Soaiba Fatima on Robin L. Riley's "Feminism and War"

Riley et al. has a section in the book “Feminism and War”  about Gendered bodies and US wars. Within this section, Riley mentions how in the US, only one story about war is told about war and it doesn't even begin to give the full picture of what the war actually is. 

In the writing, Riley explains that ideas of the foreign women as evil prevail in the US. Meanwhile, individual American women and their beliefs are portrayed as the collective opinion of all American women. The authors mention how female Iraqi researchers are portrayed as evil and dangerous, without any evidence. This made me realize that even though there was no evidence of these women producing weapons, most Americans view all Iraqi women as evil. This is because Iraqi women are rarely represented in our media as anything else.

Another point this reading made was that these foreign women are almost always portrayed in US media as victims to terrorist organizations from their countries without taking into account the fact that they are also, on a much larger scale, victims of the US war. This made me realize that by always emphasizing that America "will save" these poor, abused women, our media distracts us from the fact that by waging war in their home, America itself is abusing those "victims".

This part of the reading reminded me of the myth of a model minority. This myth portrays all Asians as successful, smart, and essentially, the "ideal" immigrants.This stereotype is completely invalidated when actual data is taken into account, as shown in this article: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cap-asian-americans-wealth-gap_us_586bd460e4b0d9a5945c91a7 By glorifying the lives of Asian-Americans, this stereotype fails to account for the struggles and experiences of Asians as a minority and creates unrealistic and problematic expectations for all other minorities as well. This popular stereotype is similar to US propaganda of Iraqi and Afghani women as evil, or helpless victims to extremist organizations from their own countries without taking into account the fact that these women are also victims of the US. 

I would like to discuss the role American media plays in adding to global feminist issues.

Zuzu on Lives in Limbo : Undocumented and Coming of Age in America

    One specific point that I wish to address in this blog is when the author talked on page 41 about a woman named Dora. Dora left high school when she became pregnant, and while she wishes to pursue more in life, she still feels lost.

    My immediate thought was how much this truly reflects the latinx/hispanic culture in my life. I’m Mexican and Puerto Rican and many times, I have personally experienced women having to leave their own goals and aspirations behind due to becoming pregnant. While this can be prevalent in any culture and something many women all over the world do, I think it’s a little different for latinx/hispanic women because they belong to a culture that enforces this idea that women should almost be a servant to a man. A woman is expected to cook for, clean for, and essentially serve the man of her household (whether it be a partner or family member) because he is seen as the provider. Men typically don’t help with the childcare because of work, especially in undocumented families, because of how hard it is to get hired when undocumented. This is not blaming the culture for these circumstances, it is simply something that I’m surrounded by and this reading made me think of it. I think it’s especially hard for young undocumented women once they get pregnant on accident. With no access to many privileges the US keeps from undocumented immigrants, difficulty to find a well paying job that would allow her to properly provide for her family, and a desire to pursue higher education, Dora’s life is full of hardships that many would allow to discourage themselves, so it is admirable that she doesn’t settle for what she has.

    Beyond that, this point also made me think of how hard it is to be an undocumented immigrant and feel lost. I think oftentimes, people think of illegal immigrants pursuing higher education aren’t allowed to feel lost. For example, people are oftentimes only fine with the DACA students because they earn their way through hard work into good colleges. But if they were to face hardships, that if experienced by a citizen would be seen as youthful mistakes and struggles, they are seen as lazy and not driven. People begin to think they are only using the DACA program to get ahead with no effort. And that is such a double standard. It shows that people don’t see immigrants as human beings, and simply things occupying space or going through motions. Everyone makes mistakes and everyone should be allowed to voice their struggles, documented or not.

    An article this made me recall is one about a woman discussing how people believe there is a “right kind of immigrant” (https://englishbitchrature.wordpress.com/2017/07/10/on-being-the-right-kind-of-immigrant-in-america-2017/). This kind of thinking stems from white privilege and puts people with eurocentric beauty features (pale skin, blonde hair, blue eyes) above other immigrants. They are less likely to have hate crimes performed against them or to have people enraged over their presence in their country, despite being the same as any other immigrant who faces discrimination. I thought of this because as i said, I think people want immigrants to behave only in one particular way and if they don’t, then they are seen in a negative light, even if people don’t hold those standards to actual citizens of the country.

