The three texts, “The Significance of Immigration in the Formation of an American Identity,” “The Next Generation Emerges,” and “One Out of Three: Immigrant New York in the 21st Century,” written by Vecoli, Kasinitz, and Foner correspondingly all brought up many significant issues, themes and ideas. Coming from a family of immigrants, I can relate to many of the topics discussed by the three writers. It is interesting to read about the different perspectives surrounding assimilation of immigrants to American culture, the future of the American-born second generation, the tensions that exist with regards to immigration law reform and the effect that immigrants have had on New York City. An idea that was common in all three pieces of writing is that immigration affects both the immigrants and the place they immigrate to. Culture and tradition are part of everyone’s identity, so it is understandable that they would influence American culture. The United States is comprised of people from so many different places, with different cultures, and perspectives of life it is almost impossible to come up with a uniform outlook.
In “The Significance of Immigration in the Formation of an American Identity,” Vecoli addresses immigration, starting from the immigration of the British to the New World and how the migration of different peoples over time has drastically changed American society. He mentions that, “America has always been a complex, ethnic mosaic divided into segregated, quarrelsome groups by culture, language, religion and race” (Vecoli). This phrase is true in so many ways. Although the United States prides itself in saying that all men are created equal and that everyone is welcome to join the melting pot, the reality is that there are many issues and tensions surrounding equality and acceptance of individuals as U.S. citizens. Throughout many years, different groups of people, including slaves, Native Americans, Asians, and more recently Hispanics have been stigmatized by Anglo Americans for being different and have consciously (or subconsciously) been divided into groups that struggle socioeconomically. People come to the United States from all over the world, thinking that they can make their lives better only to find out that they cannot make as much progress as they would want because of their race, ethnicity, or religious affiliation among other things. These problems make me question the effectiveness of the Enlightenment ideals that are often linked to the founding processes and the way this country functions. Different people in different periods of time will interpret ideals in ways that will be convenient to them. This is clear in the phrases, all men are created equal and life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. When America’s founding fathers proclaimed these phrases to the public they were referring to liberating themselves from British oppression. They did not even think about people of African descent and whether or not they should be considered equal. However, during the Civil Rights Movement, those same phrases were used by activists to fight for black rights.
An interesting idea brought up by Vecoli is the change that has occurred in the American naturalization process. The process in the eighteenth and nineteenth century was extremely simple (if you were a WASP). However, once the waves of immigrants started to arrive, things became more complicated. America was introduced to people that had different ways of cooking, different religions, different educations and different political and economic ideologies. All of this made Americans realize that immigration and naturalization policies followed by a country are key to its understanding of self-conception as a nation. By determining whom to admit to residence and citizenship, the government defines the future ethnic and racial composition of the population. It is important to note that many Americans do not approve of unrestricted immigration because of a threat to the stability of the social order and a change in the national identity. However, in many occasions, they have allowed immigration to occur because it is convenient for them. I have family members in this country who are housekeepers and they are exploited, working more than twelve hours a day and earning less than minimum wage per hour. Why….because they are undocumented. Who benefits from this? Their bosses. This example is used to show how America has not really done anything to address immigration because the U.S. needs illegal immigration in the same way it needed slavery two hundred years ago to thrive economically. Many American citizens argue that illegal immigrants or even first generation Americans take away jobs from the market that would otherwise go to a native citizen, which is why they should be deported back to their countries and not be given residency or citizenship. But what they forget is that, they too in one way or another take advantage of the exploitation of these people and that at one point one of their ancestors was an immigrant.
The controversy surrounding the idea of assimilation of immigrants into American society has also caught my attention because it is interesting to see how some people feel that once a person moves to the U.S. he/she should stop using his/her native language, forget about their customs and traditions and adjust to American culture. But what is American culture? No two people would be able to give the same response. The fact is that the United States is like a heterogeneous mixture. It is composed of so many different ideologies. Nothing in the U.S. is unique only to it, besides its history. Holidays celebrated in the U.S. are celebrated elsewhere, languages spoken in the U.S. are spoken elsewhere, even foods cooked in the U.S. come from other places. I understand the fact that immigrants should learn the language, but only with the idea that it would make their lives easier in mind. Many do not learn not because they do not want to, but because they have other responsibilities that they must address first. In class we talked about how some believe that people who immigrated before 1965 were less lazy than immigrants today because they assimilated into society quickly and more efficiently. I think that if anything, today’s immigrants are more hardworking because they have had to abandon their homogenous country and come to a multiculturalist country, where many times they do not feel welcomed to work and make progress in life.
