Despite the mixed reviews Crash has received, I feel that there is no denying that Crash is a film that is both relevant and thought provoking. It presents many different races and cultures within America and how they are perceived and discriminated against. However, it makes a point that everyone has prejudices while also being discriminated against at the same time; it is through this that all the characters crash into each other. As Ebert says, ‘it tells interlocking stories of whites, blacks, Latinos, Koreans, Iranians, cops and criminals, the rich and the poor, the powerful and powerless, all defined in one way or another by racism. All are victims of it, and all are guilty of it. Sometimes, yes, they rise above it, although it is never that simple’(http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050505/REVIEWS/50502001).
However, some critics say that it’s because of these characters being defined by racism that the film doesn’t work. For example, Foundas says, ‘doesn’t accurately reflect the city of Los Angeles as I’ve come to know it after more than a decade of living here...The characters in Crash don’t feel like three-dimensional, flesh-and-blood human beings so much as calculated “types” plugged by Haggis into a schematic thesis about how we are all, in the course of any given day, the perpetrators and the victims of some racial prejudice. (Nobody in Haggis’ universe is allowed to be merely one or the other.) They have no inner lives. They fail to exist independently of whatever stereotype’(http://danglinginthetournefortia.blogspot.com/2006/10/roger-and-me-by-scott-foundas.html). I have to agree with Foundas because the only times we saw the characters were while they were discriminating or being discriminated against but while watching the film I still sympathised or empathised with the characters. Also, while Foundas feels that this made the theme of racism feel overdone I think that it helped emphasise the whole concept of the film and gave it more impact and intensity; therefore although it may make the film less ‘enjoyable’ or ‘entertaining’, it makes it more like a parable and the audience leave it thinking about what they’ve seen.
Overall I think that Crash does a good job of illustrating miscommunications between races and ethnicities and how many individuals get their identities mistaken. The Persians who are mistaken for Arabs; the black cop who thinks his Latina girlfriend is Mexican; the black director is told to make the character sound more black; the Mexican-American locksmith who is thought to be a gang member by the white wife of the district attorney even though he is a family man. However, this isn’t always the case: just after we see a black robber object to how white people stereotype him as being dangerous he hijacks a car. As well as this it shows how racism can be used in positions of power. For example, the district attorney adjusts a murder case to make the white cop look bad so as not to lose the black vote. Through all of this, it certainly makes the audience think about the way they act and the possible consequences of these actions.
This week I will focus on the ABCUSA. There are 1.3million members and 5,500 congregations of this church in the USA. In 1638 the first Baptist Church in America was established in Rhode Island by Roger Williams; at this time Rhode Island was the first government ‘founded on the guarantee of absolute religious freedom’, therefore the American Baptist Church aptly reflects the American ideal of freedom. They believe in God’s redemptive love and they aim to heal the world through the power of this.
It says they believe in the importance of ‘the Lordship and atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, believers’ baptism, the competency of all believers to be in direct relationship with God and to interpret Scripture, the importance of the local church, the assurance of freedom in worship and opinion, and the need to be Christ’s witnesses within society.’ This reflects several themes in American identity that we regularly come across. In highlights the importance of independence- the need to be directly connected to God. However it also emphasises individuals’ role within the community and society as a whole. Throughout the site there is an emphasis on helping others and missionary work; this partly links to the idea of American Exceptionalism and that they have toe power to change the world. The quote also mentions ‘freedom in worship and opinion’; this clearly parallels arguably the most important factor in America’s identity. It expresses the first amendment- freedom of speech and religion; this shows that even specific Churches recognise the fact that people can worship however they like. It says ‘seeking the opportunity to worship God as individual members of freely organized and freely functioning local churches. Baptists always have maintained the need for autonomous congregations, responsible for articulating their own doctrine, style of worship and mission’.