    A question I have is whether the high school dropout rate for girls is higher than it is for guys?

Brenda Barrientos on "Gendered Bodies and U.S. Wars"

Within this brief section of to the intro of Feminism and War, the various authors explore women's experiences within war and the relationship between military views towards their bodies and their utilization in warfare. Riley, Mohanty, and Pratt make a point to explore further how militaries - especially the U.S. military - claim to wage their wars in the defense of foreign women, but often end up becoming the instigators for their tragedies and utilize these women as tools to bolster their warfare, especially in media. 

The framework of war in other countries often takes on this dual perspective: where the U.S's soldiers sweep in as "saviors," and the foreign women of those target countries are victims of the cultures within those countries. It's a familiar justification, not too long ago cried by Bush for the Iraq War. In Western media, the authors remind us, these women are often depicted as helpless individuals, unable to save themselves from their situations at home without U.S intervention, despite evidence to the contrary where bombs have dropped down into towns and villages in Iraq and Syria. This pervasive notion of victimhood, tailored with both racism and colonialism, is meant as a way to motivate (i.e. gain support), to feminize 'terrorist' men (by using femininity synonymously with weakness), and to bolster the masculinity of U.S. male soldiers; and all for the end result of control over the target country once a form of victory is assured.

The authors bring up what we as a country have already seen multiple times in the past: a hero and a damsel in a wartime context, with typically white saviors and foreign victims unable to save themselves. This is the familiar framework of a single story: where when limited perspectives are told to explain a complicated and multifaceted reality, it'll remove the other stories connected to them and can lead up to the dangerous erasure of identities, and in this case, the removal of female agency.

The utilization of women's supposed helplessness or victimhood is a trademark strategy for the U.S. military, not only for organizing sympathy and support, but also for encouraging loyalty from its ranks of soldiers for the reasons mentioned above. While U.S media outlets neglect to actively portray foreign women resisting the conditions in their country - or even resisting U.S. notions of  their victimhood - nowadays, however, people are gradually becoming more outspoken, both inside and outside the country. The information is out there,  with real and native women rallying out against these blatant manipulations and slapping false labels on their persons.

In the act of erasing others voices, it is not always the other countries trying to silence these women; oftentimes, its the U.S - it's us - and shouldn't we talk more about how little often we hear about women's resistance and how the U.S manipulates their genders as weapons for warfare?

Noemi Barrera on "Invisible No More"

In the article Invisible No More by Andrea Richie she explains how black women face oppression by the Chicago Police Department. She is able to develop this understanding by interviewing victims who have suffered from any sort of harassment from the Police Officers.

In the article, she covers a broad perspective on sexual assault and even violence black and women of color face. I would like to focus on the much deeper side of Police Officers and their assault on women. After reading the testimonials of these young women and what they had to go through after being assaulted by a higher power person it made me upset. This made me think those type of Police Officers have taken advantage of their position and have used their position as a way to threaten their mission in hurting these women. Instead of protecting these women from harms like these presented they've become a part of it.

As a Chicago Resident myself, I've seen a lot of violence growing up. At some point, I did believe that they were in every right to act the way they should in crimes and those people who refrained from being arrested. After reading this article It opened my eyes that not every gender gets treated the same women, in fact, can be seen vulnerable and that's when police officers take advantage of their position not only working for the law but also as men.

The reality is that women all over the world are taken advantage of just for who they are as a woman. This situation reminded me of something I read about women in Egypt. In Egypt, as I read, it is believed by men that women like to be harassed, physically violated, disrespected, and etc. When incidents arise people only assume that the women wanted to be treated that way. This relates because we see how through these acts feminism arises and even war. Because no one takes a stand for women they choose to defend themselves, but when they do all the system does is turn their heads and act injustice.

https://egyptianstreets.com/2017/07/02/43-percent-of-egyptian-men-still-believe-that-women-like-
sexual-harassment-report/








Do you believe that women of color/black go through sexual assault more than any other race?

