Daniels, Chapter 17

In the final chapter of the book Daniels focuses on more current immigration ideas and issues in our globalizing economy.  When it comes to immigration people usually tend to always look towards the Mexicans as the standard for immigrants since many immigrants come form Mexico, I have always wondered if that is because we are on the west coast of the country.  It is true that many immigrants come form Mexico but there are also other immigrants from different cultures that come to America. 

For instance there are the Canadians who cross the North side of the American border.  Being that Canada is so close to America the people who come across the northern border are sometimes not classified as immigrants.  Another factor that I think plays a part in certain racial groups not being identified as immigrants is that people from certain countries are not of color.  Most Europeans, Canadians, Australians, etc. are all white.  So they blend in easier with the majority of the population.

There are two types of immigrants: illegal and legal.  The difference being that an illegal immigrant comes to America without any forms of Visa.  An illegal immigrant is able to live in America, but the rights are limited.  For instance, once an illegal immigrant comes to America he or she must stay in America or risk leaving and be trapped back in their native lands.  A legal immigrant does not have to worry about being caught from immigration patrol.  Legal immigrants are here legally for a limited amount of time due to their Visas. 

The Visa grants immigrants the right to come and live in America under a certain amount of time, when the time expires it is time to leave.  If an immigrant who’s Visa has expired chooses to stay in America, without renewing the Visa, they then become illegal.

Thanksgiving Preflection

     Thanksgiving in my family is a very hectic event.  The day has always started out the same; I wake up, usually late, and help my Nana cook yams, basically I just peel them, help my mom make a carmel-pecan pie, and do whatever else they need me to do.  Then I just get ready to go to dinner.
     All of my aunts and uncles get together.  Along with my cousins and grandparents.  I can remember I've only ever had Thanksgiving at three different houses.  Up until I was in high school Thanksgiving was always held at my Great-Grandparents house. Being in the large family that I'm in my Great-Grandparents house just got to cramped with all the people that started to come.  My freshman year of high school we had Thanksgiving dinner at house, which is vastly bigger than my grandparents.  I actually really like having dinner at my house because it just makes things easier for me.  We only hosted the dinner a couple of years before we started going to my aunt and uncle's house.  The house is tiny and filled wall to wall of my family members.  
     I don't look forward to much of Thanksgiving given this but every year I have the time of my life.  My cousin and I usually leave for a bit, while dinner is still being cooked, and go to one of my friend's house down the street.  When we get back dinner is being served.  We always have a grace said, usually by one of my uncles, and then my Aunt Julie, who has Downs Syndrome, says her own.  She rambles on and on, repeating things, giving thanks for every single family member at the table by name, and just keeps on talking until someone, usually my mother, my cousin Leslie, or myself, shouts "AMEN!" 
      Dinner seriously goes in about 10 minutes, my family are very fast eaters. We don't talk.  Then we all sit around the table talking about different things, my cousins and I gossiping, my nana and my aunts deciding the day that we're going to make tamales for Christmas eve, my uncles arguing over whatever football game is on.  
     My family doesn't celebrate any distinct traditions but Thanksgiving goes exactly the same every year, and I have no new expectations for this year.  I like spending time with my family and having a day where we are all together in the same place at the same time for once. 

Daniels, Chapter 16

The last couple of chapters in this book are teaching us about more recent history, it also seems to be focusing a lot on Immigration Acts. We made a list in class of the many immigration acts that have been passed over the years;

1921-Emergency Quota Act

1924-National Origins Act/Immigration Act

1943-Repeal of the Chinese Exclusion

1946 Open Immigration to Filipinos and Indians

1948-Displaced Persons Act

1952-McCarren-Walter Act

1953-Refugee Relief Act

1965-Immigration Act of 1965

1986-Immigration Reform Act of 1986

In this chapter, Daniels puts an emphasis on The Immigration Reform Act of 1986. This act was placed as a way to really crack down a great deal on immigration to America since so many people were trying to migrate over here.  Many restrictions and laws were placed in effect.

For example, an employer could get prison time if it was found out that they were employing an illegal immigrant.  Yet, at the same time, some people got off easier so that they could in fact have immigrants come and work for them. This is what struck me as very odd and suspicious. This made the whole Reform Act kind of contradictory and made me wonder as to how this Reform Act actually went into place. It makes it seem that here in America we are really just trying to benefit ourselves and not so much those who are trying to make a living out here.

