Week 5 Reading Response

I'm back after taking a couple weeks off due to a crazy schedule and an unforeseen illness!

This week, we read Chapters 7 and 12 in "A Different Mirror" by Ronald Takaki. These chapters specifically dealt with the Chicano and Latino experiences within two different time periods in the United States. The first chapter recounted the annexation of the Southwest, particularly Texas and California, into the United States. The second chapter we read speaks of the experience that migrant Mexican workers found once they moved to "El Norte" in search of work.

Chapter 7 is titled "Foreigners in Their Native Land" for good reason. As the Americans have been wont to do throughout the course of their short history (to this point), they once again declare foreign land as their own and subject the rightful owners to unspeakable acts of degradation and humiliation. Oh, Americans of the mid-19th century, why? Instead of just being upfront about being out-right thieves, the Anglo-Americans (there has to be a distinction), once again make the land into a race issue. The land MUST belong to the civilized and god-fearing Anglo men, of course! I'm feeling a bit more sarcastic this week because I've been tiring of this form of reasoning because it seems so false! The Anglo-Americans must have known their own spurious reasons for taking land that isn't rightfully theirs. Yet, instead of going about it in a "civilized" manner (since that is what they purpose to spread throughout the new United States, right?), they resort to war, fear-mongering, and race baiting. I found it ironic that Commander Vallejo, forced from his ranch in California, found the American frontiersmen as "exiles from civilization." Also, these men and other American soldiers in Texas and California were "illegal aliens" in Mexican land. This did not hinder their progress, however. Perhaps this lead to the current anxiety regarding "illegals"? Perhaps there is a collective Anglo memory that understands their forefathers' theft of the land, and they must keep the current Mexican "illegal aliens" from what is currently U.S. land. Lest these "illegals" reclaim their ancestors' rightful lands?

By 1848, Mexico ceded Texas and other Southwestern territories to the U.S. for $15 million, leaving Mexico with half of their prior land. This created the odd predicament of Mexicans being "foreigners in their own land." New Anglo residents moved into California and Texas and brought their foreign language and laws with them, creating an uneasy divide between conqueror and conquered. This started the Mexican caste system, wherein former land owners were now forced to give up their ranches and farms due to debt and had to work for the new Anglo landowners. Mexicans moved from landowners to laborers, much like the Irish under English rule. There became an apparent divide across racial lines. Whites became landowners, Mexicans became laborers.

The silver lining in Chapter 7 was revealed at the end when Takaki described the alliance between Mexican and Japanese laborers in the form of the JMLA Union: The Japanese-Mexican Labor Association. These two minority groups were able to form an alliance in class against Anglo landowners. When the dominant union was going to take the JMLA under their wing if they dumped the Japanese laborers, the Mexicans stood fast and refused to turn their backs on their "Japanese brothers."

Another interesting group in Chapter 7 were the Mexican mutualistas, groups of Mexicans that banded together in their struggle to retain their Mexican culture and customs in spite of being American-born. This balance of identity continues on today. How does one create a place for themselves when their backgrounds straddle two different nations? What does it mean when you feel more affinity for a nation that is not your current homeland? How does one reconcile this inner struggle in the face of assimilation?

Chapter 12 in Takaki's book spoke of Mexican immigration in the 20th century. Since it was easy for Mexicans to come to the United States since the countries bordered each other, the early 1900s saw an influx of Mexican people in the Southwestern states. These people came for migrant and seasonal farm work offered by Anglo farm and ranch owners. By 1918, 70% of the Mexican population in Los Angeles were unskilled laborers. Much like the struggle of post-Reconstruction African-Americans, many American-born Mexicans found themselves segregated in their own country. Mexican-Americans were forced into separate institutions and public places from their fellow white countrymen. It was depressing to think of the institutional reach of this racism and classism. Mexican-American children, forced into segregated schools, were discouraged from receiving an education because this would make them poor laborers or inspire them to work within the white collar professions. So, the Mexican-Americans were disparaged for being "shiftless, lazy, and docile" but were discouraged from bettering themselves through education because white ranch owners needed cheap labor. Huh? And it continues today, that's the thing that is so pervasive in these readings. All of the social, racial, class, and gender hierarchies were put into place long before any of us were born. This is the system that people of color are still fighting against. It's incredible to think that these struggles are STILL raging.