Yesenia Saldana on Robin L. Rileys "Feminism and War"

In "Feminism and War" one of the main points that the author makes is that war is not simply just war. With war comes the idea of sexism and masculinity. Like we might know already, many wars rely on these ideas.

In this essay, the author explains that war lies around the idea of the role a man plays within society. War is seen as something good, something that a man is able to do in order to "save" a country. Since men are always seen as more strong than women, a mans quality is said to help a country and the people of the country ( women and kids.) The way in which these man "save" a country is by going out to war and "saving" other oppressed women and kids from their own countries. In reality, the country going at war does not realize or take into consideration all the effects war actually has on the country being bombed.

This is when the idea of sexism comes in. By men going to war it forces women to play the role that society expects from them. Since men go to work women are to stay at home and take care of their children while the man is at war. Women are seen as inferior to men because we are not seen as strong enough to go into a war zone. Like I mentioned earlier, when these men are "saving" "oppressed" women from other countries in reality they are affecting their lives. Since war usually occurs in places where women actually don't already have the necessary resources, war just makes them have even less resources than before. A war makes women and children have even less access to healthcare that they need and education or free social services.

In a movie called "Voces Inocentes" we are able to see how in El Salvador children and women live in fear because once boys turn a certain age they are taken into war zones and are forced to fight. This causes for women and children to be living afraid their daily lives. War also causes the seperation of families as seen in this movie. Like talked about in the essay, it shows how men in this case kids are the targets for war instead of women.
https://www.elseptimoarte.net/carteles/voces-inocentes.jpg

Will there ever be bigger movements that will force war to end in order for women and children to stop living their lives in fear?

Jennifer Riera on Invisible No More

In the chapter, “Policing Gender Lines,” from the book Invisible No More, Andrea J. Ritchie examines the intersectional relationship between race and gender when it comes to experiences of police brutality. However, while her analysis was a compelling one, especially since it reveals the complexities behind the various systems and structures of power in relation to patriarchy and white supremacy, what moved me the most within her piece was her ability to highlight the brave organizing, activism, and mobilization from women of color and gender non-conforming individuals alike. In a time where the agency of women and other minorities are often overlooked or ignored altogether, I think it’s crucial that we take the time to applaud whenever women’s agency is being discussed and highlighted.

As I previously mentioned, when it comes to women’s ability to exercise personal and political agency, this aspect is hardly discussed or highlighted, which can be severely problematic since it strips this idea of agency from our general image of women and implies that women, even when they’re victims, do not have a sense of agency at all. What this lack of agency can do, unfortunately, is reinforce this gendered hegemonic discourse over how women should behave or present themselves and how little agency women should ever exercise, if any. However, as we can see from Ritchie’s book, when women, primarily women of color, are presented as having a strong sense of political agency, it completely transforms the way women and the issue gets discussed.

For example, when women and gender non-conforming individuals exercise their agency and make their voices and demands heard, the issue is no longer just an issue—it is now an issue that women and others involved are taking ahold of and formulating solutions that work for them. While there are cases in which others step in and draft solutions for issues that concern women, what this does is it strips women from any voice or involvement in the same issue that primarily affected them more so than anyone else. Therefore, if we want to improve traditional constructions of women and womanhood, than by presenting women as autonomous beings is a good way to start changing the normative gender ideals our society so strongly holds.