The ABCUSA also appreciate the fact that there is a lot of diversity in their Church; they even claim to be ‘the most racially inclusive Protestant body’. They say that ‘American Baptist Churches USA celebrates the racial, cultural and theological diversity witnessed within its membership...Represented in our churches are equally diverse worship styles, cultural mores and approaches to Scriptural interpretation. The resulting challenges and opportunities have made us stronger —through fellowship, respect, mutual support and dialog, all based on a belief that unity in Christ involves growth and understanding.’ This shows that, like America, they believe that everyone should be included thus resulting in an extremely mixed Church both racially and culturally.
The video that I have chosen to show is a montage of pages from a spiderman comic that was released days after the 9/11 bombings, the comic is Marvel's response to the attack and attempts to reinforce the diaster of the attacks through using their comic book heroes. The reason for me selecting this video is because it is different from the traditional 9/11 tribute videos which mainly consist of images of the twin towers under attack with a tribute country western song played over the images.
This video offers a different style of commereating the attacks, it shows pages from the Amazing Spiderman comic issue #36 and seperates them with text from the creator of the video. The video begins with "sometimes you can't be the hero" and is followed with an image of Spiderman perched on top of a near by building looking down at the rubble where the twin towers once stood. The caption above Spiderman's head at this point reads "...God...". This section of the magazine was a two page spread which emphasises it's importance, it shows a classic American hero stood helplessly watching the terrorist attack, and it is again very American that at this time he would say 'God' as perhaps a plee, but 'God' for American's at this time is one of the things that unite them toghether.
The following screen shows Spiderman down on the site of the attack and there are 2 people running away from the cloud of smoke, who say to the hero, 'Where were you?' and 'How could you let this happen?'. As we know Spiderman being a fictional hero is one who prevents crime and terror, but this page has perhaps more to it as it is voicing the American people's questions of their nation at that time of how they could let something so terrible happen, so Spiderman is portrayed as a face for the nation in this commerative magazine.
The video also goes on to show part of the comic which commemerates the real heroes of that day, it shows the fire fighters, police officers and those people who fought the hijackers of flight 93 to prevent more destruction and loss. It has an image of a fire fighter sat under the banner of 'Remember the Heroes'. There is also a scene where a small child is sat waiting for his dad to return from the wreckage and when Spiderman goes to comfort him they see the dad's dead body being carried away. The comic encaptulates the terror and sadness of that day and the video's text supports well the remembering of the losses of 9/11.
The final image of the comic and video is of Marvel's heroes stood behind the men and women of the public workforce that day that were true heroes and draped behind them is the American flag, this is Marvel's way of showing their support for the heroes of that day and commemerating them by making them stand with their 'superheroes'.
I have chosen a montage type video tribute, created 4 years ago in remembrance of 9/11. It is entitled "The Beginning" and features the song "There She Stands" by Michael W. Smith.
The video is very much saying that despite the terrible acts of terrorism inflicted upon America, she is strong and will stay standing and carry on.
"Just when you think it might be over Just when you think the fight is gone Someone will risk his life to raise her There she stands"
There are numerous images of the rescue workers looking heroic and brave, which act as examples of America being strong. However, this is in contrast to the images of the civilians and their reactions to the events. They look shocked, upset, distraught and in some cases stunned into silence. It reminds us to never forget what that day was like, but because of the song and its lyrics it is also reinforcing the idea that America will not break. She has been hurt but will not be defeated.
The main thing I noticed from the video was the continual use of the American Flag, to show how united the people are and again to say they won't lose hope.
The Statue of Liberty is also used, while Bush says at the beginning "Freedom itself was attacked this morning" and "Freedom will be defended". The fact that light is shining through in the starting image is another reminder that there is still hope and not to give up. The American Eagle features a couple of times as well.
Bush is also heard saying "I have a message for our military...be ready" and "The hour is coming that America will act, and you will make us proud". (3.17) Fighting talk to show the resilience and strength of America but also making it sound as though they don't usually fight, only when they really have to. In this case, to defend freedom.
