I came in contact the mother of a woman who was killed by illegal immigrants. I think people ought to know this story.
The Merced County Sheriff’s department announced nine total arrests from the departments investigation, five of which are in direct connection to the death of a Merced woman who was set on fire and left to die last month.
Investigators say Rosa Avina was tied up and burned in a pile of debris near Ballico in Merced County. She managed to undo her bindings and get help, but died two days later.
During a news conference Wednesday, Merced County Sheriff Mark Pazin said the crime was committed in retaliation over unpaid drug debts.
Sheriff Pazin said Avina apparently owed the men around $750 for marijuana and crystal methamphetamine she received.
Omar Cebrero, 18, of Turlock, Alvaro Reyes, 29, of Livingston, Luis Valencia, 24, of Delhi, were charged with Murder, Conspiracy, Torture, Mayhem, Kidnapping. Urbano Ortega, 27, was charged with Conspiracy, Torture, Mayhem, Kidnapping. Renulfo Ortega, 23, of Livingston, was charged with Accessory to Murder, Conspiracy, and unrelated narcotic warrants.
According to investigators the men lured Avina to a drug house which she believed to be safe, then staged a home invasion robbery in order to tie her up.
Although there was speculation that Avina’s murder was a hate crime, Sheriff Pazin said that was not the case.
As a result of the investigation, four other men were arrested in connection to the gang rape of a 16-year-old girl in Turlock.
Elver Torrez, 24, of Livingston, was charged with possession of narcotics for sales, immigration hold. Ezequiel Rios, 32, Pedro Vasquez, 31, and Victor Gonzalez, 30, all of Turlock, were charged with sexual assault, and immigration hold.
The men are believed to be associates of the five other suspects.
Sheriff Pazin said some of the suspects in Avina's death could also face rape charges.
The Sheriff's Department said three of the men arrested will be turned over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Department.
source: http://www.ksee24.com/news/local/11084811.html
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Education in a Mexican community
The level of education people achieve will determine their lifetime earning potential. “Data from the U.S Census Bureau (2002)…Show that high school drop outs earn on average, around $18,900, whereas college graduates may earn $45,400 or more annually” (Mueller, Giacomazzi and Stoddard, 2006). Growing up Mexican I learned that in my community, success was not an option, it is more of a dream that is not achievable and viewed by many as exclusive to whites. Instead of going to school, many Mexican students choose not to go to class and instead they spend their time with gangs and consequently as J.W. Newman explained, “show an increasing amount of extreme resistance to schooling and conventional socialization” (as cited in Hartnett, 2007). Education in the Mexican community where I grew up was not highly valued or at least not as valued as going to work construction (or any other job that did not require a high school diploma) and bringing home money to help the family. Unfortunately most people in Mexican communities do not make an effort to ensure the education of their children by reading and talking with their children. This is the case of generation after generation resulting in “the median income for Hispanic men…[being] less than two-thirds the figure for non-Hispanic men-$14,141 compared with $22,207…” (Rodman, 1992). Consequently this becomes a vicious cycle because “parenting is influenced by poverty….Poverty is linked to poorer child outcomes as well as poorer parenting” (Brooks-Gunn et al., 1997). The following are examples of how the learning of people I know have been influenced by their environment.
First case: A 15 year old girl gets pregnant and she gives birth to a beautiful boy whom I baptized and accepted the moral and religious responsibility of his upbringing (a responsibility on which I have miserably failed). By the time she was 21 she had four children with 3 different fathers and was living in a motel room. By the time she was 23 she had bored 2 more children and added another father to this family. By this time her brother, whom I use to play video games with, was in jail and his girlfriend lived with her parents with a fatherless child. Also on of her cousins was pregnant by the age of 16. Statistically “only 64% of Hispanics graduate with a high school diploma or its equivalent…” (Mueller, Giacomazzi and Stoddar, 2006). The odds are that only 3 of her 5 children will graduate from high school. How did this person turn out to be this way? It was known to those around her family that both parents were cheating on each other. Her mom was the neighborhood whore. Both of her parents never completed middle school and were Mexican immigrants.
Second Case: A family of 4 siblings and their unemployed mother and disabled father. The third oldest was a female pregnant by 15. All 3 of the high school aged siblings dropped out of High School. I hate to make this prediction but I think the youngest will follow the elder's footsteps. They did not idolize Bill Gates for being a college drop out and still managing to be the richest man in the world. Instead they would gather in their front lawn and they would always talk about a certain drug dealer, idolizing him while getting drunk. Their father was disabled and both parents were illiterate. In this case it is obvious that their parent’s poverty and lack of education influenced this family’s choice or lack of to further their education.