Seeing how important it is to highlight the autonomy of women when dealing with gendered discriminatory issues, I couldn’t help but think back to when Latinas began to take ownership of their disadvantages position within the women’s movement of the 20^th century. Considering the racial tensions of the 60s and 70s, the women’s movement inevitably became a movement that focused mainly on the issues that only white middle class women faced, not the rest of the poor marginalized women of color. Therefore, in response to this, Latinas and other women of color began to exercise their political agency and were able to make their demands for justice heard. Therefore, as we can see, when women of color are confronted with issues, they don’t just sit back and wait for someone to rescue them. On the contrary, women of color use their agency and organize, mobilize, and collectively fight to change their realities. The best part of this display of agency, however, is that, in my opinion, it teaches young girls about the importance of speaking up and exercising the agency that we all have by virtue of being human beings.

https://www.hamptoninstitution.org/images/latina.JPG

Zubia Jahangir on Robin L. Riley's "Feminism and War"

One of the author’s points in “Feminism and War confronting US imperialism” is that the wars relies on the ideas of racism, sexism, and the masculinity of the heterosexual men. The author states, “Given the centrality of US imperial wars in the world today, it is impossible to understand ‘feminism and war’ on a global scale without understanding the specificities of the racist, heterosexist, and masculinized practices and ideologies mobilized by a USA in pursuit of economic and political hegemony.” Such ideologies are the reason behind many wars.

The author is mainly trying to convey that modern wars are based on the idea of militarized patriarchy which means that the manliness of a man is needed in order save a nation and its women, as they are the “saviors” of women. This idea provokes women to only be at home serving their men as these men are serving their country. This idea promotes the idea of female vulnerability that is why women cannot participate in the military. Nonetheless, war demands heterosexuality, particularly male heterosexuality which makes women to play their roles of mothers and wives at home supporting the wars while these “manly man” go out and save other women from “oppression” by bombing their countries.

The wars continue to rely on race, gender, white supremacy, and masculinity. The author says, “…annihilating effect on the lives of women, …with the manipulation of racialized discourses of male supremacy and female helplessness as justification…” The war not only reinforces sexism, but it also reinforces racism, classism, and even homophobia. The militarized patriarchy mostly victimize women of color because they have less access to health and education and are also victims of misogynistic culture and are in severe need of saving. This is justifiable enough for the white supremacist man to intrude, bomb, and hence save these “oppressed” women. This also becomes a reason for white supremacists to oppress the masculinity of the men of color by degrading their heterosexuality and demonizing them as a human being.

In this speech, the former president, George W. Bush, thanked everyone for the great effort of successfully liberating Afghan women and children city by city by their “Afghan Women and Children Relief Act.” This was another war on the name of helping women and children by victimizing the women of color and demonizing the Afghan men; another war based on race, gender, superiority, and masculinity.

Why can people not put themselves in other’s shoes before making any decisions for them or trying to help them in their own ways?

Ryann Beemsterboer on Andrea Richie's "Invisible No More"

   In her writing "Invisible No More," Andrea Richie successfully captures the disproportionate disadvantage that black women face when it comes to law-enforcement. Through her work with sexual abuse survivors, residency in Chicago, and common access to the news, Richie was able to form a well-informed and socially justified perspective on the topic.

   Her point of view is not hard to back up with facts considering the amount of black women who died at the hands of officers during her time. She discussed cases that she got from the survivors themselves or by word-of-mouth from local people, meaning that she knew or at least lived near the survivors of these crimes. She was fully involved in this topic because she saw happening around her every day. Her first hand view of the police brutality on women of color has surely shaped her opinion in a way that most of us could not imagine.

   Because she realizes that most individuals do not have the background she does, she created an entire book to raise awareness. She does this in hopes to expand and transform the mindsets of those who were previously unaware of this situation occurring every day. She wants to keep black women safe from police violence in their homes, schools, places of work, as well as on the streets. Her ideas of spreading the word to gain support allows for more awareness and help towards the common goal of safety from discrimination in violence for everyone.

   This topic is still relevant today. We see all over social media that a new black individual is killed by a policeman almost daily. It's hardly a shock anymore to hear about a person of color being killed by an on duty officer. According to the HuffingtonPost, 250 black people were killed by police in 2016 in America. Increasing rates of this issue makes it clear that people like Andrea Ritchie, who want to spread the support, are much-needed in our society today.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/black-people-killed-by-police-america_us_577da633e4b0c590f7e7fb17

What are some issues that disproportionately affect people of your culture?

