Summary Of Quixote's Soldiers

Separated by more than a literal fence, an older man began questioning the legality of some Hispanic citizens. He started by saying, “You people need to get your stuff together before you talk about something you do not know…” and continued to talk about an experience at Lowell’s where the cashier spoke Spanish, “a language [he] doesn’t particularly like speaking.” The irony of his quote was one portion, but his explanation for his feelings were lacking. It took a lot for me to step back from this moment and see that the man was also at a crossroads: Liberty (he knew) and his home (Prince William County). He was more flustered at assimilating to a Hispanic fused county then at immigration

“’Those giants you see over there with long arms: some of them have them well-nigh two leagues in length,’ [replies] his master,” (Cervantes 36).

Unfair laboring and immigration in the United States has affected Latinas/os lives for decades. In the United States millions of Latina/o citizens, emigrants, and immigrants have dealt with bias, racially segregated, and limited positions in regards to labor. They have been limited to blue collar jobs with low wages, no benefits, and hardly any raises. In the article, “Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy”, Andrea Smith argues, “This framework does not assume that racism and white supremacy is enacted in a singular fashion; rather, white supremacy is constituted by separate and distinct, but still interrelated, logics.” (Smith 67). I believe that Andrea Smith’s two of the Three Pillars of White Supremacy: Genocide/Colonialism and Orientalism/War fits with Latina/o labor and immigration. I also believe that her first pillar of Slavery/Capitalism could be displayed slightly differently to be more suitable with Latina/o labor and immigration. In this paper I will argue how the two out of the three pillars fit with Latina/o labor and immigration. I will also argue and propose a new pillar to represent Latinas/os labor and immigration. I will also argue how sexuality, power, and gender play a role in these three pillars.

Becoming Mexican American is George J. Sanchez’s document how Chicanos survived as a community in Los Angeles during the first part of the twentieth century. He goes into detail of how many thousands of Mexicans were pushed back in to Mexico during a formal repatriation. Those that survived in Los Angeles joined labor unions and became involved in New Deal politics.

The Latino/a experience within the racial system in America was similar to that of Indian immigrants from Asia. In the early 1800s, Indians were granted free access to immigrate to America and naturalize as American citizens because they were perceived as whites. However, as social tensions between Indian and Anglo men began competing for jobs, housing, and women, Members of Congress racialized Indians. They justified that Indian men were no longer privileged to be white because Indians left Europe and traveled backwards to the East, making them inferior (Aoki, and Takeda). These examples of racialization are important to understand how Latino/as have been unwanted in the job

Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize winning author, shares his life-long journey as an undocumented immigrant in his text, “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant.” As the title suggests, Vargas attempts to convey to his audience, who likely never has and never will experience anything similar to what he has, what it is like to live as an immigrant in the United States of America. Skillfully, Vargas details the perfect number of personal stories to reach the emotional side of his audience, which is anyone who is not an immigrant. Through the use of his personal accounts Vargas is able to effectively communicate that immigrants are humans too while simultaneously proving his credibility, as he has experience and a vast amount of knowledge

Around sixty ranchers submitted a petition to the Congress protesting the unfair legal process that each landowner had to go through to prove their claims to the lands. Although this petition did not stop the legal structures from continuing to exploit the vulnerability of the Mexicans, it undoubtedly reflected the stark contrast between the lives of Mexicans before and after entering the American society, served as a criticism and a challenge for the unjust legal system, and demonstrated that the Mexicans were very capable of standing up for themselves, as opposed to being submissive. Aside from this petition, many of the dispossessed Mexicans formed “a community of the dispossessed” where they shared their experiences and stories and showed support for each other (Takaki 169). Through sharing their stories with others, their stories were passed down to the future generations and through these stories, history was preserved. Both the petition and the community worked to shed light upon the inequality in United States, and how the legal system contradicted itself by serving as the tool of discrimination while advocating for the equality of all

This tenacious journey to develop my identity was finally over. For a brief moment, I was able to denounce the racial stigmas against me. However, if I were to be faced with this uncomfortable situation once again, I would simply smile. I would invite anyone who disapproved of my heritage to Latin-America Fest. I refuse to be silence in the faces of the ignorant. I refuse to be intimated by racism. I stand proud and tall with my Latino brothers and sisters, facing the world everyday. Regardless of what the world may think, I will continue to defy the gravitational pull of triumph and rise above the prejudices against