Third Case: A friend in high school, more like an acquaintance, we hung around a few times a month. He played video games and studied more than most of us. He only lived only a few blocks from the family in the second case. After high school, his friends began to call him a "bitch" because he no longer hung around with them (out of all his group of friends, he was the only one who attended and finished a college education). Both his parents completed their high school education in Mexico. His younger brother also attended college and his sister opted for a short career. The interesting fact about this case is that this person was chastised for sacrificing time with his friends in order to further his education. While not all of his friends work dead end jobs they will never have the earning potential that he does with his bachelor’s degree.
The fourth case is about me. Why? Because by having knowledge and first hand experience, I have an opinion on this topic. Growing up as an illegal immigrant I wanted to be like the cool Mexicans, the cholos. I dressed like them and tried to imitate everything that they did. In middle school I once yelled the F and the N words all in one sentence. I was loved by certain circles for doing that, I felt good. One day when walking to school I found a knife so I sold it to a friend, who happily paid me a dollar only to later give up my name as the person that sold him the knife, after he pulled it on a teacher. So I was suspended. When my mom came to pick me up form school, she was crying. When my father came home he gave me a beating that I don't care to remember. I remember one of my hands was numb. Is this child abuse? I think not because right after that I told myself, “this shit ain't happening again” (but in Spanish because I did not speak English at that time). Up to this point I had allowed myself to be influenced by my community and my peers. Looking back at how I behave for the better part of my junior high years,I now realize that after that they I allowed my parents to influence me and my educational decisions. They encouraged me and my two siblings to get an education. Both of my parents completed their highs school education in Mexico.
I then went on to high school where I struggled in all my classes and hung around in TJ (Tijuana) with all the “border brothers.” I managed to graduate and went on to a community college. It was there that I was forced to learn to study and do homework because I was willing pay to repeat any of my courses (I had to work two jobs to pay for school) this wasn't free and I wasn't going to take it for granted. I finally and barely was accepted into a four year university where my performance was far from stellar. At about that time I got married and had my first child and naturally I had to drop out of college. Five years later I finally managed to go back to school to finish what I started. My goal is to achieve financial success. Through my parents I witnessed what can be achieved through hard work. My goal is to work hard using my education. It was their support that made me ambitious but not greedy. Lastly, I want to better myself so that I may give my children the resources they need to be successful and break and defy the education statistics of their cultural and ethnic background.
Statistics are mounted against Mexicans who want to pursue a higher education. Out of the 27 people mentioned here, only six have attended a university or college. That means that only18.5% of the 27 people mentioned here have actually attempted to further their education. We were all from the same community no more than 5 miles apart from each other. Most of the 27 people knew each other. This relationships have lead me to believe that not only does a person have to be smart enough to get good grades and get an education, but any person must also have a support system and an environment that will encourage and instill a need for success through education. Making it isn't easy and only our families can support us so that we can further our goals and succeed in today’s world.
References
Brooks-Gunn, J., Duncan, G., & Aber, L, (1997). Neighborhood Poverty: Context and Consquences of Children, Vol. 1. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Hartnett, Sharon. The High School Journal. Does Peer Group Identity Influence Absenteeism in High School Student? Vol. 91, Issue 2, 2008.
Mueller, D., Giacomazzi, A. & Stoddard, C. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk. Dealing with Chronic Absenteeism and its Related Consequences: The process and Short-Term Effects of a Diversionary Juvenile Court Intervention. 11(2), 2006.
Rodman, Griffin. CQ Researcher. Hispanic American, Vol. 2, 2002.
First case: A 15 year old girl gets pregnant and she gives birth to a beautiful boy whom I baptized and accepted the moral and religious responsibility of his upbringing (a responsibility on which I have miserably failed). By the time she was 21 she had four children with 3 different fathers and was living in a motel room. By the time she was 23 she had bored 2 more children and added another father to this family. By this time her brother, whom I use to play video games with, was in jail and his girlfriend lived with her parents with a fatherless child. Also on of her cousins was pregnant by the age of 16. Statistically “only 64% of Hispanics graduate with a high school diploma or its equivalent…” (Mueller, Giacomazzi and Stoddar, 2006). The odds are that only 3 of her 5 children will graduate from high school. How did this person turn out to be this way? It was known to those around her family that both parents were cheating on each other. Her mom was the neighborhood whore. Both of her parents never completed middle school and were Mexican immigrants.