Daisy Abrego on “Contested Membership Over Time”

In  "Contested Membership over Time”, Robert Gonzalez discusses the struggles of being an undocumented immigrant in the United States. With immigration policies such as DACA, it doesn’t seem enough to help immigrants in need of help.

Many young undocumented immigrants have lived in the US since they were very young. And when DACA and other immigration policies were created to help these youths, this was viewed as an opportunity for many undocumented students to have some legal status. Unfortunately, some individuals cannot obtain any legal status from immigration policies because there was a belief that there “good” and “bad” immigrant. Which I find extremely unfair because these people are too complex to be marked as good or bad because of circumstances.

So if you are pursuing an education, providing for your family, or being a productive member of society then you are a “good” immigrant. While “bad” immigrants are apart of gangs, had a felony on their record, or an overall criminal. Also, what happens if that person has clean up their act and trying to change? While these policies could help so many undocumented students, I feel that this would prompt more problems to rise because this would lead to the idea that some people are deserving of the safety and programs connected to citizenship while denying many things for the ones who is characterized as an “bad” undocumented immigrant.

In an article that I read, while people benefited a lot from DACA, this is not always a permanent solution for all undocumented immigrants. The DACA narratives tended to only highlight model immigrants and with DACA out of the picture, this caused all undocumented immigrants to be categorized in the same group. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/09/07/how-daca-pits-good-immigrants-against-millions-of-others/?utm_term=.0733282eb561

Do you believe that these policies would help immigrants who deserve it or would it only encourage more people to behave a certain way?

Daisy Abrego on “Undocumented Young Adults in Los Angeles”

    In the chapter “College Go-ers and Early Exiters”, Gonzales address the issues of the U.S. immigration system that left many undocumented teens and young adults in Los Angeles at a disadvantage when they try to pursue a higher education.  

The authors start out with the layout of L.A Metropolitan area that makes up more than half of the undocumented immigrants that live in California-- with Mexican descents making up the largest ethnic group. The author, Gonzales, discusses how undocumented teens were facing difficulties due to their immigration status. As they got older, they took on more responsibilities that eventually cause many to drop out of school because of their legal status hinders any opportunities that might come their way. Also, those who were lucky enough to get into college had no guidance from school personnel and lacked help from their families because parents are often forced to work long hours so that they are able to provide for their families.

In addition, undocumented individuals have a lesser chance of finding employment. However, many workers that do manage to secure a job are only able to get jobs that require the most labor for less pay than the even minimum wage. Often many employers take advantage of their situations them knowing that they are undocumented and that they are scared to speak up for their rights. Not only are they required to work hard for long hours, but they are also mistreated and work in dangerous workplaces.

While reading this article, I fully agree with all the points that the author made because many undocumented immigrants that reside in the U.S. do indeed struggle in their everyday lives. Since U.S. President Donald Trump decision to remove Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), this has affected undocumented families and students like taking away DACA. Without the protection of DACA, many youths are not allowed to work legally in this country and have a harder time being at school because they don’t have access to federal financial aid. At the moment, Dreamers are constantly are fighting for their rights that the president is taking away which will make it harder for them to continue their education.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-trumps-daca-decision-affects-colleges-and-students-2017-09-07

Do you believe that these US immigration systems will get worse over time? If yes, why do you think so?

Jennifer Gaytan on "Policing Gender Lines"

In chapter 6: "Policing Gender Lines" of Andrea Ritchie's book, she focuses on the overpricing of women, gender nonconforming people, and people who didn't dress like their assigned sex. She explains that this ideology was based upon what it meant to be a "real woman" in a white supremacist world. A women needed to be white, gender conforming, and upper class to be treated like a "lady."

The fact that she focuses her paper on the over-policing of women and gender non-conforming people is very interesting because when people talk about the over-policing of a group of people, they talk about black men and people of color. However, women and people who don't associate with their assigned sex often get ignored. Ritchie explains that if a person is not dressing or acting like the sex that they are being categorized in. In several stories in the chapter, many people talked about their experience with the police and how they were wrongly arrested for not conforming to the law's thought.

