Mitali Perkins A Note To Young Immigrants

People’s perceptions of belonging can change over time, but this isn’t the case for all. When people experience moments of crisis in their lives they sometimes force a change within themselves and that is what helps them find an individual sense of belonging. This is highlighted in many texts and even composers life works. Texts that support this statement include Peter Skrzynecki’s Immigrant Chronicle poems, of which I have chosen St Patricks College and Feliks Skrzynecki. Skrzynecki’s poetry expresses the difficulties he faces when change doesn’t occur throughout time, as time alone isn’t a factor and that your sense of belonging is something that comes from within, with or without anyone.

Immigrating to America is a process in which many people all across the world entrust as their one way ticket to a better life. Whether they do so legally or illegally, coming to the United States ensures better opportunities, economically, politically, and so on, to people who would have otherwise been worse off in their countries of origin. Even so, the common understanding of being “better off” can be considered a misconstrued concept when it comes to living in the states. Many families that choose to immigrate to the U.S. fail to realize the cultural hardships that newcomers tend to face once on American soil. Anything from racial discrimination or bias at work, in neighborhoods, at school, etc., can all be challenges that people encounter when making a move to the U.S. Such challenges are described by Richard Rodriquez in his autobiography Hunger of Memory. In this passage, he explains how cultural differences between Mexican and American ways of life have shaped him into the person that he is today. He also chooses to highlights the problems that he faces growing up in a predominately white neighborhood, while attending a predominantly white institution. Much of his writing consists of the cultural differences and pressures he feels to assimilate to Western culture and how this process, in turn, changes him into the person that some may find to be unethical, but nonetheless, someone he is proud of.

For more than 300 years, immigrants from every corner of the globe have settled in America, creating the most diverse and heterogeneous nation on Earth. Though immigrants have given much to the country, their process of changing from their homeland to the new land has never been easy. To immigrate does not only mean to come and live in a country after leaving your own country, but it also means to deal with many new and unfamiliar situations, social backgrounds, cultures, and mainly with the acquisition and master of a new language. This often causes mixed emotions, frustration, awkward feelings, and other conflicts. In Richard Rodriguez’s essay “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, the author

Americans can never experiences the hardships and struggles that an immigrant experiences, at least not in the same type of context. Many authors describe the way American born citizens alienate immigrants: lowering their standards, taking away opportunities, and downright judging them for any reason that can be found. In Firoozeh Dumas’ memoir Funny in Farsi, and Pat Mora’s poem “Legal Alien” many descriptions of the struggles to live to what they are worth in America are shown. Being viewed as unworthy, and not amounting to what they truly should be—these are just small examples of what Dumas and Mora describe life as an immigrant in America. From the other sided view of things, in Richard Crowson’s political cartoon “Great American Melting

In “International Migration” Berry talks about the different issues people face when they have to migrate to a different place, a different society. It is often difficult for migrants in new settings because they are not sure how to act and what steps they need to take in order to fit in. This sort of conflict is illustrated when Berry states that “Existing identities and attitudes change and new ones develop: personal identity and ethnic identity often shift away from those held prior to contact, and views about how (and whether) one should participate in the process of acculturation emerge” (Berry 3). Coming to a different society is very difficult on its own, adding the idea of trying to fit in, to the mix creates an even more complicated task. This applies to Thi’s parents in that they are not too sure how to act when they first arrive in America.

Many second generation minorities from immigrant parents are driven subconsciously to conform to new culture and social norms. For foreign born parents and native born children integrating the two cultures they inhabit brings about different obstacles and experiences. In Jhumpa’s “The Namesake” the protagonist Gogol is a native born American with foreign born parents. The difference with birth location plays an important role in assimilating to a new society in a new geography. The difficulty for parents is the fact that they’ve spent a decent amount of time accustomed to a new geography, language, culture and society which makes it difficult to feel comfortable when all of that changes. For Gogol the difficulty only lies with the cultural norms imposed by his parent’s and the culture and social norms that are constantly presented in the new society.

The question of identity is always a difficult one for those living in one culture, yet belonging to another. This question frequently lingers in the mind of most immigrants, especially the second generations who were born in a country other than their parents’ motherland. They feel culturally displaced as they are simultaneously living in two cultures. On the one hand, they no longer feel emotionally attached and cannot fully identify themselves with their indigenous culture; while on the other hand, when they wish to adopt the identity of the new culture, they have not been fully accepted as its members.

