It Says, I Say, So What?

                                                                By: Genniel Peguero (GeGe)

For years I've heard of the struggle that minorities faced in America in the work force, in social settings, and even on their search for self fulfillment, as highlighted in this reading. The younger me however, never really understood why. If their will to succeed and educate themselves was there, I didn't understand why the opportunity was kept from them. My mother, and her siblings first-handedly experienced the struggle for themselves when they arrived from the Dominican Republic, and this article emphasized what she would tell me before but I didn't completely grasp until my later years. 

The author writes "Americanisation, he argued, only influenced outward appearances. Inwardly, he believed, the immigrants remained rooted in their traditional cultures. As he put it, ‘The general notion of “Americanisation” appears to signify the adoption of the American variety of English speech, American clothes and manners, and the American attitude in politics ..."

If you didn't "look" American, certain opportunities were not offered to you or if you had the chance at receiving education, it was never more than you "needed" to know. It seems like back then, you paid for your education with the memory of your culture. For many immigrants that come into the United States, I know that the English language is an extra chore in their day-to-day. Those who polished up their English, and carried themselves like their white counterparts were more likely categorized in the successful pool of students and individuals rather than those who come to America and continue to actively take part in their cultural activities and publicly wear the pride of the countries they come from. My mom told me "It's almost as fi you were never American enough for the Americans, but if you stray from your traditions too much, you're too much of a gringa for your own people."

It seemed like a never ending back and forth between what should be an immigrants "new life" & "new chances" and staying true to who they were before they arrived. 

I think that the public eye needs to stop looking at the school population in demographic terms. instead of focusing on the color, and background of the students, they should focus on the fact that they are present. If instruction was blind to what America should "look like", there would be a broader variety of doctors, CEO's, and endless other job fields. There should be no limits imposed on kids who's sole purpose is become a better adult version of themselves than they would've achieved in their own countries.