Second Case: A family of 4 siblings and their unemployed mother and disabled father. The third oldest was a female pregnant by 15. All 3 of the high school aged siblings dropped out of High School. I hate to make this prediction but I think the youngest will follow the elder's footsteps. They did not idolize Bill Gates for being a college drop out and still managing to be the richest man in the world. Instead they would gather in their front lawn and they would always talk about a certain drug dealer, idolizing him while getting drunk. Their father was disabled and both parents were illiterate. In this case it is obvious that their parent’s poverty and lack of education influenced this family’s choice or lack of to further their education.
Third Case: A friend in high school, more like an acquaintance, we hung around a few times a month. He played video games and studied more than most of us. He only lived only a few blocks from the family in the second case. After high school, his friends began to call him a "bitch" because he no longer hung around with them (out of all his group of friends, he was the only one who attended and finished a college education). Both his parents completed their high school education in Mexico. His younger brother also attended college and his sister opted for a short career. The interesting fact about this case is that this person was chastised for sacrificing time with his friends in order to further his education. While not all of his friends work dead end jobs they will never have the earning potential that he does with his bachelor’s degree.
The fourth case is about me. Why? Because by having knowledge and first hand experience, I have an opinion on this topic. Growing up as an illegal immigrant I wanted to be like the cool Mexicans, the cholos. I dressed like them and tried to imitate everything that they did. In middle school I once yelled the F and the N words all in one sentence. I was loved by certain circles for doing that, I felt good. One day when walking to school I found a knife so I sold it to a friend, who happily paid me a dollar only to later give up my name as the person that sold him the knife, after he pulled it on a teacher. So I was suspended. When my mom came to pick me up form school, she was crying. When my father came home he gave me a beating that I don't care to remember. I remember one of my hands was numb. Is this child abuse? I think not because right after that I told myself, “this shit ain't happening again” (but in Spanish because I did not speak English at that time). Up to this point I had allowed myself to be influenced by my community and my peers. Looking back at how I behave for the better part of my junior high years,I now realize that after that they I allowed my parents to influence me and my educational decisions. They encouraged me and my two siblings to get an education. Both of my parents completed their highs school education in Mexico.
I then went on to high school where I struggled in all my classes and hung around in TJ (Tijuana) with all the “border brothers.” I managed to graduate and went on to a community college. It was there that I was forced to learn to study and do homework because I was willing pay to repeat any of my courses (I had to work two jobs to pay for school) this wasn't free and I wasn't going to take it for granted. I finally and barely was accepted into a four year university where my performance was far from stellar. At about that time I got married and had my first child and naturally I had to drop out of college. Five years later I finally managed to go back to school to finish what I started. My goal is to achieve financial success. Through my parents I witnessed what can be achieved through hard work. My goal is to work hard using my education. It was their support that made me ambitious but not greedy. Lastly, I want to better myself so that I may give my children the resources they need to be successful and break and defy the education statistics of their cultural and ethnic background.
Statistics are mounted against Mexicans who want to pursue a higher education. Out of the 27 people mentioned here, only six have attended a university or college. That means that only18.5% of the 27 people mentioned here have actually attempted to further their education. We were all from the same community no more than 5 miles apart from each other. Most of the 27 people knew each other. This relationships have lead me to believe that not only does a person have to be smart enough to get good grades and get an education, but any person must also have a support system and an environment that will encourage and instill a need for success through education. Making it isn't easy and only our families can support us so that we can further our goals and succeed in today’s world.
References
Brooks-Gunn, J., Duncan, G., & Aber, L, (1997). Neighborhood Poverty: Context and Consquences of Children, Vol. 1. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Hartnett, Sharon. The High School Journal. Does Peer Group Identity Influence Absenteeism in High School Student? Vol. 91, Issue 2, 2008.
Mueller, D., Giacomazzi, A. & Stoddard, C. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk. Dealing with Chronic Absenteeism and its Related Consequences: The process and Short-Term Effects of a Diversionary Juvenile Court Intervention. 11(2), 2006.
Rodman, Griffin. CQ Researcher. Hispanic American, Vol. 2, 2002.
The fallacy of government
Many people would argue that education makes us better people but I beg to defer. The following statements are subjective and are of my own speculation.
I have theorized that Univerisities are full leftist professors whom through education have come to believe themselves better than most because with their education they must become rational beings who have to look after the well being of others. While in principle this is a noble idea, their means are not justified. Poverty is not combated by giving money to the poor, who are already poor because they do not have the ability to manage their resources. The result, people who depend on their check at the end of the month and are not given an incentive to behave otherwise.
