Richard Alba's 'Bright Vs. Blurred Boundaries'

David G Gutiérrez’s Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the Politics of Ethnicity discuss the deep and complex understudied relationship between Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants. This relationship was a natural consequence of the mass illegal immigration from Mexico to the United States that had constantly been increasing the population of “ethnic Mexicans” and along with it brought tensions between those who were Americans of Mexican descent and had been living here for generations and those who had freshly arrived to the United States and as such did whatever they had to do to make a living.

The book focus on the youth immigrant and how they come across the bother. The border in this book does not simply mean nation- state border. It is the racial, language, schooling, racial borders. Basically, these borders usually happen when you come to the country which you have never experienced. Therefore, youth immigrant couldn’t imagine how the new life treat them in new country. Most of immigrant before they come to United State, They all have the beautiful image of America in their head. But The truth behind the “American Dream” is the harsh reality which they have to face everyday.

Several communities are known for having residents from a specific ethnic group. Oscar Casares delves deeper behind this topic in his essay, “Crossing the Border without Losing your Past,” where he discusses how vital it is for an individual to hold onto the roots of their ancestors as well as practicing its rich culture and traditions. Due to prominent similarities in culture, language, life style, and cuisine, many individuals from a certain race live in a community with others of their kind, hence the gathering of neighborhoods in unison. Thus, Casares states, “In my hometown, Brownsville, Tex., almost everyone I know is Mexicano: neighbors, teachers, principals, … rich and poor, short and tall, fat and

Segmented assimilation combines multiple elements and because of this is able to provide a different perspective. Zhou discusses how this theory recognized the fusion of immigrants in America but acknowledges that the complete assimilation of becoming American is not always beneficial (999). Giving the diverseness of America to retain what culture and values one was raised on can benefit the migrant in various ways. Especially giving the many cultural organizations established to assist immigrants. I enjoyed the article and agreed with a majority of it. Zhou understands the benefits and consequences of maintaining and losing any cultural values you migrated with. Her perspective on Gordon’s theories were clarifying in some sense. However, I believe the assimilation process for second generation is a difficult thing to narrow down. Zhou’s theory that where an immigrant is placed in system describes success and assimilation. This perspective is new and frighteningly eye opening. Where you are “placed’ in system would have dramatic effects on one’s assimilation and ability to

In my book Torn by David Massey a girl nicknamed Buffy applied for the united states army as a medic. Buffy was sent to Afghanistan where she found herself going on daily missions where she was fighting and suppose to be saving people's lives. Instead Buffy was putting people's live on the line. she had tried to manipulate IEDs, negotiate with children that wanted to killer her, and stood up to many highly ranked military officers. Throughout this all she was seeing weird things that only kept on confusing her more and more as she sou and heard more about them.

Joseph Healey’s “From Immigrants to White Ethnics” is a generalized comparison between the varying groups of individuals that accompanied the colossal waves of immigration to the United States from Europe in the nineteenth century. Immigration to this country resulted from a number of reason such as religious persecution, individuals seeking to find employment after industrialization in their home countries limited their livelihood, and political oppositions to name a few. On arrival the immigrants knew immediately they were of the subordinate group and faced “discrimination and prejudice” (Healey, 2012, p. 54), although some more so than others. Among the first immigrants to arrive in the United States were Northern and Western European citizens. Unlike the immigrants from Ireland and Southern and Eastern Europe that chose the United States for their new homeland these individuals were probably the most accepted by the majority, even if considered just nominally superior to the others. Included in this group were the “English, Germans, Norwegians, Swedes, Welsh, French, Dutch and Danes” (Healey, 2012, p. 56). This acceptance was due in part to the similarities that the dominate group held as ideals such as their religion, along with cultural values and characteristics. If the Northern and Western Europeans found acceptance difficult, individuals from Ireland and the Europeans from the south and east had an even more traumatic experience. Whereas the more accepted group had

How race determined who was in and who was out. As Dickerson states “if race is real and not just a method for the haves to decide who will be have-nots, then all Europeans immigrants, from Ireland a to Greece, would have been “white” the moment they arrived here. Instead, as documented in David Roediger’s excellent Working Towards Whiteness, they were long considered inferior, nearly subhuman, and certainly not white” (69). This shows how race wasn’t about common culture or history but a concept to decide what race is good enough to be consider “white” or better than others. Even though the Europeans where the same race or color of the other people who considered themselves Americans or “white” they were still discriminated for being different and immigrants like everybody else. But soon they realized that identifying them self as being white gave them some sort of hierarchy. It gave them more class compared to the other races. As Debra Dickerson said, “If you were neither black nor Asian nor Hispanic, eventually you could become white, invested with enforceable civil rights and the right to exploit-and hate-nonwhites” (69). Being identify as white gave the power to have privileges that non-whites will never have since they are not the same color. Non- whites are treated unfairly compared to the white people in many ways. Discrimination not only took place between people of different races but

