Nearly all the way uptown, a group of students got off the second to last stop on the A train to tour the neighborhood of Inwood. Inwood is the quiet neighborhood that is northernmost on the island of Manhattan. Properly beginning at Fort Tryon Park and Dyckman Street, the beginning of the neighborhood tour, which was actually still in Washington Heights, almost didn’t feel like part of New York City. On the quiet and drowsy Saturday morning, the streets and sidewalks were deserted save for the occasional jogger or dog walker. As the class began walking further uptown, the residential areas were all filled with Dutch-looking architecture clad in ivy and surrounded by trees. There were even “castle” style residences as we neared the river, occupying land were actual castles once stood.

Eventually the last of the upper residential areas of what had actually been Washington Heights led onto Fort Tryon Park. As our professor pointed out, most of the people we had seen up until this point were white. There wasn’t much diversity, but that was going to change once we actually reached Inwood and Broadway.

However, first we had to get through the park.

Fort Tryon Park is also located in Washington Heights. It’s a large park, around 66.5 acres. The park has many beautiful trees and flowers, as well as an amazing view of the Hudson River.

The Cloisters are also located inside the park. The Cloisters are a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art that is home to medieval art, sculpture, and architecture. Much of this architecture, including the castle that houses the collection, was removed from genuine European sites and reassembled into the museum, stone by stone.

Once we got through the park, we could finally claim to be in Inwood proper. Inwood begins after the park and at Dyckman Street. Inwood, though historically an Irish neighborhood, has been transformed into a predominantly Dominican neighborhood. Although there are some remains of old Irish traditions, the Dominican influence on Inwood is palpable. East of Broadway, the population of Inwood is majorly and distinctly Spanish-speaking, as opposed to some of the western and riverside areas.  Inwood also has some historical sites of interest—The Dyckman farmhouse, for example, still stands at the corner of Broadway and 204th Street. The Dyckman farmhouse is the oldest farmhouse in Manhattan. It was built in the 1700’s on what used to be Dutch farmer William Dyckman’s 100-acre farm. The Farmhouse, claimed as a historical site in 1920, was opened as a museum in 1916.

Once we reached 208th Street and Broadway, the change in atmosphere became evident. Hispanic music was playing, and Hispanic businesses and people lined the streets. One could really tell that the population was thoroughly Spanish here, and that businesses were geared to cater to Hispanic people. Not just businesses, but even people running for office clearly courted the Hispanic vote with Spanish music and advertisements in Spanish. Of course, no tour is complete without some real practical experience, so the class stopped at an authentic Ecuadorian restaurant to sample the fare. Ecuadorian food varies widely from coast to mountain, and this restaurant was clearly of coastal descent. The class sampled fish-based dishes and chicken based dishes (bollos), made out of the staple plantain. There were also tostones (fried plantain), maduros (fried sweet plantain), and bolas de verde (plantain balls with cheese). The class also drank one of the favorite Ecuadorian drinks: Jugo de mora, or blackberry juice. Ecuadorian juice is famous for its distinct flavors: besides blackberry, other famous Ecuadorian juices are maracuya(Passion fruit), naranjilla, and tomato de arbol (Tomato). The food was an excellent ending to the day, and the entire class enjoyed the cultural dishes.

All in all, the day was a success. Many of the students had never been that far uptown, or even knew of the existence of the neighborhoods and streets we walked through. It was another amazing demonstrator of how diverse the city of New York can be.

The films we were shown in class were both touching stories of human struggle and success. They are stories that happen, quietly, everyday, yet which we often don’t think of. To many, the face of illegal immigration is often a stereotypical and one-dimensional story. Films like these importantly illustrate a few of the hundreds of individual possibilities that are the impetus for immigration and the cause for illegal immigration.

Illegal immigration is, at least in my experience, often glossed over and generalized. The right wing, and to a certain extent, most of the media has vilified the ‘illegal alien’, blaming the mass of unidentified workers who drive the agricultural and ‘menial’ job sectors for America’s economic struggles, painting a picture of a dirty and unlawful worker stealing American jobs. However, what should be the heart of the matter, and what these movies touch upon, is that these people are real people. They have hopes and dreams just like American citizens do. They love and live just like American citizens do, and they’re trying to feed their families and get through life just like American citizens are. Each of the men on the golden venture or of Cambodian origin had children, family and friends that were all heavily affected by their struggles with immigration. In sentenced home, emphasis was placed on the fact that this indeed was a sentence for these men. Even if some of the men were able to achieve a small measure of success, such as being able to build a small house, they still struggled with the reality of complete and nearly permanent separation from their families. For men like Kim Ho Ma, the sentence was complete: he had no job experience or prospects, no knowledge of the country he was sent to, and felt hopeless at being sent to a ‘home’ that was not at all his home. The film did an excellent job bringing forward the sadness, the anger, and the fear that these people have to deal with. It makes the emotions palpable and human, and lets us see what the hardships these people have to deal with really are like. The film was very real; nothing was sugarcoated, and it was an eye-opener for those who never think of the struggles people who are trying to make it in this country go through.

To me, these movies highlight the inability of the bureaucracy to deal with individuals. ICE and the INS have come to be known as ruthless and terrifying, because these undocumented immigrants know that they will be treated as a number and not as an individual. The constant fear that the Cambodian men lived under does not paint a flattering picture of the government agencies that are supposed to regulate immigration. They’re incomprehensive and one could go as far as to say, inhuman. The necessity and sheer numbers are understandable, but there is no doubt that there is a need for reform. Movies like these are important to bring attention to the flaws in the system that treats human beings so unfairly.