My favourite image used within this video is one that was used in Time Magazine, the Statue of Liberty standing strong against a background of black smoke filling the skyline. (3.19) This sums up the main point of the tribute, that being that the worst possible things can be done to America and she and everything she stands for, freedom and liberty will still prevail.
It should be noted that there is another video created by the same person that goes with this one, called "The Response". It uses the song "Madam Blue" by Styx and again features the Statue of Liberty and has talk of freedom, with the use of the American Eagle and the flag but this time with images of soldiers and war. The lyrics for the song seem fitting and can be found here: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/s/styx/suite+madame+blue_20132819.html
It then goes on to have images of workers looking heroic again, and images of ground zero and the smoke filled sky. To me this is trying to justify and remind us why America went to war and that it was okay to do so. This is followed by numerous fast images of the Shock and Awe campaign and other attacks the American armed forces made. This is all played while the song is on the part that repeats "America" over and over again. The video is saying you attack us and we will respond like this. That America is stronger and will not be defeated by a "faceless coward."
The interesting thing is that it has an ending montage of soldiers with the flag in the background which changes a couple of times to the British flag and then goes on the show to fall of Saddam Hussein. With images of soldiers being thanked, freedom being restored and the people of the countries rejoicing and supporting Bush. It says right at the end:
"May we never forget. May we always remember. May we never take freedom for granted. It is not free."
For this weeks blog task I have chosen to analyse a video that was created 6 years after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre, New York City.
The song that was chosen for the video is called "Believe" by Blessed Union of Souls which is an American rock band from Ohio.
The opening images of the film is the twin towers as they were before the planes hit them. There is no speaking just a piano playing. It shows multiple images of them in the day and at night they especially look amazing as they are all lit up. The images also show in full the New York skyline which is extremely iconic, an image that is common to the city.
The next images and videos are of the planes hitting the towers and President Bush saying that they don't really know why this is happening. An image that stands out to me is the picture of the people that have jumped out of the burning buildings, it is one that is shocking and will defiantly stick in peoples minds. President Bush goes onto say that a moment of silence will take place and then there is an interesting image of God in a cloud above the towers. This is one way in which the attack will be remembered in American society.
Throughout the video there is numerous images of people helping each other, different ethnicity's and classes. I think America will remember this day as a day that everyone was equal in society and everyone has the ethos of helping and giving. Again, throughout the video the nations flag is flashed up. This shows the American unity and patriotism, for example there is an image of a field of American flags with an adult and shild walking through it. Even in all the rubble and distruction a flag was put up on a flag pole for everyone to see that nothing can bring them down. Everyone that day was an American.
Towards the end there is images of where the lights beam into the sky signifying where the Twin Towers once were. It then is followed by a collage of pictures of the people that were killed in the attacks. I feel this is strong image as it is slapped right in your face that America was the victim.
I've decided to look at a more modern 'religion', that of Scientology. The official site is: http://www.scientology.org/
However, the official site will not give you all of the information you are looking for because you have to pay a certain amount to learn more within this religion. This in some ways relates to the capitalist society of today, even religion doesn't come for free.
"The ultimate goal of Scientology is true spiritual enlightenment and freedom." This automatically relates to America because of the idea of freedom being the one thing that everyone wants to achieve or to aim for.
It claims to be a religion for the 21st century and rightfully so with its "state-of-the-art film and audio facilities at Golden Era Productions. Set on 500 acres in Southern California, this is the worldwide dissemination center for the entire Scientology religion, responsible for all film, video, television, Internet and international event production."
To be up to date with todays society makes this religion more accessible than the others, which could be considered uncool and boring.
This religion also has the added appeal of celebrity followers such as Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Peaches Geldolf, Katie Holmes and Juliette Lewis. Again bringing it into the 21st century.
For week 8's blog post, I've chosen to look at the religious group of Christian Science. Looking at the name of the denomination, it sounds very much like a contradiction. I'm trying to find out how this Christian Science religion defines America's identity in terms of faith. The website that I looked at can be found here.