It is expected that ultimately there will be a loss of ethnic distinctiveness for immigrants in the U.S., meaning the lack of attachment to the country of origin. (Golash-Boza, 2006) It is argued that all ethnic distinctiveness will no longer exist by the seventh or eighth generations. Before exploring the influence of foreign born vs. U.S. born parents on their children’s cultural assimilation; the different theories of assimilation will be explored. The idea of Assimilation came about in the early 20th century. (Golash-Boza, 2006) Assimilation is surrounded by two theories, the first that all immigrants will assimilate sooner or later and that the generational status of the individual is one of the main factors in determining the

Immigration is the means for a individual that is not originally from an area or country to migrate to another area, “the action of coming to live permanently in a foreign country” (Google, 2017). When an individual from a different country migrates into a foreign country they undergo “immediate stressors associated with meeting basic survival needs, losing the familiar, learning English, and meeting the demands of life in a new environment. They also soon face resettlement challenges of cop- ing with cultural change, mobilizing resources to meet their needs, and formulating future life goals” (Timberlake, Faber, Wall, Taylor, Sabatino, 2003) Immigrants usually rely on their spirituality, moral frameworks, culture framework and famility sustaining

The United States has been a host to a wide diaspora of people. Immigrants have had to transition from their familiar land to a new-fashioned foreign land that they must consider home. They bring with them the essence of their initial homeland such as customs, traditions and beliefs that inadvertently change the dynamics of culture within the United States. As a result the United States is an extremely culturally diverse nation. The continual changes or accretions that Americans encounter have always been a controversial topic depending on the experiences of individuals and communities that have immigrant populations. This essay will critically explore

The changing environments throughout the ages have caused the movement of thousands of families out of their homelands. Whether forced to make such decisions or doing so by their own desires, all immigrants have had to survive the physical and psychological challenges encountered along the way. To speak about the experiences of all these different people using the same ideas and examples would be quite inaccurate. They all, however, had to live through similar situations and deal with similar problems. Many of them succeeded and found the better future they were looking for. Many others found only hardship and experienced the destruction of their hopes and dreams. All of them were transformed.

The increasing accommodations directed toward immigrant culture worries many Americans. Americans fear the special treatment granted to immigrants will affect the unifying force of the country. Today, the trend is toward multiculturalism, diversity and adapting the newcomer, rather than on the newcomer adapting himself or herself to a diverse society (61).

The question of identity is always a difficult one for those living in a culture or group, yet belonging to another. This difficulty frequently remains in the mind of most immigrants, especially the second generations who were born in a country other than their parents. Younger generations feel as if they are forced to change to fit the social standards despite previous culture or group. Furthermore those who wish to adopt a new identity of a group or culture haven't yet been fully accepted by original members due to their former identity.

Many immigrants come to the United States in pursuit of opportunity, however they struggle to adopt the dominant culture’s language, which limits the job opportunities available to them. Historically, immigrants assimilated by having to learn dominant language, but this challenge led them to create ethnic enclaves that make them feel more welcomed. Many enclaves in the United States, for example the Latino population in San Francisco’s Mission District, give a sense of comfort and nostalgia of home because people from that community have similarities to their homeland. Newcomers do not need to step out of their enclave because they have all the support they need in their communities. Although many immigrants come to the United States in hope of opportunity, they are limited to achieving and moving forward because of their ethnic enclaves. Because these enclaves do not allow them to expand into different cultures, they are limited both socially and economically.

Everyday I am on a constant race to discover who I am as an individual. I am fighting this battle whether I choose to acknowledge it or not. Donald Hernandez has written in his book Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance; he talks about major key points, but the most important one state “Third, because life chances differ greatly according to race and ethnicity in the United States, and because of the race and ethnic composition of immigrants to this country has shifted markedly during recent decades,” (3). That is true trying to be one thing is very hard in USA society has an effect of how you may become as the individual. If I were in another country they would just see as an American and nothing else, but the place that I was born and raised they see me as what my parents are Nigerians. I am not American because my parents are from Nigeria; this has been a very constant thing, because of several definitions of what it