Also, Ritchie talks about the fact that during encounters with police officers, women are often abused. They are either sexually, verbally, or physically abused and harassed. They do this to try and maintain the gender norms already in place because in our society a man is supposed to be more tough and the women is seen as a man's object and very fragile. Therefore, male police officers believe they can do whatever they want to them and it's okay. Not only are women abused, but so are gender non-conforming people. They are often criminalized because they are seen as deviant and not normal.

To apply this into the real world, I read a news article that closely relates to the topic. Anna Chambers, a 19-year-old woman was raped by two NYPD detectives after she was caught smoking marijuana in her car. The two detectives handcuffed her and in the police van asked what she would do so she won't go to jail and that's when they began their attack. They both took turns in abusing her and then she reported it and got a rape kit done to prove it. However, this wasn't the end of the story.

When in the hospital, she was visited by 9 police officers demanding that she doesn't report it and exclaiming that won't be the last time that she would have encounters with the police. The two detectives justify their actions by saying that the sex was consensual and saying that Chambers was posting provocative photos on social media. This news article makes me so uncomfortable because cannot even trust the authorities who are supposed to be there to serve and protect. However, they seem to be doing the opposite and taking advantage of their badge.

Here is the link if you want to read further:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5116565/Woman-tells-nine-NYPD-cops-visited-rape.html

It is important to discuss why this is happening and what we can do to stop this from happening? Why isn't this kind of behavior talked about as much as the police brutality and killings happening to men?

Jennifer Gaytan on "Undocumented Young Adults in Los Angeles: College Goers and Early Exiters"

In the second chapter, the authors are focusing on undocumented students or as they call them "college goers." They explain that when it comes to undocumented immigrants, college is hard, especially when you don't have someone to guide you through it.

I think it is interesting that the authors decided to focus on the experiences of undocumented people's school experience. A lot of the times, they haven't finished high school, and when they do finish high school and decide to go to college it is way harder for them. Many of them do not have parents with experiences of going to school especially not in the United States. Therefore, they need to look for guidance somewhere else.

They explain that because a lot of them decide on not going to college, then they earn "meager" wages. I find this very true for anyone and especially undocumented people. It is definitely hard to have a stable life with a very unstable or low income. With undocumented people, a lot of the times they have family to look out for, so it is even harder for them. I think it was important for the authors to explain this idea.

Gonzalez and Vargas made very good points in this chapter because I think it is an issue going on everyday that affects the way that undocumented people live. I have an undocumented nephew who is currently in his senior year of high school. He has a minimum wage job and of course, can't pay everything he needs to pay with that job. Also, he has decided on not going to college because of the cost and because he thinks school isn't for him. He dislikes it very much that he was going to drop out of high school.

Like my nephew, many young people think that once you're out of school it is easy to make "good" money. They believe that school isn't going to do much for their benefit. However, that is not true. Not only are you being taught math, grammar, and science in school, but we are being taught discipline, determination, and perseverance. My nephew doesn't see that and has decided on not continuing with postsecondary education, and maybe one day he will think back and maybe even regret it.

This is a picture of undocumented students with a sign about wanting to go to college:

It is important to discuss why are these patterns being seen? Why are undocumented people less likely to go to college and if they do, less likely to graduate? What can we do to change this? 

Giulia Oros on "Contested Membership over Time"

In the chapter titled, "Contested Membership over Time," Roberto Gonzales explains the obstacles undocumented immigrants in the United States face in modern times. He discusses how immigration policies like DACA do not meet the needs of many of whom these policies are made for.

Undocumented immigrants include adults as well as children who have lived as long as they can remember in the United States. However, some cannot obtain legal status from immigration policies because of the differentiation between a good and bad immigrant. Some immigrants were a part of gangs or had a felony on their record, but their criminal history was in the past and since then they could have changed their ways. They might have been on a gang list in their teens, but now they could have put the past behind them and now have a family to take care of. The author is critical of this distinction between “felons” vs. “families” and I share a similar opinion. People are too complex to be categorized into ‘good’ or ‘bad’ because life circumstances change. So does that mean immigration policies fail to acknowledge that humans are variable and can turn their lives around for the better or worse. Does that mean that these immigration policies are a failure to the government? The policies could help out those who are accepted as “deserving” of legal status, but even then problems arise. Even if someone is deemed as deserving of legal status, it might come too late for them to build a career, like in Esperanza’s story. Although I admired Obama during his presidency, I feel like the author was not all that glad when he talked about the immigration policies.

