Latino Americans: Episode 2
Share your reflections on this episode. What themes continue in this episode that we saw in the previous one and in “Diario de un viaje a CA”? What specific information do you believe is important to retain? What details will you likely remember one year from now?
I think a lot of the video will stick with me in over a year, even though at first it seemed like a lot of it was just the recurring theme of racism and discrimination like in “Diario de un viaje a CA”. I think it is worth noting that thirty million people immigrated to the U.S. during this time. At first, people like Marti the poet expected a happy liberation period where they could be free from their corrupt government. The same Treaty that allowed Latinos to be able to live and make a life for themselves was ignored. They were treated as “second class citizens” and were not allowed to be on the U.S. congress or elect their own governors, all they could do was travel back and forth between Mexico and the U.S. Many Latinos were deported from America during the Great Depression, because at one point their labor was needed but their labor is no longer needed during this time and many lose their jobs. Another important detail to note is that the Spanish-American war is brutal on the Spanish side but the biased side is just that the battles were small and insignificant because the Americans won. The ironic part of this is that the Spanish people felt like they were Americans, so the very name of the Spanish-American War seems redundant.
This episode explorers the same ideas that was in the first program and in “Diario de un viaje a CA”. Yet, in this episode, it seemed to be a much different story compared to the other works we’ve read. The Mexicans were welcomed in America, the rising country needed many hands to help with the territorial expansion. They were sought for; “in the contest for cheap labor, the Mexicans won.” Yet, like in the first installment, and in “Diario de un viaje a CA”, everything isn’t perfect for immigrants in America. The U.S. expanded into immigrants homelands, and they didn’t have equal rights compared to whites.
One of the first lands America had control of was Cuba, the U.S. created the Platt Amendment, so Cuba wasn’t a truly free country. Puerto Rico and the Philippines were under the United State’s claws as well.
The themes that are similar throughout the past few assignments are the injustice these people have faced. For example, when Puerto Ricans had the option of becoming U.S. citizens, they had restricted rights compared to the the Anglos in America. The Mexicans faced prejudice as well, when the Depression came, the Mexicans were the first to become homeless, even if they were extremely loyal and hard workers. American infrastructure wouldn’t exist today it if Mexicans weren’t in the U.S. working. The idea that America has is that it wants immigrants to come when there is work, but leave when there’s no more work to be done.
I believe the one fact which is very important to retain is that American infrastructure wouldn’t exist today it if Mexicans weren’t in America working. Mexicans helped build this country, just as much as the American born citizen. In one year from now I’ll probably remember the immigrants traveling to America and trying to desperately provide for their families. I hope I’ll remember the revolutions and the leaders whose names most people don’t remember. I’ll also remember the immigration problem, and how the U.S. cherry picked Mexicans to leave the country. The unjust acts these people have experienced is very unfortunate and needs to be remembered.
Something that I see as a recurring topic would be the fact that the United States was always seen as the land of opportunity. Any of the foreigners had false hope with believing that as soon as they step foot on the land life would get easier. Immigrants were needed to build many of the greatly established empires back then. First it was the Mexicans that the Americans were “at war” with now it included Cubans and Puerto Ricans. Something else that stood out to me was irony of the Americans. They mistreated and degraded them all for the sake of money but Americans also think they’re essential with how the money is made. Without the Latinos, the empire that they desire wouldn’t have existed.
Episode 2: “Empire of Dreams” demonstrates how the American population was transformed by Latino immigration into the United States. The massive amounts of immigration from Latin American countries prove how crucial it was for economic growth. Similar to episode 1, “Empire of Dreams” continues to deliver the same overall message and theme of injustice through revealing the violations of individual rights of Latinos while in the United States. The “American Dream” continues to stay relevant throughout both episodes, through the stories of Juan Salvador Villasenor and Emilia Castaneda. I think it is important to retain the narratives and history of this episode in order to gain a broader understanding and perspective towards the experiences people faced during the time period and to better understand the relationship between Latinos and America. The details that I will most likely remember a year from now is the fact that Mexicans were targeted and deported back to their home country while European immigrants were mostly left alone.
Themes that reoccur after the first episode include the serious struggle the Mexicans had when coming to America, misconceptions of the Mexican people about coming to America, discrimination, and violence. It is unfortunate that these are the themes that persistently keep coming back because as an American it makes you feel awful about what you are learning. Something I learned from this film that I won’t forget is how America deported a mass number of Mexicans at once. The video even compared this event to other races, religions, and just different views and nothing came close to comparison. The more the videos teach about how Mexicans were treated in the early 1900’s the worse it looks for America due to the impulsive wars, the unthinkable violence and the overall poor treatment of other people.