So looking at their website, there is a section describing what Christian Science is. They believe that God, is all encompassing, and that each individual is loved, cared and made in his own image. By image they mean spiritual, rather than material. They believe that healing that Jesus did, was the work of scientific Christianity. It does say that scientific Christianity and its applications of God, are laws which are practical and provable even today by anyone, anywhere apparently. Those practising the faith, also believe Jesus' sermon on the Mount, and the ten commandments are central to their beliefs. Most importantly though, is that Christian Science members believe in the healing and saving power of God. They believe that salvation isn't in the near future, but now, as the presence of God's goodness can be experienced by everyone now!
Christian Science seems to be pretty big. For example on their website they have links to a few different Christian Science publications, such as The Christian Science Journal, Christian Science Sentinel, The Herald of Christian Science and The Christian Science Monitor. This just shows that its target is not just a small minority, and that they are getting their message across, not only on the internet, but also in a physical format where it can be published across the country. Not only do they have publications, but they also seem to have a podcast, where they talk about the powers of healing or current topics and how they can help via prayer. An example of this is the Texas drought and wildfires, a podcast explaining how prayer can help. This is giving an identity to the Christian Science members, who are effected by what happens in their country, they try to help with the way they only know and believe, which is to pray.
Under the healing tab, there are loads of articles on which Christian Science members do throughout the country. There are featured topics on Christian Science nurses, teachers and practitioners. There is also a article on the BP oil Spill and about praying for it to get better. It seems that Christian Science, isn't what I thought it would be. I had the idea that it was explaining contemporary science, but with Christian ideas behind it. Yet it isn't that, it is the science of the praying for people, for the healing power of God. The Christian Science community, I guess, is based in Boston. With this I feel that only in America would you find this certain denomination of Christianity. They will obviously have similar beliefs to other denominations, yet they seem to be more practical on the science side of things, where they mostly believe in the healing power and spirit of God.
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Mormons in America
For this weeks blog task I have chosen to look at are the Mormons. The original European settlers would have been most likely to be Catholic, Protestant, Jewish etc. These religions were brought over to America and not created there. The Mormon religion or The Latter Day Saint Movement was founded by Joseph Smith Jr. in the beginning of the 1820's in western New York as a form of Christianity. Mormons believe first and formost that Jesus Christ is the saviour of the world and the son of God.
This religion has around 14 million followers worldwide. This may be due to the fact that the religion was created in America, a place where there is the opportunity to practice their religion freely.
In my opinion some of the concepts of this religion seem strange yet they fit an American ethos to some certain certain extents. For example there is a section on the Mormon website that is all about their "values". Strengthening Families, Service to Others, Missionary Work, Lifelong Learning, Freedom to Choose, Humanitarian Aid, Good Citizenship and Family History.The main ideas family is that you are part of God's family and key to happiness on earth is a happy family. Service to others seems to fairly obvious, helping others is in the job description. In my opinion this is an American ideal as people like to help others in their community. The freedom to choose section pops out at me especially as the idea of even settling in America in the first place was to have the freedom to start fresh and make a new life. In many ways I can see why this religion is appealing as they have a choice to what their morals are.
This week, is the presentation of the book How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and how the two short stories I have chosen to do, have a sense of an American Identity, and the journey into it.
