Maria (not her real name) is a Mexican immigrant who arrived in the United States together with her family in 2010. Her mother, father, and siblings had been living in the poor part of Guadalajara. Her parents were peasants with the father working as a rancher and her mother a waitress in a local pub and restaurant respectively. Being the firstborn in the family, Maria is seen as the leader guiding her younger siblings and protecting them from dangers in the society. By the time they were migrating Maria was only 10 with her brothers being 7 and 2 years old respectively.
Back in Mexico life Maria and her family lived in Guadalajara which is the capital of southwestern Mexico. The climate of the homeland is relatively mild with moderate rainfall. Guadalajara is known for the famous mariachi music. This region of Mexico also known as Mexico Silicon Valley is the commercial hub of the area and the residents live by raising cattle growing corn and beans. Back in Mexico Maria and her family used to attend the Catholic Church with her mother being influenced by practices and decisions. In this regard, her mother adopted the patriarchal structure within the home setting treating their husbands with utmost respect. This is in association with the fact that women in Mexico are the ones who uphold the Catholic Church morality. The role of men in the church is to uphold the morality of the church in the larger community.
One celebration that Maria recalls that is highly regarded is Día de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead). This day is marked by a combination of both indigenous and Catholic beliefs. According to Mexicans, the day is not for mourning rather it is taken as a joyful celebration as dead family members are believed attends to be honored. In this day families decorate their houses displaying the altars with pictures of the dead relatives. Also, the favorite foods of the dead, incense, and presents are put on the altars to invoke the presence of the dead. In most cases, the altars are decorated with marigolds trailing to the gravesites. All the people then fill the streets to celebrate with food vendors making food that resembles human bones and candy that resemble skulls.
Maria says that her family was keen to celebrate the tradition with the rest of her family pointing out that it brought the family together. In the UnitedStates, she says that the tradition is different as no one else is commemorating as they have since detached with the rest of the family. However, to keep the tradition alive, an altar with pictures of a number of her family members stand in the living room of their house. In addition to Día de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead),Maria also remembers other celebrations and traditions that were important to the Mexicans but are not recognized in the united states is the Semana Santa also known as the celebration of the holy week. It Isa weeklong celebration that is synonymous to the Easter celebrations. The aim of the celebration is to commemorate the final week of Jesus on earth.
Maria cited that many flee Mexico with the reams of acquiring a better life in the United States. This was the same case for Maria and her family following the murder of the owner of the ranch that her father worked and several other violence cases in her hometown her father decided that they would seek a better life in the united states. The decision was made after a long time of consideration and saving money. Having understood the problems of being undocumented, Maria's father had tried to acquire necessary travel documents but did not cover for the two smaller siblings. However, Maria father decided that they would nevertheless travel and acquire further documents once in the United States. Since Maria's father did not have enough money he sought to travel through the general routes that saw the family hire the services of a coyote that would avail them to a decent travel method. Although it was not expected to be easy the outcome of the journey was considerably difficult.
Another reason why Maria's family considered migrating to the United States was the state of poverty in the town. Considering that more than half the population of the people in the town wallowed in poverty, for this reason, they travel to the United States in pursuit of better jobs with better incomes and education for their children. Additionally, a larger area of Mexico is raided by gangs and drug cartels that operate in a state of lawlessness. The gangs have been associated with war zones that results in the displacement of immigrants. This is the case of Maria and her family who immigrated following a long battle with the gangs in her town.
The journey to Mexico as Maria puts it was a treacherous one. First, she attests that the last stop before getting to Central American migrants office is situated in the desert in the northern state of Coahuila. By the time they made to the last stop Maria and her family had traveled for about 2000 kilometers. In the course of the journey Maria, her family members and her traveling companions suffered assaults robbery and even abduction by criminal gangs. Additionally, Maria states that there were instances of bribery and extortion by police officers and immigration officers. Maria pointed out that indeed some of the immigrants died before they got to the last stop.
In pursuit of a better life, Maria and her family rode trains through the Guatemalan border which is approximately 900 kilometers. She says that the journey was hazardous and the travelers were compelled to choose places that were not prone to gangs. When they encountered the gangs each adult was expected to pay $100 in every station. On failure to pay the tolls, the gangs would threaten with amnesty until a promise to pay. Sometimes the gangs would force Maria's father to call the relatives to pay the money. At some point, the gangs would threaten to hold the two young boys until the money was paid. At one stop Maria's father was forced to hide in an empty boxcar so that the gangs would not force him to pay for the family. For every stop, several people were kidnapped and Maria only says that she was lucky that she was not separated from her family. Many of the travelers said that the abductions would subject them to further problems such as rape and assault.
The criminal gangs and the immigration officers were not the only people who were a risk to the immigrants. In one instance when the family boarded a bus, two people boarded and asked everyone to avail their papers. Failure to submit the papers everyone was demanded to pay an amount of 500pesos for every person. It was not certain whether the people were police officers or immigration officers or they were just civilians. In this regard, the journey to America is characterized by crime and corruption.
Once in America Maria and her family were identified as lawful immigrants and acquired the rightful documents. Afterward, the parents were able to acquire odd jobs from which they could provide for the needs of the family. Maria and her two brothers are now in school having learned English and are able to undertake her studies. Currently, all the members have been acquired all the necessary documents. Maria and her family being part of a minority group have been subject to both racial and ethnical discrimination from the native’s f America. However, with the continued enlightenment, it is evident that they have continued to be incorporated and assimilated in the normal lives of the natives. Additionally currently education on how the different minority groups came to understand their misfortunes and their strength. Therefore the level f acceptance continues to increase with the immigrants feeling more secure and accepted in the United States.
Additionally, the presence of the Parillo program as exemplified in the text the stranger to these shores, a learning system that helps the students to understand the experiences of different minority groups has been devised. In this regard, studying the Mexican immigrant population provides a deeper understanding that opens up to the future of the United States. The reasons why immigrants travel to the United States in a strife-filled journey is economic reasons. Although half of the Mexican immigrants in the United States are unauthorized it is important to understand that the rest of the immigrants are authorized and have the rights to be treated as citizens of the United States.
From the book, one can learn that the damaging culture theory has resulted in the current American Mexican culture (Parrillo). The Mexican Americans in the United States today have undergone a series of changes in the aspects of dietary changes, education changes and religious changes some adopting the practices that are native to the United States. The experiences of the Mexicans are different and provide a new perspective on the view of American history. For centuries now, immigrants. Most of the immigrants are fleeing their homeland in pursuit of improvements for their lives. While adapting to the new society, they tend to leave their culture behind taking up the new characteristics in the culture that they move in to (Parrillo). The adaptation to the new culture in most cases results in positive repercussions. The outcome is that there is an improvement in the quality of life for most of the people who seek these changes. To others like Maria, the process of adaptation results in moving away from the traditional norms adopting new behaviors and practices altogether (Parrillo). Understanding the differences in most of the immigrant culture creates a better understanding of their way of life and helps in the assimilation in the ways of lives of the natives.
Works Cited
Parrillo, Vincent N. Strangers to these shores. Pearson, 2013.
