I are so caught up with our own family that we forget to give thanks to the Native Americans.  This is really their holiday we are just supporting them and celebrating with them.  At my thanksgiving dinner this year I will start a new tradition.  I will ask my family members to take a moment and send our blessing to these Native people that had to face countless struggles throughout their history.          

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Latino/Hispanic

In our last class we spoke about Latino and Hispanic.  Both of these terms represent numerous national groups that speak Spanish and that also have some similarities within their culture.  For example Mexican, Dominicans, Salvadoran, and Puerto Ricans are considered Latino or Hispanic.  The difference between these to terms is Hispanic according to the sell it in Spanish states that the term Hispanic refers to heritage or national group.  It can also refer to one’s birth of country or parents birth place also it can mean were one’s ancestors come from.  Where Latino refers to culture aspects such as multiple characteristics such as language and traditions. 

            After asking my mother why she identifies as a Hispanic makes much sense to me.  The reason mother has always used the term Hispanic was because throughout your educational years in Mexico, her teachers would tell them to say they were Hispanic, which is a correct term.  However, on the other hand myself, I have always said I was Latino, putting much thought in it I feel like the world Latino brings all these different Spanish speaking cultures together as one.  I think it’s very similar to the term Asian so many different Asian cultures fall into this term for example Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.  At the end of the day it’s really up one self to say what they identify as.           

Immigration Film

The documentary film that we are watching in class motivated me in many ways.  My mother and I are extremely close; I asked her a few questions about immigration and coming to the United States.  It’s crazy how things worked out, my mother come back and forth from Mexico and the States countless times without documents.  The last time she immigrated and stayed forever was when I was born on September 15, 1990.  My mother stated that my family moved to the United States for my siblings and myself.  They wanted us to have the best future and have a titled job. My parent’s goal for us is not to have to work ourselves as hard as they have to support my siblings and I.  Both of my parents have very tiring jobs my mother is a housekeeper and my father is a mechanic.  My mother said that many people in Mexico think of the States of a place where dreams do come true because in Mexico one can only get far in life if one’s family is wealthy.  This is one of the many reasons why my family came here.

            According to the Pew Research Center, about 11.2 immigrants from Mexico immigrated to the United State in 2008.  However, the film gave us much useful information that made me strive to help immigrant families succeed.   I have learned that we should not judge these humans and kick them out from our country.  These immigrants from all over the world, I feel like they are not harming us, I strongly feel like the ones who are here to make a better living do jobs that we citizens think we are to good for.  In also many of the young ones are here to get educated and that’s a great thing because that means that many of them can go back to Mexico and try to make it a better country.  One can see that many immigrants are here to earn and save a little of American many to take back to Mexico.  The same Pew Research Center also stated that 433,000 immigrants went back home in 2008.  I don’t feel like many of them are affecting our economic, they just come and go.

            If we put ourselves in their position I would want to be accepted, also I would want to receive the most help I could as an immigrant student to succeed in life.  Immigrants have to wake up with a fear every morning hoping that they are not deported from the United States.  Like I have mention earlier in this blog, hopefully once I graduate this year in May I get the opportunity to do this internship in LA working with immigrant families.  The organization that I’m applying for is located in Los Angles and was started by immigrants from EL Salvador.       

CH 7questions

11)   What disease did the immigrants in Hamburg have? How many humans did it kill?

22)   The ships in the 20^th century were different how? What immigrants in the 20^th century still traveled in the old ships?

33)   What did the immigrants in Liverpool have to go through before coming to the States?

44)   Where did most of the Arabs live in the U.S?  What did they do for a living and what did they sell?