The first story I'm looking at is Trespass (page 150 - 165). The main character or perspective in this story, is from the Carla, who at the time of this story, is in the 7th grade and knows basic English (which I will talk about in a moment). The overall premise of the short story is that Carla and her family have been in America for a year and Carla has started attending a Public school, which is a few blocks away from her house. Here, at her new school, she is bullied by group of boys. She describes them as "They looked bland and unknowable, the way all Americans did. Their faces betrayed no sign of human warmth. Their eyes were too clear for cleaving, intimate looks." (page 154)She feels that that these boys look exactly as Americans did. She also watches them talk about cars, the different models and how fast they go compared to others. From here, the story takes a dark twist, with Carla walking home one day from school, where she is followed by some older man in a big green car. It is quite clear what is about to happen, he tries to lure her into the car, but with her basic English all she can say is "Excuse me?" (page 157). She notes that this man runs his words together like Americans do " "Whereyagoin?" he asked, running all his words together the way Americans always did." This is quite a large barrier for her, as she can only speak basic classroom English, she is not used to dealing with this born and bred American. Here her Spanish identity, is still very much intact. This can also been seen when the Policemen are interrogating her about what happened. She can hardly remember words, even in Spanish to describe the man. There is a language barrier between her and the Policemen. Throughout the story as well, Carla is showing the first signs of Puberty, and she doesn't know what is happening. She is clear that she doesn't like what is happening to her body, wishing to wrap her body up, in the way that Chinese girls had their feet wrapped up (page 154). Her body changing, in a way is a huge metaphor, for the change in lifestyle, and her own adaptation to America. It says "She would stay herself, a quick, skinny girl with brown eyes and a braid down her back, a girls she had just begun to feel could get things in this world." The world she is referring to would be Mexico. Her body is changing, and in a way is shedding her old self, her old relations to her homeland and accepting this new land which is vaster and more prosperous. Yet it does come with its dangers. Her identity is changing, even if she wishes it didn't.
The second story I chose was The Human Body (page 225 - 238). The protagonist in this story is Yoyo (or Yolanda) she is the younger sister of Carla. From what I read, I think this story is set in Mexico. The overall plot of the story, finds Yoyo being forced into not playing with her cousin Mundin. Her grandparents who own a house in this plot, are generally away in New York for most of the time. But every time they come back to visit, they bring back presents for all the children. Each time, Yoyo would always get some new toy, or something to play with. Her auntie Tia Mimi goes with her grandparents as she is college educated and generally the smartest person in the family. On one of the visits back from New York, instead of toys, they all each receive a book. Mundin receives a plastic doll, that shows the anatomy of the human body. Yoyo is jealous he has something that is at least interesting. This in itself is quite interesting. As they are growing up, becoming more mature (or at least their parents wish they were) they are not receiving toys, but books. Objects that they could use to start an education. Seeing as the book is in English, Yoyo cannot read it that well (page 229). Without alerting their Auntie, their Grandmother, slips all the children toys she brought back with her. Mundin gets modelling clay, which Yoyo seems to be jealous of as well, seeing as she tries to trade with him for it, but he isn't interested in her presents. When she does sit down with the book she had been given, Yoyo actually finds it quite interesting, but Mundin comes up to her and decides to trade. But he wants to trade her the clay, for her to show him she is a girl. This is quite a leap forward, from playing with toys and fighting over them, to displaying your body for show (page 233). It is unclear whether Mundin has ulterior motives or is generally just curious. The whole ordeal doesn't last long at all (page 234 -235). It can be said that throughout this story, it deals with Yoyo having to accept she is growing up. With the gifts that she received by her Auntie, the separation of her and Mundin by her parents, the forcing of her to undress. At the end of the story, the parents of Mundin, find them in the shed (fully dressed), angry she asks why they are in the shed, and Yoyo improvises and says the Guardia were on the property. I guess the Guardia were the secret police, that the family were trying to get away from. It seems that with the intrusion of the Guardia in the lives of this family and their children, everyone is forced to grow up earlier than they would like to.
This week, we had to find two websites dealing with the South-West border immigration, with a website dealing with the pros of the situation, and one obviously, dealing with Anti-Latino immigration. I found this article dealing with creating a wall along the border, and it seems to be supporting the fact that, even if there is a wall there will still be illegal immigrants because there is labour on the other side of the wall that is better than their current situation. This article deals with 19 facts people don't know about Immigration. It pretty much says that immigration is a national threat and the situation there is only going to get worse, but does occasionally say that immigration is good.