The issue at hand is comparable to universities and how they select their future students. Just like certain immigrants are granted legal status in the United States, certain applicants are granted acceptance into a university. Just like when we applied to UIC, they checked at our background, our record, and high school GPA. A university selects the 'good' students and not the 'bad' students, essentially giving acceptance/membership to those deemed deserving of acceptance of the college education. If all universities failed to accept a straight A student  into their school because of a failed class in their freshman year of high school, they would be putting this person in the 'bad' category simply because of one thing done in the past. When an immigrant applies for legal status, the immigration policies ideally should recognize the person for who she/he is and not was.

How can immigration policies recognize who would be deserving of legal status without categorizing immigrants as good and bad?

Brenda Barrientos on "Undocumented and Coming of Age in America"

In " Undocumented and Coming of Age in America," Gonzalez and Varga have expressed their frustrations with The United States poor handling of immigration, framed in a dichotomy of "good" vs. "bad" immigrants that have not only prevented undocumented immigrants from fully becoming a part of the nation, but have also prevented the children they'd brought with them from receiving their promised chance at success. It is in their interactions with the 1.5 generation that Gonzalez and Vargas observe how these distinctions have created difficulties in transitioning into adulthood for illegal immigrants who’ve lived in the US since childhood.

The dichotomy of "good" and "bad" have stretched beyond adulthood for the 1.5 generation: the beginning of a process of exclusion starts as soon as elementary school. Though the Plyer decision allowed immigrant children at least a guaranteed a K-12 education, the authors note, they are not given any means to acquire citizenship or legal guarantee to a college education, both of which are essential keys to participating in and being protected by a system that would sooner deport them than accept them, based on shallow restrictions upon their actions if they're deemed"bad" immigrants.

The result of these restrictions leave them in what the authors call a "liminal stage," their name for how in-between many of the 1.5 generation are: between being social accepted as members of their communities, but legal outsiders according to the law. It is in this division of self, the authors claim, that creates a frustrating division of identities that provides no help to their futures: where their legally born cousins are promised jobs with the acquisition of a college degree, often the former cannot even begin to apply to colleges because of either home situations or financial difficulties from an inability to even obtain well-paying jobs. Their illegality, its noted, prevents them from becoming full-functioning adults in American society, and worsens their quality of life to dire straits. 

From their experiences with undocumented youth and research into the lives and conditions with them, I have to agree that this is another unfair and complicated situation that earns both righteous indignation and sympathy. The frustrations with American immigration policies and its education system aside, there's still hope yet that the fight for the right to legal citizenship and equal opportunity will continue. What's necessary is a change in policies, and Adriana Gonzalez is doing just that, joining others in a hunger strike to raise support for changes to DACA. 

 If given the opportunity, we should be able to discuss the other possible structural reforms  to give undocumented young immigrants a chance to pave their way upwards into the higher echelons of the American workforce and society, as proper citizens rather than aliens with little protections from the system.

Yesenia Saldana on Gonzalez and Vargas " Lives in Limbo: undocumented and coming of age in America"

In the "Lives in Limbo: undocumented and coming of age in America" Gonzalez and Vargas begin by stating that immigrants live in a big disadvantage even though they come to America looking for the "American dream." No matter what age an immigrant might be they are still affected by the different factors just because they are undocumented living in the U.S.

In this essay, Vargas and Gonzalez specifically discuss about immigrants that reside in California. This is one of the places in the U.S. like many other states that is home to many undocumented people. Most of the people that live in the L.A. Metropolitan area in California are undocumented facing difficult challenges there even though this place is made up of mostly immigrants. The authors discuss that one of the biggest disadvantages immigrants have is part of education. The author mentions how undocumented students face hard challenges because they do not receive the same help as other students. Not only do these students don't receive help from school personnel but they also lack help from their families. Usually, undocumented students lack help from their families because parents are forced to work long hours in order to be able to keep their families stable.