As we all know the Democratic party is ran by America’s elitists pretending to care about the average citizen while, with their policies creating pesimist and conformist citizens, hence insuring that these citizens will look for the democratic party as the benevolent party who wishes to help the masses.
Does this mean that Republicans can’t be educated or other wise they would become Democrats? It is my believe that Democrats, cannot, will not or won’t understand the following: down the middle republicans admire success and want to follow success, it is a feeling not a thought. If one becomes succesful then we must acquaint our selves with the succesful for it is through our own resources and that of our family and friends that we can use to become succesful. We do not belive in depending on the government for resources.
The government’s job is to gurantee our safety and sovereignty. Everything else is a bonus and many times an intrusion. The government should not be the one to decide the legality of what goes on in our bedrooms. If gays want to have a civil union like any heterosexual then let it be. While our laws are based on christian morals and values, we must abide by the seperation on Church and State. Obama has said that he would increase taxes to bail out those who incurred debt and now they can’t repay. He wants to increase the sized of our already over blown government. Ronald Reagan said that any government big enough to give you everything you need, is also big enough to take everthing you have.
A smaller government is needed to cut back taxes and spending. Everything the government touches doesn’t really work. K-12 education is for the most part not very succesful. The regulation of industries should be done by the industries with a government oversight to gurantee the safety and fairness to employees, but the government should not be the one regulating. Universal Health care will not work because we don’t have the money to pay for it or maybe we should be 70% of our taxes to ensure the mediocre remain mediocre.
I have theorized that Univerisities are full leftist professors whom through education have come to believe themselves better than most because with their education they must become rational beings who have to look after the well being of others. While in principle this is a noble idea, their means are not justified. Poverty is not combated by giving money to the poor, who are already poor because they do not have the ability to manage their resources. The result, people who depend on their check at the end of the month and are not given an incentive to behave otherwise.
As we all know the Democratic party is ran by America’s elitists pretending to care about the average citizen while, with their policies creating pesimist and conformist citizens, hence insuring that these citizens will look for the democratic party as the benevolent party who wishes to help the masses.
Does this mean that Republicans can’t be educated or other wise they would become Democrats? It is my believe that Democrats, cannot, will not or won’t understand the following: down the middle republicans admire success and want to follow success, it is a feeling not a thought. If one becomes succesful then we must acquaint our selves with the succesful for it is through our own resources and that of our family and friends that we can use to become succesful. We do not belive in depending on the government for resources.
The government’s job is to gurantee our safety and sovereignty. Everything else is a bonus and many times an intrusion. The government should not be the one to decide the legality of what goes on in our bedrooms. If gays want to have a civil union like any heterosexual then let it be. While our laws are based on christian morals and values, we must abide by the seperation on Church and State. Obama has said that he would increase taxes to bail out those who incurred debt and now they can’t repay. He wants to increase the sized of our already over blown government. Ronald Reagan said that any government big enough to give you everything you need, is also big enough to take everthing you have.
A smaller government is needed to cut back taxes and spending. Everything the government touches doesn’t really work. K-12 education is for the most part not very succesful. The regulation of industries should be done by the industries with a government oversight to gurantee the safety and fairness to employees, but the government should not be the one regulating. Universal Health care will not work because we don’t have the money to pay for it or maybe we should be 70% of our taxes to ensure the mediocre remain mediocre.
Learning English
Just the other day, I was having a conversation with my father about immigrants (from any country)failure to read English. He said that Asians succeed and learn English because they try. You can't understand a word they say, but they make the attempt to speak the language. Mexican's on the other hand, he said: "We don't try because we don't want to feel stupid".
I guess its preferable not to look and feel stupid, than to actually try and learn something.
I guess its preferable not to look and feel stupid, than to actually try and learn something.
Just another entry
A few days ago I tried to have a conversation with an open boders advocate. He look at my like I was a racist, he could not comprehend how Mexican and a former illegal alien would have my views. He did not listen to reason or my point and my evidence. So in case someone ever reads this blog, I'm going to bullet point why I've come to my views.
1. Naturalization would benefits illegal immigrants by:
a. It would allow us to apply for student loans for college.
b. It would allow us to work for construction companies with federal
contracts, which will pay us more than smaller companies that do not
check for legal status.
