Takaki chapter 12

Takaki 12

In Takaki’s chapter, entitled “El Norte,” the life of Chicano Americans is defined. The chapter discusses how Mexicans moved from one area to another looking for work and then they came across the Norte. The Mexicans moved from place to place because of starvation on job opportunities. The problem was, however, that they were not treated with respect because the Americans did not feel that they deserved any respect. This was because the Americans didn’t feel that the Mexicans should earn respect because of their heritage. They were forced to work for low wages and live in small rundown houses or on the street. The jobs that the Mexicans did were very rigorous field labor and it was very discriminatory. They were forced to work long hours doing very tedious work, such as picking fruit, laying railroads, working in mines or whatever. They are still looked at in this manner today.

So what does this all mean? What effect does this have on me, a white male? What effect is there on me that Mexicans had hard lives when they first immigrated. When I look back at everything can I understand that the reason that white males have more power over people of color all deal with the lives of the ancestors. This does not sound right. The reason that colored people have less opportunities in life is because of how people feel now. It has no relevance to history, only present, to develop future. When someone gets a low level job instead of one higher that they may be qualified for, it is not because of what happened one hundred years ago, but what happened that day or in either of the people’s lives.

I felt that this article was very intriguing. It allowed me to rethink how society was set up with immigration of Mexicans to America. I appreciated that I was able to see history from a different perspective for once. I was able to see how life was really like for those people and realize the reason that they are underrepresented in American government and high-end jobs. I once thought it was because they are foreign, but its not. It is because they are not white. Whiteness is key in a pathway headed for success. If people eliminated this thought process, the world would be an equal place. Dogs don’t discriminate other dogs because of color, or gender or breed, why should humans. Dogs get along just fine and when they interbreed, the puppies are considered mutts and do not sell for as much money. This is terrible that people had to bring racism into the animal kingdom.