Like I previously mentioned, another disadvantage for immigrants is when it comes to jobs. Undocumented people are the ones that are only able to get jobs that require the most labor for less pay than even minimum wage. Jobs take advantage of them knowing that they are undocumented and that they are scared to speak up for their rights. Not only are they required to work hard for long hours, but they are also mistreated and work in dangerous work places.

Just like Vargas and Gonzalez have mentioned in their essay, immigrants that reside in the U.S. do indeed have to live in a struggle in their everyday lives. Over the past years we have seen more and more how immigrants suffer in the U.S. Just last year during the elections was when immigrants were hit the most. President Donald Trump made huge changes that are now affecting undocumented families. Beginning with deportations, lack of healthcare and services for them, and taking undocumented students rights, Trump began to make hurtful decisions towards immigrants. At the moment, DACA students are fighting for their rights that the president is taking away which will hurt their educational careers greatly.

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Will the unfair treatment of undocumented people ever stop in the United States? Or will there come a time when we will have a president that will fight for their rights?

Noemi Barrera on "Undocumented Young Adults in Los Angeles"

In Undocumented Young Adults in Los Angeles by Roberto G. Gonzales and Jose Antonio Vargas, they argue the struggles the Mexican community faces in California. They also talk about how this not only has affected them as migrant workers but their families stability here.

The author mentioned in this part of the article that segregation was a characterization of these immigrant communities. This brought me to think that it has played an immense amount of attention for their families stability. They are being destitute from opportunities others have to become successful in their lives. They come here with a dream to have a better life not only for them but for their future children as well. Their ethnicity has separated them from opportunities in school like getting financial help and going to a good school. 

This article only made me reflect on all Latino workers/students today. Many need a work permit to work and have to worry about having to refile every year. Students like DACA are worried today that their dreams of becoming someone with a professional career will be taken away just because of their status. I believe that it's unfair because all those who worked really hard are now put a stop to what they have studied so far. We can see through this how segregation continues to flow through today's society when you are not financially stable or have the privileged ethnic background.

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If Migration has occurred for many years, Why do you think that these immigrant communities have stayed at the same level for many years? Could it be because of the change of laws over the years?

Danijela Kaurin on Gonzalez and Vargas’ “Lives in Limbo: undocumented and coming of age in America” CH. 2

Gonzalez and Vargas made a very clear statement as soon as the chapter began: undocumented immigrants are at an extreme disadvantage compared to the rest of the population. The disadvantages vary from education to employment to everyday living conditions.

The L.A Metropolitan area is made up of five different counties, together holding more than half of the undocumented people that reside in California. As explained by Gonzalez and Vargas, the “immigrant communities face clear educational challenges… Latinos [they] are also underrepresented in the California State University system.” With lack of guidance from school counselors as well as parental guidance, these undocumented students who yearn for an education cannot fulfil that feeling due to the lack of support and hope they have.

In addition to education, undocumented people fall at a very hard disadvantage when it comes to trying to support themselves. The chances of a man or women receiving a minimum wage job in comparison to a documented citizen is near unheard of. The closest these immigrants get to employment are dangerous factory jobs that pay employees a daily wage of what is equivalent to a loaf of bread. It is truly sad and difficult for these immigrants who just want to better their lives.

Gonzalez and Vargas offer very intriguing and factual evidence when explaining how large of an disadvantage undocumented immigrants come to be, especially in such immigrant dominated counties such as the L.A metropolitan area. It is hurtful to see so many hopeful people coming to the land of opportunity and only be offered the bare minimum of opportunities. The following photo shows an example of undocumented immigrants who are attempting to go to college but the legal system and their backgrounds make it very difficult for them to achieve that goal. This occurs for thousands of kids around the country especially in such immigrant dominated counties such as the L.A metro area.

America is known as the land of opportunity and freedom, yet when these people come here searching for that, it magically disappears.