2. If we could get better jobs by applying just the 2 reasons above, many of us
would be off government aid, which will than lessen the burden on states and
federal economies. Most importantly it would take away and arguing point
from people like me.
3. Hispanic activist NEED to realize that their movement is not doing our
communities any favors. All we have to do is look at how blacks somewhere
in history became dependent on the government and created sub-communities of
sub-citizens. It did not work for them, its not going to work for us. I've
had the opportunity to conversate with a few blacks whose parent formerly
depended on the government and well, they wanted more and did what it was
necessary to end their dependency. One of them went to school and the other
became a real state agent. They pay taxes now.
4. Mexican workers are some of the hardest working people I've ever known. My
father is an excellent worker, He makes much more than my all of us siblings
even than the one with a college degree and she makes very good money. I
often think, what if my dad would have gotten an education? even a technical
career.
5. We have the potential to give to this society so much. Like the Italians and
the Germans once did. If we want to stay here and enjoy its freedoms, we
MUST help its economy or when this country goes bankrupt, we are going to
have to go back from our dear, poor and corrupt countries. Are we going to
demand from the Mexican government for what we demand from the US? If we do
the government will not give us anything under the argument that we do not
contribute to the economy, of this I'm sure. To get what we demand we would
have to go to war with our government. Yes I do think that the Mexican
government currently exports its poor to avoid that very same thing, a
revolution. The 10% of Mexican citizens who have fled the country, are the
very people who could change it.
1. Naturalization would benefits illegal immigrants by:
a. It would allow us to apply for student loans for college.
b. It would allow us to work for construction companies with federal
contracts, which will pay us more than smaller companies that do not
check for legal status.
2. If we could get better jobs by applying just the 2 reasons above, many of us
would be off government aid, which will than lessen the burden on states and
federal economies. Most importantly it would take away and arguing point
from people like me.
3. Hispanic activist NEED to realize that their movement is not doing our
communities any favors. All we have to do is look at how blacks somewhere
in history became dependent on the government and created sub-communities of
sub-citizens. It did not work for them, its not going to work for us. I've
had the opportunity to conversate with a few blacks whose parent formerly
depended on the government and well, they wanted more and did what it was
necessary to end their dependency. One of them went to school and the other
became a real state agent. They pay taxes now.
4. Mexican workers are some of the hardest working people I've ever known. My
father is an excellent worker, He makes much more than my all of us siblings
even than the one with a college degree and she makes very good money. I
often think, what if my dad would have gotten an education? even a technical
career.
5. We have the potential to give to this society so much. Like the Italians and
the Germans once did. If we want to stay here and enjoy its freedoms, we
MUST help its economy or when this country goes bankrupt, we are going to
have to go back from our dear, poor and corrupt countries. Are we going to
demand from the Mexican government for what we demand from the US? If we do
the government will not give us anything under the argument that we do not
contribute to the economy, of this I'm sure. To get what we demand we would
have to go to war with our government. Yes I do think that the Mexican
government currently exports its poor to avoid that very same thing, a
revolution. The 10% of Mexican citizens who have fled the country, are the
very people who could change it.
Crossing the border ilegally, is it a crime?
Its a misdemeanor actually. I was brought to the US in 1991 by my parents and thankfully at one point we were able to obtain an Work authorization card. When I was able to apply for my green card I had to await for my background check from Homeland security in my native country, Mexico. I had to apply for a waiver "perdon" so that my misdemeanor could be forgiven and gain legal entry to the United States.
Those of us who go through the immigration process and comply with the US immigration laws must endure putting our lives on hold, while we must wait a decision that will grant us our green cards. Yet, those who even when they can will not abide by the rules, have champions like Illinois congressman Luis Gutierrez who said, "There's an implication that somehow you did something wrong and you need to be be forgiven." (The Immigration Solutions P. 93). Well, for those of us who went through the motions, that is exactly what it means.
What our elected officials don't realize (and only God knows why) is that they are "protecting" those who cannot vote for them and in turn they are neglecting the opinions of those, who in a few short years will become citizens and WILL vote them out of office.
Nut job Joaquin Avila (UCLA Chicano studies professor) believes that denying voting rights to non-citizens is a form of apartheid. The Africanencyclopedia.com states the following:
The implementation of the policy, later referred to as "separate development," was made possible by the Population Registration Act of 1950, which put all South Africans into three racial categories: Bantu (black African), white, or Coloured (of mixed race). A fourth category, Asian (Indians and Pakistanis), was added later. The system of apartheid was enforced by a series of laws passed in the 1950s: the Group Areas Act of 1950 assigned races to different residential and business sections in urban areas, and the Land Acts of 1954 and 1955 restricted nonwhite residence to specific areas. These laws further restricted the already limited right of black Africans to own land, entrenching the white minority's control of over 80 percent of South African land. In addition, other laws prohibited most social contacts between the races; enforced the segregation of public facilities and the separation of educational standards; created race-specific job categories; restricted the powers of nonwhite unions; and curbed nonwhite participation in government.
