For these last two weeks, we would like to focus on life after the border. We are finally here... and is it truly the American Dream? Perhaps decades ago, life could have been prosperous for any immigrant, documented or undocumented. Now there are reports that with the economic crisis, remittances are down, immigrants are going back home, and the amount of people attempting to cross the border has dropped. Life is hard enough for the undocumented immigrant in the U.S. Most are unable to drive, to work, or to gain access to fair wages and social services such as health care. Yet, during our Spring Break, we worked with organizations such as Casa Familiar, and the Latino film festival, who have demonstrated that despite the furious discussion on immigration, Latino's have developed their voice and have established themselves well.
It seems that this American Dream is no longer a dream for higher wages and a better living. It is a dream for the right to identity. Read this article from the BBC, "U.S. Latino's are finding a voice." The immigration reform dilemma is affecting those without documents. But what about Latino's who are documented? What does immigration reform mean to them? Should they care? Also, what does something like the 2010 Census mean for the Latino community? This LA Times article "Univision promotes the census to Latino audiences" should help you ground some answers to this question.
Please respond to these two articles after this post.
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8 comments:
It is not the articles themselves that I will respond to in this post, but the disturbingly xenophobic comments in the LA Times article.
One of the comments reads, "Every one needs to speak English Period !!!!
We need to make it LOUD and clear we mean business about illegal aliens They no RIGHTS period !!!!
No rights to buy homes No rights to health care and no rights to american jobs
Ship them back home !! take with them their illegal kids too !
What if I broke into your home would you give me any of the above items? No I think not So why would americans give illegal aliens anything."
This writer exhibits not only ignorance but hypocrisy as well. By declaring that everyone needs to speak English, he or she homogenizes the diverse population of the United States and negates the linguistic and cultural contributions of different groups to American society. Yes, speaking English is important for getting into higher education and engaging in dialogues with the power elite, but it is not the be-all and end-all of what it means to be an American. Looking at the writer's poor grammar, perhaps he or she would do better to improve his or her English skills instead of making broad generalizations about Latinos.
Another comment reads, "I just mailed my census form back with a note:"No immigration reform =no counting". Why shall I belive that my data will be kept confidential when even President Obama lied when he promised the immigration reform in the first year of the presedency? After a year and a half He even doesn't have a bill to show. Why shall I ?"
This comment has particular relevance to the Berkeley community in light of the hate crimes across the UC system. If students do not speak up about the homophobic and racist acts they see, why should administrators care? Similarly, if Obama himself fails to come through with his promise of immigration reform, why should other residents of this country see a need to enact reform that allows families to be reunited and employees to work without fear of deportation? As the Latino population is projected to reach 30% of the total U.S. population, it is imperative that the government demonstrates that every human being, regardless of race, is guaranteed a voice.
I thought this article was interesting because it definitely tries to make the case that the Latin@ community in America is becoming more unified in the struggle for immigration reform. I don't want to be pessimistic, but I think the articles were severely idealistic, and kind of glossed over the nuances of people's opinions. I think that there is a large portion of the Latin@ community that believes in a comprehensive reform of the immigration system, but what about different opinions, what about people who Latin@s who don't identify with this particular political identity? How can we ask for support and solidarity without reducing an entire population to one identity? I do appreciate these articles for casting a positive light on the movement, but I'm worried about the voices we'll be silencing and whose allegiances we'll lose by assuming that everyone who is Latin@ is on the exact same page.
I really liked the L.A. Times article about Univision promoting the US census to their Latin@ audience. Growing up, Univision was mainly what my family watched so I'm very familiar with their TV personalities, especially Maria Elena Salinas, who is the face of this movement. Yes, I do admit that to some extent I believe that they are attempting to build themselves as the heros. They are what I would call "sly" about the way they answer things. For example, when they asked Univision what would be more important, the world cup or promoting the US Census they answered, "It's going to be telling Latinos how important it is to fill out the census during the World Cup. " Nevertheless, they are a television station/net so they have to keep this facade up. Moreover, I feel that if the national Latin@ TV station doesn't make an effort to promote the US Census to Latin@s, then who will? What they are doing is especially important because they are affirming illegal immigrants about confidentiality. I've heard much about how the census truly isn't effective (I'm taking a sociology research methods class) and that there are nuances. Nevertheless, what ever positive things the census does reap, I'm glad that Univision is attempting to spread that to illegal Latin@ immigrants. My only question is, what's in it for Univision?
I thought both articles were interesting! I want to respond to Adriana's question: "What's in it for Univision?"
Among the other perks and benefits Univision will receive from this upcoming 2010 Census, the increasing Latino population benefits Univision at large. More specifically: promoting the Census will increase Univision’s ratings by reviewers, increase their yearly revenue, thus increasing its profits. In some sense, Univison does show their 'good' intent to advocate and educate the Spanish speaking community about the importance of the Census. Launching the “Ya Es Hora” (Its’ Time) campaign with Maria Elena Salinas, one of their well known reporters has motivated several Latino’s across the nation. However, Univision is a ‘giant’ media company that seeks to maintain its reputation/priviledge.
Allocating airtime to the "Ya Es Hora" campaign its its to their best interest, what’s even more of their interest is the ratings they will receive during and after this campaign. Through resources of a friend who is a Media Studies Major, Media companies such as Univsion depend on their ratings to promote their success to advertisers whom in turn see an investment in the Latino Community.
