The New Immigrant Worker : The Effect Of Skin Color And Height, By Joni Hersch Essay

The topic of immigrants has been debated for centuries, and has been an even larger topic for discussion since the attack on the two towers in 2001. Many people contemplate whether immigrants are a reason to be scared, not; and if so, then why? If one finds themselves asking this conflicting question, Jeremy Adam Smith’s article, Our Fear of Immigrants, provides an answer. Relying on research from psychologists and sociologists, Smith gives sufficient evidence for why immigrants bring such intense feelings of both hatred and compassion, and recommends a way to increase empathy toward them.

Immigrants came to America with hopes to be accepted and make an honest contribution to the country’s advancement. Instead they were ostracized and segregated. Pietri states, “thirty-thousand dollar home, the first spics on the block proud to belong to a community of gringos who want them lynched” (106-108). Although some

When most immigrants move into America, they are greeted with much tension and conflict. There is still some discrimination between races, as much as American’s

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.

When Americans think of racism, they usually think of slavery, and that racism is no longer a problem in America. However, this is not the case. Racism is still obvious in America. Racism can be linked directly to stereotypical mindsets of certain groups of people.  Today’s racism is not restricted to whites and blacks, and it has come to define many different groups and races. Pigmentation as well as physical characteristics and features still are influential for classifying people. It is easy to overlook the racism that hides below the surface and is part of American life. Today, an estimate 54 million Latinos live in the U.S. and around 43 million people speak Spanish. Although Latinos are the country’s largest minority, anti-Latino prejudice is still common. Very few Americans recognize, acknowledge, and respect the contributions of one of America’s greatest ethnic groups – Hispanics. Americans are often confused as to who Hispanics really are and what they represent in America. Although the United States is known for having a melting pot of diverse cultures, recent studies have shown the rise of discrimination against Latinos and Hispanics immigrants. A person’s legal status should not be an excuse for mistreatment.

To say that immigrants in America have experienced discrimination would be an understatement. Ever since the country formed, they have been seen as inferior, such as African-Americans that were unwillingly brought to the 13 colonies in the 17th century with the intention to be used as slaves. However, post-1965, immigrants, mainly from Central and South America, came here by choice. Many came with their families, fleeing from their native land’s poverty; these immigrants were in search of new opportunities, and more importantly, a new life. They faced abuse and Cesar Chavez fought to help bring equality to minorities.

People are always uneasy with what they don’t know, and immigrants carry with them different cultures, languages, and the unknown. During the late 1900s and early 2000s, America was dealing with a large influx of immigrants. In America from 1880 to 1925, immigrants were viewed through a lens of racial prejudice and seen as either sources of work or of crime.

The United States of America has the largest foreign-born population in the world. With nearly thirteen percent of the total population being foreign-born, one may find it hard to imagine an immigrant-free country (U.S. Bureau of the Census). Immigration has been an integral part of the United States’ overall success and the country’s economy since it was established and without it, would have never been founded at all. Although there are some negative issues associated with immigration and many native-born Americans believe to be more of a problem than a solution, overall it actually has a positive effect. Immigrants in America, among other things, fill jobs where native-born Americans may not want to work or cannot work, they contribute

When most people think about immigration to the United States, they think of the U.S. as being the “land of opportunity,” where they will be able to make all of their dreams come true. For some people, immigration made their lives richer and more fulfilled. This however, was not always the case. A place that is supposed to be a “Golden Land” (Marcus 116) did not always welcome people with open arms. Even after people became legal citizens of the United States, often times the natural born Americans did not treat the immigrants as equals but rather as outsiders who were beneath them in some way. In some situations, people’s lives were made worse by coming to the “land of opportunity.” Often times people were living no better than they

Along with its economic classes, American is known for its freedom, its liberty, and the melting pot of ethnicity. This ethnic diversity comes form the immigrant population in the country. However this perfect country is a major falsehood. These untrue ideals of harmony, freedom, success, and equality are deceptive and do not show the struggles that immigrants face when coming to this class dominated country. The immigrants of today do not come from just Europe, but overwhelmingly from Asia and Latin America. “They are driving a demographic shift so rapid that within the lifetimes of today 's teenagers, no one ethnic group – including whites of European descent – will comprise a majority of the nation 's population’ (Colombo, Cullen, Lisle). These immigrants challenge the social myth that everyone has an equal chance in life. They

Abstract- Racial discrimination happens all the time and most of us are unaware of it. The most common place for this to happen is in the workplace. Now people can be discriminated against because of their race, religion, or any other numerous things. Also, discrimination can occur during the job interview or even after you got the job. This paper will shoe the effects of racial discrimination and how it can be prevented. In addition there are some very important laws that deal specifically with discrimination, like the NAACP or Affirmative Action. These both will be discussed.

Most Americans place their pride in being apart of a country where a man can start at the bottom and work his way to the top. We also stress the fact that we are “all created equal” with “certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” (Jefferson 45) During the early 1900s white Americans picked and chose who they saw fit to live in America and become an American. “Those that separate the desirable from the undesirable citizen or neighbor are individual rather than race.”

Many people every day in the United States suffer from discrimination and prejudice. With the purpose of healing our racially divided country, every person as to be proactive against any form or representation of racism. According to the book On Being Different, racism can be defined as the discrimination against an ethnic group (Kottak and Kozaitis,70). The United States society is composed of different ethnic groups, each one of those with different cultures and skin color. Most of the times many ethnic groups in the United States are suffering the effects of ethnocentrism, which is “the tendency to view one’s own culture as best and to judge the behavior and beliefs of culturally different people by one’s own standards” (Kottak and Kozaitis, G-3). Most people assume that the differences between ethnic groups are just skin color and culture, but it goes beyond that; White, African Americans, Asians, Native Americans and Hispanics are also differentiated and judge by the place that they chose to live and by how much their annual income is. Racism is not only a persistent problem between ethnic groups, it also represents their constant clash with government institutions that choose to generalize and judge the ethnic groups by their ascribed status.

Across the United States, a faction of millions upon millions of people receive blame for numerous problems within the United States. They endure blame for the broken United States economy. They receive blame for the growing number of gangs and ruffians. From time to time, they can even be stereotyped as non-citizens and anti-Christian. This group of people is more commonly known as immigrants. While immigrants receive blame for a seemingly endless list of problems within the United States, much of the blame and stereotypes can be deflected. By utilizing factual evidence and reliable research, nearly all stereotypes against immigrants can be disproven.

Currently, immigration is one of the most controversial topics in the world, and is surrounded by fear-driven uncertainty and false accusations. In the opinion of many Americans, immigrants are dangerous people who want to destroy the livelihoods of Americans for self-gain. In reality, immigrants are just like Americans, in search of better opportunities for themselves and their families. The only difference between immigrants and Americans is that they were not born in the same country as us, and consequently were not given the same privileges and opportunities that some Americans are not even aware they have.