"The Other Side of Immigration" Reflection

Watching the film, "The Other Side of Immigration", I was very interested in the stories of the immigrants and non-immigrants. It was my second time watching it because i watched before in my freshman FYE class. I didn't really pay attention when we had to watch in class but, when i watched it this time i did pay attention. It was really interesting to watch and to hear what they think. The main thing that got me was the fact that they said when people come back that they don't tell them the whole story and that they don't they don't tell them about how hard it is and the struggles they go through to achieve their new found wealth. I just find that a little bit odd in a sense but, a little bit understandable because they probably just don't want to scare them.

oral history project

For our oral history projects I didn't think that I would find anyone to interview until i asked my friend and she told me that they were immigrants from Samoa. I was very interested in their story so I interviewed her oldest sister who is also the oldest out of all the siblings. I loved doing this project. Hearing the other stories in class I was very intrigued by the way some people got here and how they remember it happening. I really liked the story about the little Tongan boy at the school and how he explained everything that he remembered happening. I loved how everyone's story was different but, yet similar at the same time.

Turkified Article

The article was very interesting. I don't know she lived all those years going through the same thing over and over again. The questions she was asked on  a daily basis was more than enough for me. They were so personal yet so rude and I just can't believe how much one person can be judged because of something form two generations ago. If i was in her shoes I wouldn't have been able to take it and being asked that inappropriate questions at 14 really I just don't know how she had the strength to endure all of that ignorance.

Ancestry Project

This project seemed like it was going to be really interesting because I really wanted to find out things about my family and where they came from. When I went to look on ancestry.com I found little to no information on my family. There was not enough evidence on the site for me to actually do a report on my family. I would have liked to do my own family, but I decided to do one of the students in our class whom is Patrick Balderamos. I chose to do his Great-Grandfather for research since he is Irish and because his family immigrated here.

Also listening to everyone's story I was intrigued by all the stuff they found. How they actually were able to find their family and where they came from and even how they got here. I would I have loved to had my family.

Chapter 17

Ending our book i was perplexed by all of the information that i had i received from it. From learning about Eastern Europeans to Soviet Jews to French Canadians and Mexicans I know have full understanding of what went on all the years of immigration by not just one group of people but, multiple groups of people. In this last chapter I believe that Daniels sums it up well. To read that most immigrants who are here are on some type of visas and they usually over stay them is something I didn't know before. Also the fact that its basically impossible to estimate the number of immigrants in the U.S. is crazy. I didn't know that I actually thought they did some type of research or something for it. Overall this chapter ended with some really interesting facts that make me somewhat second guess our government.

Chapter 13

In chapter i found that it was interesting to see how immigration laws and rules were changed.The fact that the U.S. only wanted to start changing the policy because it excluded so many is ridiculous. I feel that all these rules and regulations were wrong from the beginning even if they excluded one group of people.It was also funny to read that the Latin Americans and the Asians were the great gainers out of this whole experience. The asylee stuff was new to me i had never heard anything about it and it was interesting to find that out.

States back off from enacting Immigration Laws :O

This article stood out to me because it talks about how states are giving up on coming up with laws against or for immigration. They just want the government to take over and come up with a solution. It also interested me because of the lack of revenue that the farmers got in this past harvest because they didn't have enough men to pick it. It just all seems to much for me because some people want them here and then some people don't want them here and I just think they need to make up their minds.

                                        Immigration Law article

The French Canadians

In chapter 9 the section on French Canadians really stood out to me because one they were the only ethnic group who migrated completely by rail and they were compared to the Chinese. Carroll Wright called the French Canadians the Chinese of the eastern states basically saying they only came to benefit themselves and use us to get what they need. The reason this stood out to me is because to me that is why all immigrants immigrate to another country. They leave their home to find wealth and prosperity for them and their families. Basically to me Wright is saying that all immigrants are like the Chinese. It just doesn't make sense to only point a finger at two groups of immigrants while others did the same thing.

Was this Method Accurate?

Reading chapter eight i came across many things that stood out to me. One of the main things that stood out to me was the fact of how they went about taking the 1910 census. It is crazy that they just asked people who their mother tongue was and off of that they assumed their race. It just doesn't seem like a legitimate answer or way to go about things to me because what if someone didn't know their mother tongue? Did they just not include them in the census or what? I just feel like it was not a reasonable way to conduct things and that if they were conducting a census again they should do more research on a group of people.

Immigration Reform Falls to the Back of the Line

immigration reform article

      In this article many facts are facts pointed out about the fact that Congress keeps pushing immigration reform on the back burner. To me i just think that Congress has been putting it off for to long and it is time for them to actually make a move on it. They are putting many things ahead of it as if its not important enough and that is completely and utterly wrong.

Something I Never Thought About :/

     While I was reading chapter three, I came across a really interesting section  of the chapter, which was basically the answer to one of the reading questions. The question was "What are the limits on our understanding of the African immigrant experience in America?" I answered  the question by saying our understanding of the African immigrant experience is limited by the nature of the historical record. We have few primary documents that give some insight, but those documents are limited to the late 18th century and the 19th century. The African immigrants before those centuries have no actual evidence or documentations on how their lives were and how they feel. In the book it says that the African immigrants were "non literate" people. When I read that I think wow they weren't allowed to learn to read or write so its not their fault that they were called illiterate. They suffered in many harsh conditions and they weren't able to express how they felt because of this. We have no way of knowing what really happened and how they felt about the situation or anything they encountered. These immigrants didn't get to have a voice and i just feel really bad for them.