The first article explains that creating a wall between America and Mexico, is quite a bad idea. Even with this wall, there would still be illegal immigration, even if they have to climb the wall, or go under the wall. The article also says that the fact that in America, there is a lot of cheap labor that not a lot of Americans would do, the illegal immigrants take this labour and work for companies that willingly employ them because it is cheap. It doesn't matter to these immigrants that the work is minimum wage, due to the fact that it is far better than their situation in Mexico. The article does go on and say that it is quite impossible to control the border, with walls or how it is controlled today, as there will always be cracks where the immigrants would be able to seep through. Even if it is through the desert which is the longest and deadliest way of getting across the border, as they have to go 3 days and nights through a inhospitable landscape. The article also compares this wall to the Berlin wall "Taxpayer money should not be spent in useless strategies. The problem is always going to be there until BOTH governments create a solution. The expensive bandaid will have the same faith as the Berlin wall, although be do not know which side is going to tear it down first." I think the article is trying to say that illegal immigration isn't the end to America, or the way of life in America, but it is a problem that has to be fixed. But it needs both governments to work together to sort the situation instead one overpowering the border.
This is very different to the second article, where it says that illegal immigration is permanently destroying the South-West of America. It does say "The U.S. government has refused to control the U.S. border with Mexico for decades, and this has allowed millions of criminals, drug dealers and gang members to cross freely into the United States. Not only that, but our refusal to secure the border has allowed thousands (if not millions) of people that have very serious diseases into the country."This is pretty much condemning the government for not doing anything substitutional with this problem. The article also is complaining that America is keeping the border between North Korea and South Korea locked down with military, and why can they not do that with the Mexico Border. I find this quite surprising really, as surely it is the North Koreans keeping the border under military control? "What is most infuriating of all too many Americans is that these illegal aliens are taking jobs away from U.S. citizens. According to a review of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau data, legal and illegal immigrants gained over a million additional jobs between 2008 and 2010 even as millions of American citizens were losing their jobs during the same time period." This is overtly blaming immigrants for the lack of jobs for Americans presently, even though these Americans would probably wouldn't settle for minimum wage jobs. Then it lists the 19 facts that people do not know about immigration, which I won't put here, but you can view them here.
Overall I think both these articles do have great points from both sides. Though the first one doesn't blame problems on the immigrants, it tries to find a solution for the problems that would in a way benefit both parties. Even if it is quite difficult to come to a conclusion where both parties are happy. The second article seems to be pointing the blame, and not solving the problems. It pretty much says that there are jobs being taken away from good Americans because of these illegal immigrants, it doesn't cover the possibility of the immigrants lifestyle beforehand.
This week I will look and one pro and one anti-Latino immigration website. What I thought was interesting about this task was the fact that it was really easy to find an anti-Latino immigration website but quite hard to find a pro-Latino immigration website. Does this show that popular opinion is against immigration of Hispanic peoples (especially Mexico)?
I will start off by looking at the pro-Latino immigration website: http://www.hispanic8.com. This website is written by Jon Garrido, who as a Hispanic himself is very pro-immigration for Latino peoples. The website has lots of news, articles and links about Latin Americans but I will focus on an article titled ‘The Great Immigration Panic’ from 2008.
The article overall gives an impression that America has no right to deny Latinos entry to become citizens. At the start it says: ‘A nation of immigrants is holding another nation of immigrants in bondage, exploiting its labor while ignoring its suffering, condemning its lawlessness while sealing off a path to living lawfully. The evidence is all around that something pragmatic and welcoming at the American core has been eclipsed, or is slipping away’. This emphasizes the fact that America is a nation of immigrants so Latinos are the same as any other ethnicity/race therefore it is unjust that they are allowed to suffer. This idea is also demonstrated from the image they use (above): it shows the Statue of Liberty, which would welcome immigrants who were about enter through Ellis Island, this is striking because Mexicans cross through the border, not overseas therefore it’s almost like they were never wanted in the first place; they don’t have the same (symbolic) journey as other immigrant groups. The fact that it mentions how America is making it impossible for them to be legal immigrants further demonstrates how they feel unwanted and victimised. The article argues that ‘every time this country has singled out a group of newly arrived immigrants for unjust punishment, the shame has echoed through history. Think of the Chinese and Irish, Catholics and Americans of Japanese ancestry. Children someday will study the Great Immigration Panic of the early 2000s, which harmed countless lives, wasted billions of dollars and mocked the nation’s most deeply held values’. This suggests that, despite the unfair treatment, eventually Latin Americans will fit in with the rest of America just like other minority groups have done in the past; therefore there should be no panic that their immigration will change America.