MAS 10B (also known as Mexican-American 10B) is a course that helps students’ become exposed to a different perspective by using a historical, cultural, and political approach within readings, discussions, and group work regarding about the ongoing Mexican struggle and how it affects us. The course examines this in a chronological order of the Mexican struggle with the capitalist in 1848 to the May Day 2006 marches. Overall, the course presented through a different perspective and provided us with tools to analyze each event, whether it would be the strike of the local-890 mill to the 1992 Los Angeles riots that all these events are linked to the present day and the impacts it has had for Mexicans.

Throughout our history as a nation, we have earned a reputation of undermining the relationships we have had with minorities and of largely neglecting their needs. Our almost hostile nature towards minorities in the United States can largely be seen in the treatment of Mexicans and Mexican American citizens in the times surrounding World War Two. Such hostilities are reflected in our treatment of Mexican Americans in the late 19th after the Civil War and early 20th centuries, the Sleepy Lagoon murder responses, and the Zoot Suit riots. My primary source reveals a feeling of inferiority in the United States by the Mexican American youth due discrimination that they faced, which can be better understood by analyzing the cultural contexts.

Michael Innis Jimenez’s Steel Barrio examines the way Mexicans and Mexican Americans lived in south Chicago during the 1920’s and onward. The book provides a general idea on the lifestyle of people coming from Mexican descent; from the struggle they tried to overcome, to the ideas they developed. It seems like survival was a key part of the Mexican life during that time, especially being surrounded by their white counterparts and hate. The appropriate word for their survival in Chapter 6 of the book is resistance. After reading the chapter on Resistance, it dawned upon myself that most Mexicans living in America were prideful of where they came from even though Mexico was in poor economic shape at the time. The main point in the book is to draw an overall picture of Mexican life in south Chicago, but the main point in the chapter was to point out the will of the Mexican to resist American assimilation also referred to as “Americanization”.

modules gives many examples how strong cultural pasts lead to identity problems in a new society. Also, the module shows us that many Mexicans were not happy with the stereotype formed about their identity. In Between the Lines, we see how Mexicans in America suffer through harsh discrimination, while trying to stay close to their relatives and culture. The letters talk about how Whites did not have concerns with family values or cultural beliefs. Whites based many of their values off succeeding in the economy. Whites in general had no regard for Mexicans as people.

Discrimination has been the brawn of injustices done to people of color. Most don't know of the Chicano struggle in the United Stated for the past four to six generations. Chicanos in America were forced to face chaos, poverty, and pain. Chicano, by Richard Vasquez is a perfect example of how Mexican Americans and Chicanos were treated in America during the 90's. Although Chicanos faced a burdensome life in America, lots of customs and culture immigrated to America with them, which has fabricated the Chicano Culture. The book Chicano profoundly demonstrates how hard it was for a Mexican family to immigrate to America. Once Chicanos started a life in America, it was very hard to get out of it. Mexicans were not socially accepted because

This animosity towards Mexican Americans contradicted the shared belief that the west was not only an escape to freedom but also a utopia where immigrants could turn a new page and paint a future for themselves. I argue that segregation in the 19th and 20th centuries was not only centralized in the South but also in the West as seen by the Mendez v Westminster case of 1946 and, consequently, that this incorrect notion of segregation being dominant only in the south led to the pivotal Brown v Board of Education case overshadowing the historical significance of Mendez v Westminster.

Depicted on the cover of Quixote’s Soldiers is a group of Mexican- American men and women in protest formation. They carry with them signs that say “Justice for La Raza,” “Ando sangrando igual que tu,” and “Cops out of our communities!” David Montejano argues that Mexican- American reform groups are often left out of the Civil Rights Movement taught in a classroom. San Antonio was the birthplace of the Chicano movement. Here, various organizations were formed to encourage the government to increase Mexican- Americans opportunities in the educational field as well as in the work field. The Brown Power movement campaigned for Mexican- Americans to reject assimilation into the American mainstream society, and celebrate their Chicano history.