The chapter also focused on the concept of nativism, and how that means that you don't like foreigners who come to live in America.   I think that even in current times, our nation as a whole still has significant rates of nativism.  This is sad and very idiotic seeing as America was founded on nothing but immigrants.  Sadly I don't think that this idea will ever really change. I do however think that it has dropped significantly even since the 80s, but still America has a long way to go.

Daniels, Chapter 15

• the 1960 census showed that migration from Latin America was exclusively made by Mexicans 
• Latin Americans made up only 1% or the 34 million immigrants
• two-thenths of  1% of the entire Untied States population   
• between 1960 and 1980 more than 200,00 Cubans migrated
• in those same years 500,000 Southern Americans
• also in those years more than 100,000 Central Americans came
• the Dominican Republic had more than 90,000 migrate in the 1960s and more than 140,000 in the 1970s
• non-Spanish speaking islands of the West Indies sent over 30,000 people in 1950s, 130,000 in the 1960s, and 271,000 in the 1970s

Cubans

• 1898 Cuban became independent
• was an American protectorate for 60 years which only ended by Fidel Castro's revolution in 1959
• 1st Cuban American community in Key West, Florida
• Cuban owned cigar factory employed 50 people in 1831
• tobacco and politics account for almost all of Cuban migration
• Cigar making centers formed in New York City and Tampa using Cuban tobacco and Cuban labor
• after the liberation there wasn't much immigration for half a century
• 1950 only 30,000 foreign born Cubans
• by 1960 80,000 foreign born and 40,000 second generation
• 1950s Miami became the Cuban American population center
• 1960 started mass migration of exiles and refugees
• between Castro coming to power and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 more than 150,000 Cubans migrated
• after 1962 no direct flights for more than 3 years
• during that time 30,000 Cubans managed to get into America either by a third country or by small boat
• 1965-1973 more than 250,000 Cubans migrated
• since 1960 over 800,000 Cuban refugees have come to America
• often entered the labor force well below their skill level
• 1970 a third of Miami's commercial bank employees were Cuban
• 16 or 62 bank presidents
• 250 vice presidents
• over 500 other bank officers

Dominicans

• numbers of immigrants uncertain
• a quarter of a million listed by the beginning of the 1980s
• most presumed illegal 
• only 15,000 applied for amnesty
• worked at low paying jobs
• service or garment industries

Haitians

• poorest nation in Western Hemisphere
• average life expectancy in low 30s
• 1980 there were 92,000 Haitian immigrants, 88% who came after 1965
• in 1925 there were 500 in New York's Harlem
• became merchants or taught French and Spanish in the public schools
• unwanted refugees from hunger
• tens of thousands are now legally documented in America

Central Americas

• predicted that 2.33 million refugees would be created due to a communist takeover of Central America 
• 1980 census
• 94,000 Salvadorans
• 64,000 Guatemalans
• 1986 amnesty data
• 138,000 Salvadorans
• 51,000 Guatemalans
• 15,000 Nicaraguans
• estimated 2 million refugees
• 1984 8,292 Nicaraguans applied for asylum only 1,018 were accepted

Soviet Jews

• 1972 Jackson Amendment that favored trading privileges of Jews from the USSR
• 2,000,000 Jews in Soviet Union today
• 3,600,000 in Israel
• 6,000,000 in the United States
• 1988 19,000 Jews allowed out of Russia, only 7% went to Israel the rest to America
• 1986 600 Jews allowed to leave Russia
• 1988 19,000 were allowed

Daniel's, Chapter 14

Chapter 14 centers on Asian groups such as the Japanese, Chinese, Filipinos, Asian Indians, Koreans and the Vietnamese. The chapter talks about how there were three distinct increments of Filipinos coming to America. The first being in 1898, during this increment, many students came from the Philippines and settled in the Midwest and the east. The second increment took place in the 1920's and the early 1930's. During this increment, many farm workers migrated to America, settling mostly in Hawaii and California. The third increment, which started in 1965 and is still happening to this date. Throughout this increment, many educated Filipinos and would-be entrepreneurs made the journey to America.

Most of the Filipinos that immigrated to America were Roman Catholic.  Knowing many people who are Filipino I always found it interesting how the entire population is extremely religious.  The daily bible verses I see on my Facebook newsfeed or Twitter timeline almost always come from someone who is Filipino.