In “The Next Generation Emerges,” Kasinitz addresses the issue of what sort of New Yorkers immigrants are and what sort of New Yorkers they are creating. This article goes into an in-depth analysis of the American-born second generation and compares them to the generation of white and black natives. I find it interesting how something that makes New York unique is the fact that there are white and black people who are children of immigrants or immigrants themselves. I remember in kindergarten being in ESL with only white children. I could not understand why they needed help with English. I had ignorantly believed that all whites should automatically know English like I knew Spanish. But it was there that I learned otherwise. An interesting issue this article raises is the fact that Chinese and Russian Jewish second generations were more successful at graduating from college in four years and getting a good job, than their Hispanic and black colleagues. I guess it has to do with assimilation to American society in some cases. I also think that race and socioeconomic background come into play. If I come from a stable and united family unit, I will be able to succeed. However, if I come from an unstable family, I will most likely fail. Support is also very important.
In his article, Kasinitz says that “particularly the children of poor and racially stigmatized labor migrants will find themselves increasingly isolated from opportunities in the mainstream economy” (Kasinitz). I completely agree with this statement. How can a person make progress in life if he is stuck in a “rut”? Kasinitz further presents the idea that a person who is a part time student and a part time worker will take longer to graduate and have low income and weak labor attachment. This is true, people should concentrate on one thing. But sometimes the situation is such that a person is forced to work. Who can prevent that? Some have the opportunity to just study and do well, while others don’t. This creates an unpreventable disparity. Another interesting idea discussed in this text is that of “immigrant jobs” and how the second generation does not want to ever have jobs like that. I agree with this on a personal level. I admire my parents for working as hard as they do for the family’s well being but I would never want their jobs.
Some last important remarks that I would like address from this article are the fact that many people think that immigrants who grew up in the U.S. and second generation young people will never become assimilated to American society and will always have that sense of loyalty to their parents’ native country. However, like Kasinitz said in his article, research and analysis shows otherwise. As it turns out, second generation young people are doing as well as their native colleagues. They have learned the English language and the American culture and traditions. Many of them have never been to their parents’ homeland and some cannot even speak their parents’ native language. It is true that many immigration debates are only focused on recent arrivals. No one takes notice of the intergenerational progress and rapid assimilation that occurs in the majority of the cases. What makes these people different from people who had parents who were born in the U.S. is that they do not have parental and familial resources to fall back on. Members of the 1.5 generation have it even worse because they take advantage of all the educational opportunities in their reach but are denied basic rights. Many do not have a political or legal voice. Although DACA has provided help, it has not taken out all these people from their “rut.”
In “Immigrants in New York City in the New Millennium,” Foner provides a general background on the immigration of the last fifty years and the special features that New York has as an immigrant city. She points out the factors that shape the experiences of immigrants in New York and the ways that they are changing the city. She is explicit at pointing out common themes as well as differences among immigrant groups. Lastly she raises some questions about patterns in the future. In the beginning she explains where exactly people are coming from and the general reasons why they choose to migrate from their countries. An idea that I think is very interesting is the fact that many times, the U.S. grants admission to particular groups as refugees. This action makes the United States seem like a very welcoming and humanitarian nation. But once these people arrive at the U.S., they begin to see how hard it is to make progress in this nation. There are many socioeconomic barriers between a person and economic success.
When my parents immigrated to this country, they felt alone and isolated from the rest of society. The only way my parents could fill in that emptiness they had was to stay in touch with family back in Ecuador. So when I read that often times immigrants stay in touch with relatives in Foner’s text, I took it as a method used by them to remain connected with their homeland and little by little adjust to a new place. It is interesting to note how premigration values, attitudes, and customs do not go away. That is why today we still see people trying to force their children into arranged marriages or into a religion they do not necessarily agree with. Making the children follow what the parents follow gives many parents a feeling that not everything was lost when they left home. But what parents do not consider are the effects that this has on their children. I also agree with the idea that the advancement of technology has eased the assimilation process for many. Nowadays the only thing you need is a smart phone and a Wi-Fi connection, and you can see your friend on the other side of the world face to face.
Another idea that I find interesting is that it is very easy to come up with stereotypes for different things including a race’s association with certain types of jobs, ways of thinking, certain sectors of a country, etc. Sometimes I do not understand why some people associate these things with inferiority. They should be happy that they are taking small steps for a better life. The particular migration of a race to a specific area in a place is quite understandable. In the beginning and sometimes for a long period of time, people like to live amongst others that have similar ideologies as they do. Although in the long run, interacting with different people is beneficial, in the beginning it is hard to do.
The effect immigration has had on institutions in the U.S. is also very awesome. The American Catholic Church, as an example, is very diverse and liberal in many senses. It has had to make itself appealable to people that have different cultures and speak different languages. In conclusion, immigrants are not only influenced by the social, political and economic forces in New York City, but are agents of change in the city. The changes that they have brought on the city are very important and historical. Overall, it has made many New Yorkers open-minded in the sense that they can acknowledge that there is a world out there with people who are very different than they are.