“But on other levels, James’s gaze at “new immigrants” a racially inflected term that categorized the numerous newcomers from southern and eastern Europe as different both from the whiter and longer established northern and western Europe migrants to the United States and from the nonwhite Chinese and other “Asiatics” opened for him new possibilities and alien drama”, stated by Roediger (2005, 5 & 6). With white’s being on top of everything and the new immigrants are not being accepted very easy as to pass under the government’s regulations, it makes them confused of what they are really supposed to be and what identity they belong

You rarely hear of a situation in which an immigrant is welcomed into a new country and makes an easy and happy life there. The American Dream most people look for is very difficult to reach. There are many things you have to go through and many stages of life you will be held back on but there are some people who change the views of this and push through. Garnette Cadogan was a walker, but little did he know his walking would change the way people saw him and the same goes for Older, he didn’t know his letter to his wife would relate so closely to the way other people lived. In “Black and Blue”, Cadogan discusses his life as an immigrant. When Cadogan moved to the United States, he realized that being a different color made the people around you automatically fear you. While attending college in the US Cadogan completely changed the way he acted around the police and other people. In “This Far: Notes on Love and Revolution” author, Daniel Older writes a letter to his wife explaining why she should not fear moving to a new place and bringing a child of color into the world. In both “Black and Blue” and “This Far: Notes on Love and Revolution” the authors Older and Cadogan tell us about their fears of moving to a new place. Not just because of their race, but because of how limited their growth could be due to moving to a new country.

Growing up I was always told “be a leader, not a follower” and “treat others how you want to be treated”.As a child i thought these were just words i would recite to me dad every morning not knowing that he was teaching me to stand out, in others words, marginality. assimilation on the other hand is something most of us try to avoid nobody wants to be “just another one” and playing by someone else’s rules. In the three works “The Fire Next Time”, A james Baldwin photograph, and “Para Teresa” i found evidence of marginality and assimilation for all different kinds of worldwide issues toda. I’ll explain.

“The Arrival,” by Shaun Tan, is a wordless novel that depicts the experience immigrants go through when vacating their home countries to start new in a different country. Readers can see that on the first page there is a collage of headshots from multiple people of different ethnicity and religion. The first image page of the wordless novel helps viewers get a clearer image of what the novel is about. In “The Arrival,” Shaun Tan depicts the hardships and enjoyment that immigrants experience when moving to a new country, since the piece was written in 2006, there seems to be more hardships than enjoyment when coming to the United States, which means the idea of the United States being a melting pot is flawed.

“In 2009, 33 million people in the United States were second generation immigrants, representing 11% of the national population. The children of such immigrants in the U.S., also known as "second generation immigrants," experience a cultural conflict between that of their parents and that of mainstream U.S. society” (Wikipedia 1). Amy Tan the author of “Two Kinds”, and the young character in the story both are a second generation immigrants, who have struggled in their life with parents, about the culture they assimilating and their real culture.

Dinaw Mengestu talks about his life long trouble with his society and fitting in with the people of his community. Born in Ethiopia and raised in the States confused him and made him feel like he doesn’t belong anywhere. He doesn’t feel like he was ever part of the Ethiopian society and is not accepted in the United States, as an American. I understand his situation, not because I went through what he has but I’ve lived around people that have. During high school I had a Persian friend who’s parents have immigrated to Bahrain, and he felt like he didn’t belong in the country he also didn’t feel like he was a Persian at all, because he has never been there. It was difficult on him to make friends, and people made him feel like an outsider. But like Mengestu my friend slowly adapted to his surrounding and didn’t identify

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 arrival of immigrants into developed nations has been a common trend for centuries, but so has the wave of resentment from natives of the land towards those who are migrants. Adichie illustries this migrant struggle through Americanah, which explores the hardships migrants must face with trying to be accepted into the new society. With her portrayal of the immigrant tendency to assimilate, Adichie skillfully highlights the pain associated with losing essential parts of one’s true identity.