Most of the article talks about how poorly they are treated. One example used is that of a raid at a meatpacking plant in Iowa, where hundreds of workers ended up in prison. It says that, ‘Civil-rights lawyers complained, futilely, that workers had been steamrolled into giving up their rights, treated more as a presumptive criminal gang than as potentially exploited workers who deserved a fair hearing. The company that harnessed their desperation, like so many others, has faced no charges’. This shows that the majority of companies face no punishment for hiring illegal immigrants and highlights the fact that businesses are benefiting from cheap labour which, in turn, helps the economy. Therefore, it suggests that Latin American workers benefit our country, doing the jobs that Americans don’t want to do, therefore they deserve to immigrate here and they shouldn’t be treated with such disrespect. As well as this, it mentions poor medical care and general poor standards of living. The article implies that little effective actions are being done to remedy this and unless the nation realises that ‘illegality is not an identity; it is a status that can be mended by making reparations and resuming a lawful life’ then the issue will never be resolved.
The anti-Latino immigration website I chose was http://www.wesupportamerica.org/. This is the website for an organisation called We Support America: Advocates for Immigration Reform in Oregon and the United States of America. The very name suggests that they allowing Latin immigration is going against America; however, unlike the pro website, it doesn’t consider the fact that America is an immigrant nation. The website comprises of news, videos and links to other anti-Latino immigration organisations. I will focus on the homepage and the section called ‘Our View’.
The first notable thing on the homepage is quotes from speeches of Hispanic leaders like ‘You old white people it is your duty to die’ (the quote in large, bold on the website). This is supposed to lead the viewer into feeling threatened by the idea that Latin Americans are going to take over America. Other quotes reference the fact that Mexicans are regaining the land they lost in the Texan War of Independence 1835-6 and the Mexican-American War 146-8 and the increasing fertility rates. This reminds me of the statistic which was discussed in the lecture: by approximately 2050 ‘whites’ will be in the minority, thus making America a country of many minorities and no majority. These quotes are followed up by a mention of the February 15th 1998 US vs. Mexico soccer match in LA Coliseum when the majority of the crowd were Mexicans who ‘booed during the National Anthem and U.S. flags were held upside down. As the match progressed, supporters of the U.S. team were insulted, pelted with projectiles, punched and spat upon. Beer and trash were thrown at the U.S. players before and after the match’. This implies that if Mexicans did take over America that the welfare of ‘proper’ American citizens is at risk. It also says ‘When I was young, I remember hearing about the immigrants that came through Ellis Island. They wanted to learn English. They wanted to breath free. They wanted to become Americans’. This connotes that they don’t wish to be assimilated but that they will strip America of its identity, unlike immigrants beforehand.
Much of the focus of their argument is that they are draining the system whilst taking opportunities from Americans. It says, ‘Not only are they Stealing jobs from US Citizens (and Legal Aliens) they are Draining our social services, Flooding our schools, Over crowding our housing and medical services, Abusing our government lands, Smuggling illegal drugs, Overburdening our court systems, Befouling our parks, Terrorizing our Children, Ripping off our identities, Spawning violent gang members, Demanding free interpreters, Over taxing our law enforcement and emergency services, Making a mockery of our tax laws, Turning our streets and highways into unholy blood baths and more’. This quote seems extremely over the top, making it sound like America is a horrific, uninhabitable place and will keep going downhill as more and more Latin immigrants arrive; suggesting that we should feel threatened by Mexican/Latino presence.