Furthermore, this year marks the start of another World Cup (YAY!!!). Univision is one of the primary media companies to broadcast the World Cup. Hence, on top of the success they will receive from this historic event, the addition of the “Census” advertisements is going to increase their overall ratings.
I want to make clear, that I don’t necessarily believe Univision launches campaigns such as “Ya Es Hora” just to increase their profits and do business. Univision does indeed help out the Latino community through their leadership position. However, it’s Univision’s best interest to be in the middle of the action in advocating for Latinos to maintain their reputation, and be part of the emerging Latino market that will allow them to continue being the “Latino Media Company” that they are.
I apologize for the inconvenience. My friend Rocky was logged on to my gmail account and that is why his name comes up...lol So I'm Rocky...lol
Below is my response again
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I thought both articles were interesting! I want to respond to Adriana's question: "What's in it for Univision?"
Among the other perks and benefits Univision will receive from this upcoming 2010 Census, the increasing Latino population benefits Univision at large. More specifically: promoting the Census will increase Univision’s ratings by reviewers, increase their yearly revenue, thus increasing its profits. In some sense, Univison does show their 'good' intent to advocate and educate the Spanish speaking community about the importance of the Census.
Launching the “Ya Es Hora” (Its’ Time) campaign with Maria Elena Salinas, one of their well known reporters has motivated several Latino’s across the nation. However, Univision is a ‘giant’ media company that seeks to maintain its reputation/priviledge.
Allocating airtime to the "Ya Es Hora" campaign its its to their best interest, what’s even more of their interest is the ratings they will receive during and after this campaign. Through resources of a friend who is a Media Studies Major, Media companies such as Univsion depend on their ratings to promote their success to advertisers whom in turn see an investment in the Latino Community.
Furthermore, this year marks the start of another World Cup (YAY!!!). Univision is one of the primary media companies to broadcast the World Cup. Hence, on top of the success they will receive from this historic event, the addition of the “Census” advertisements is going to increase their overall ratings.
I want to make clear, that I don’t necessarily believe Univision launches campaigns such as “Ya Es Hora” just to increase their profits and do business. Univision does indeed help out the Latino community through their leadership position.
However, it’s Univision’s best interest to be in the middle of the action in advocating for Latinos to maintain their reputation, and be part of the emerging Latino market that will allow them to continue being the “Latino Media Company” that they are.
Hi everyone. Both those articles were intersting, though I mostly skimmed the second article. But there is an interesting comment to the second article that I think Carmen mentioned also. Whoever 'responded' was very against undocumented immigrants and it made me realize that I sometimes forget how this debate can get really heated. I guess living in California and especially Berkeley I don't feel like there is much direct discrimination towards immigrants but then I think of over places and states and I know there are people who say negative things/ do negative things that impact the latino community as the first article mentioned. I think it is interesting that Univision is promoting latinos to fill out the census and I think it is a good idea as it will show how big our latino communities are and how important they are to us as a country but I am wondering how people against undocumented immigrants will respond or what they will do. I kind of saw it via that comment but I just wonder if there will be a big response to the data etc.
These articles are very interesting to read as they show the reader that Latin@s truly have a voice in the social, political, and economic spectrum. The BBC article shows that all Latin@ immigrants are not scared to speak out, even if they are undocumented and the LA Times article shows the proactive approach the hispanic community is taking in order to ensure they have a voice economically.
I am taking Public Policy 103 Wealth and Poverty with Robert Reich and last week we discussed immigration issues. His lecture made me extremely happy and further enlightened me in terms of the economic standing of immigrants in the United States today. He explained that the immigration issue is the most delicate public policy issue because it deals with human lives. Reich introduced the theory that immigrants are all low skilled workers depressing the wages of the natural born citizens in the United States. However, he described just how difficult this theory is to prove. He explained how little evidence there is that new immigrants are diving down wages and providing a social burden. He said that overall, immigrants are proving to be a huge, important part of our society. They are contributing more to the economy then they are taking away from it. This also demonstrates why it is so important for immigrants to take part in the 2010 census.
He continued to shoot down such xenophobic and ignorant attacks made by those who commented on the La Times article, for example. He explained that 50% of the cost increase in social security is not due to immigrants, but it is due to the aging majority of our population.
As mentioned on the blog, immigration is way down right now due to the recession. Mostly people are driven to come to the U.S. because of jobs and because there are very little right now, they are not wanting to come here. However, as part of immigration reform, as a way to "reduce the push" we need to ensure there are jobs elsewhere while at the same time enforcing labor laws and the minimum wage (to ensure employers dont behave like "bandits", as mentioned in the BBC article).
As proven by Professor Reich, and both of these articles, the Hispanic voice should not be silenced. There is no proof they are taking away more from the economy then they are giving to it, and it saddens me to see that there are people that would take the time out of their day to respond with such hateful comments.
The BBC article, "US Latinos are Finding a Voice" offers cases in average America about the intense racism and discrimination that still persists for Immigrants today. To go off what Tessa said, here in Berkeley, and in California, we live a bubble that is more accepting and embracing of other cultures and traditions. But in other cities in America, different cultures are misunderstood or mistinterpreted and often what we do not understand, we fear. The article summed up such fears quite well: "What sort of future could this be? Not perhaps one in which the US is overrun by Latinos, or in which Spanish becomes the main language, as some anti-immigrant activists have been predicting in their Doomsday scenario. " There is a fear of resistant assimilation, when really there is an increasing loss of tradition and less acculturation among immigrants.
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