Gordon’s article really stood out to me as it said immigrants are forced to become “American” but use “immigrant colonies” to adjust to American life and culture at their own pace. As a child of immigrants (one is Cuban and one is Chinese) I felt obligated to understand both cultures. When I would visit my grandmother, I would be immersed in a Cuban community. My neighborhood, food, and weekly Chinese school made me more compelled to discover my Chinese culture. In the end, I dropped out of Chinese school, barely got through high school Spanish, and felt that the best description of me was American. I may have Chinese and Cuban blood, but I feel like neither. I identify myself as a melting pot that is raised with American culture. From my mom’s experience, however, having a Chinese community for nostalgia helped her ease into American life. My father mostly had his family to celebrate Cuban culture with as he did not speak English when he first came and only had his family and family friends to transition with.
I found it strange how Riis uses language to make it seem like the Jews value money over their own life. They make it sound that they are greedy and would give up essentials to save money greedily. However, I thought that it is only reasonable that they did so seeing as they are poor and doing their best to support their families. Riis uses language for antagonizing how they handle their finances but in reality it just might be different. In addition, Riis seems to say that Jews are poor because of their “low intellectual status” as if they were more barbaric then other races. Similar to how Jacob Riis reasoned that the Jews’ struggles are a result of their race and not situation, I believe such ideals exist today but with other races. I find that there’s a stereotype that African Americans and Latinos are ignorant and rather laze around and do illegal activities. Maybe it’s because they originated from lands of high temperatures that are perfect for relaxing that people get the impression that they do not care and relax easily. Even so, there are many examples of notable African Americans and Latinos that prove this is not the case.
Reading Hapke’s writing was also interesting as she discussed how the media portrayed sweatshops. This made me think of how workplaces are portrayed in today’s media. For example, women seem to take a more impactful role if given a job or either a supporting role as opposed to how Hapke says women were more of an “organizing presence” to a lead male role. In addition, jobs that can closely connect to the sweatshops jobs, like factory workers, are not displayed as much today. Instead more movies are made on businessmen, chefs, and jobs more based on talents and hobbies or jobs that allow the characters to present themselves nicely.