Another thing that caught my interest was the anti Filipino movement that took place before WWII.  A large deal of violence was directed towards the Filipino’s and it was a movement that was similar to what the Chinese and Japanese went through. The Filipino’s were seen as savages, and because they worked "for nothing" they were seen as a difficulty because they ultimately took jobs from the white people. Reading this I think of the concept of the ethnic escalator and the fear of the declining Anglo Saxon dominance.

Sadly such prejudice still exists today. There's even a  racist gap between Filipino Americans and Filipino immigrants. Many Filipinos that are born in America view themselves as American and therefore of "higher class" than those who immigrate from the homeland. 

Daniels, Chapter 13

This chapter really showed me the way that the government handled immigrants. America liked to promote the country as a great place that welcomed all people no matter what.  In reality it was so much different from that.  The government had regulations, laws, and acts that kept people from getting into our country.  What I find very interesting is that we had a rough start, and we are still fighting ways to handle immigration to this day.

The immigration act lasted until 1965 and although it marked the end of a racist system it did not, however, end racism in the United States.  This only shows a time where racism was a government action and the denial of certain groups was well known.  Although that stopped, this definitely did not stop racism between the people, sadly in many ways it only deepened it.

The McCarran-Walter Act was passed in 1952.  This was an act that ended total exclusion of racial and ethnic groups from naturalization and immigration.  Essentially this made the laws “color blind”. The passing of this act was a huge deal. I find it very surprising that President Harry S. Truman actually vetoed this bill, but Congress still passed it.  One would like to think that the President would be very supportive of this kind of bill, but unfortunately that was not the case.

As much good that came from this act, it still had some of the discriminatory policies implemented before, but it was a start.  The McCarran-Walter Act was also was a way to keep up the nickname “Free World”, America finally realized that you couldn’t be the “Free World” if you were discriminating against people of certain racial backgrounds.

If we would have kept the immigration act and exclusion acts in power our country would have lost it’s diversity and America would more than likely have a much lower population.

After World War II there were many European refugees that immigrated to our shores.  Most people were against letting these people in because of a fear of being overrun by Europeans who are coming from a devastating and crumbling country.  The first three groups of immigrating peoples, the Siberian Asians, East Asians, and Polynesians mostly came because of exploring and migrating.  The Europeans came to America because they wanted to get away from the monarchy and the way the government was, just like how the very first settlers who came to America.  I think it is strange to resent people coming to America for the exact same reasons that America was founded.

I don’t think that I have ever heard of the term “asylee”.  An asylee is a refugee who applies for entry into the United States while they are already in America.  Some asylees would be in America legally on a student visa or something of that sort, while others would come here illegally. The government tried to control the amount of asylees that came into America but the numbers got so high that the in 1980 an act was passed put a cap of five thousand asylees. 

Daniels, Chapter 12

Before I even started reading chapter 12 the title caught my attention.  I questioned what Daniels meant by it since it states: "from the new world".  The reason I didn’t understand the title is because the Mexico use to own California, Arizona, New Mexico and parts of Utah, Nevada, and Colorado.  Technically the Mexicans were already the new world before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo changed all that.  Being that the western states were once the home of Mexicans, a home they owned, it is sad that they are ridiculed and stereotyped for being illegal.  Having to show their paperwork to prove that they are here rightfully.

Although the section is very short Daniels talks about the zoot suit riots.  The zoot suit was seen as a flashy outfit to wear because of the material it was made out of.  The young Mexican Americans in Los Angeles wore it in 1943 during WWII.  During this time the Americans wore "victory suits", which was worn to represent as a sense of patriotism for America when they were entering the war.

There were many sailors who were the "victory suits" and saw it as an offense when these young boys would wear the zoot suits.  They  started to attack young Mexican Americans wearing the zoot suits, they would "de-zoot" a boy wearing one by ripping their suits and cutting of their long slicked back hair.  They would then burn their suits and at times even urinated on the suits and even the young Mexicans.  Soon people realized that the riots were towards an Mexican living within Los Angeles in general. 

The chapter referenced the Bracero Program. The Bracero Program was introduced in 1942 as a means for Mexicans to come to America and work in the fields.  There were no workers on the fields and America was going into war at the time.  Although the program was beneficial it had it's fair share of discrimination. Many of the farm owners took advantage of the workers since they could not speak or understand English.  There was also Operation Wetback.  This is where Americans beat the farm workers and started sending them back over the border.  The people committing these violent acts failed to realize that it wasn’t a good idea to send the Mexicans back seeing as most of the Mexicans who were victims of an attack were actually born in the United States.