Chapter 14

                    I found that reading about Asian Immigrants was a bit more interesting since it is something I can relate to. Although I am a first generation, I do not remember much from my immigration process because I came here at a very young age. I remember being on an airplane that took me halfway around the world, and how uncomfortable my first plane ride had been. According to my dad, there wasn’t much complication with the immigration documents and everything went as planned. Since I was only four years old at the time, I didn’t understand what was going on. I did not even know what America was, let alone where it was. Most of the information in this chapter describes the push and pull factors for immigrants in the earlier times. However, because I came in a later time, my push and pull factors were completely different than what was mentioned in the text. However, I do have a few family members who immigrated to the U.S. during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Their reasons for immigrating and the situation they were in were similar to what was described in the book. Being able to make these connections and comparisons made the chapter more fascinating to read.

Chapter 12

            Prior to reading chapter 12, I had absolutely no idea what the repatriation program was. I found that the whole process was very interesting and question whether or not it was really voluntary. Since the U.S. was struggling with the Great Depression, it did seem logical that the government was trying to move people out. Also, it was likely that some Mexican Americans, with or without citizenship, did choose to cross the border because of the lack of job openings. But there’s a part of me that doubts the government’s definition of “voluntary;” it wouldn’t surprise me if they pulled a few strings to force some Mexican Americans towards the south, across the border.

What I also noted was the different ethnic groups that immigrated to America throughout history. There was never a specific group that I felt most sympathy towards because every group had their own stories of hardships. The Chinese, Irish, Mexicans, etc. all had their fair share at working in occupations that were dangerous with low pay. It just shows that all immigrants had to pass through a time of discrimination and suffering before they could gradually be accepted in society.

Blog #5 

            What I thought was interesting from reading Chapter 9 was the distinguishable difference between the lives of Chinese immigrants and Japanese immigrants. Chinese immigrants were rejected immediately and were considered to be aliens who did not have the right to naturalization. The Exclusion Act made the Chinese community stationary since there was a high number of older males and an extreme low number of females. The Japanese, although they did experienced discrimination, had a more fortunate experience than the Chinese. According the the book, this is highly due to Japan’s powerful military, which was noted by Roosevelt. So instead of an Exclusion Act, the Gentlemen’s Agreement still allowed certain relatives of the laborers who had already been in America to immigrate as well. In addition, several Japanese were more successful in their agriculture business and actually became financially stable.

            What was also surprising was the slow pace of assimilation of the French Canadians. I thought that French Canadian immigrants were more likely to be accepted by society because they were more “white” than Asians. However, most of them practiced constant cultural reinforcement and many also returned to their homeland freely, thus enabling them to hold on to their culture. Their strong ability to maintain their language and customs made the process of acculturation slower than other groups.