Mr. Avila, are you aware that illegal immigrants can actually own property, may join a union and are not forced to work in any specific field (although our limited or non existent education forces us to take the low paying jobs). On the contrary, as illegal immigrants we stay within our comfort zones where a sub-culture of sub-citizens is created. Its really a shame that you were forced to take a job at UCLA as a professor because of apartheid. Also, don't forget that because we (Mexicans) for some reason refuse to learn English, we keep ourselves out of the competition for better paying jobs, which inevitably will lead to more income which than leads to progress.
What do you know about La Raza? Do you live or did you come from the barrios? If you are from the barrio and you made in on your own through hard work and perseverance, than you know what it takes to make it. It takes will, hard work and the use of our own resources, not activists and their cheap talk about human rights and Aztlan. All these activist accomplish is to perpetuate our sense of entitlement and help us "take advantage" of government social programs which undoubtedly make us lazy and why work when the government will provide? Keep in mind that a government big enough to give you all that you need, is also big enough to take everything you've got (Ronald Reagan).
Activists like you demand human rights, I propose this. Go to a country like Mexico, and demand all those things Mexicans demand from a foreign government. First of all, if you are illegally in Mexico, you will go to jail or you will have to pay a "mordida" to stay out of jail. Now lets say that teachers gather in their state's capital and they demand a rightfully earned wage increase. The result? 4 dead teachers after the state governor sent police to evacuate the teachers from the zocalo and an ongoing social-economic-political crisis that has caused many deaths, loss of jobs, loss of safety and loss of oaxaquenos that have migrated to the US. We should consider ourselves lucky that the US and its politicos allow us to come, go to school for free (yet we have the highest drop out rates of any minority) and to use all the social services that the government may provide.
Mr. Avila, If you are not from the barrio, than your parents must have had the resources to educate you. Perhaps you should ask them how it was that they manage to achieve and use those resources. Did an activist provide those, were they given to them? Probably not.
I grew up in Riverside, CA where crime is no where near as bad as it is in cities like Los Angeles, Santa Ana just to name a few. I grew up on the "e side" where I of course associated with Mexicans only and i witnessed first hand what Mexicans come for to the United States.
First case: A 15 year old girl gets pregnant and she gives birth to a beautiful boy whom I baptized and I take the moral and religious responsibility to help raise (a responsibility on which I have miserably failed). By the time she was 21 she has had 4 children with 3 different fathers and was living in a motel. On one of my occasional visits to my God Child he told me that he saw his mommy with 2 "cholos" kissing in her room. I was outraged, but not even Child Social Services could do anything and to date they haven't. by the time she was 23 she had bored 2 more children and added another father to this family. By this time her brother, whom I use to play video games with, was in jail and his girlfriend lived with her parents with a fatherless child. Also, by this time she appeared in a local video about recovering meth addicts. All this by the time she was 23. Who pays for her housing? Section 8. Who pays for their food and possibly her drugs? WIC, Medical and any other social service she might find. How much does she pay in the way of taxes? ZERO. Her cousin was pregnant by 16.
Second Case: A family of 4 siblings and their unemployed mother and disabled father. Third oldest was a female pregnant by 15. All 3 of the high school aged siblings dropped out of High School. I hate to make this prediction but I think the youngest will follow the elder's footsteps. Every weekend we would gather and these brothers would always talk about a certain drug dealer, idolizing him while getting drunk. I don't know whats become of them, because I made the choice to move out of California.
Third Case: A friend in High school, more like an acquantence, we hung around a few times a month, he played video games and studied more than most of us. He only lived only a few blocks from the second case family. What I know is that he is a "bitch" because he no longer hung around with his old friends (out of all his friends, a group of about 15, he was the only one that went to and finish college). What are the statistics so far? out of the 30 people mentioned here, only one has gone and completed a college education.
The fourth case is about me. Why? because I want to let people know that I have all the right, knowledge and first hand experience to have an opinion on this topic. As I grew up as an illegal immigrant I wanted to be like the cool Mexicans, the cholos. So I dressed like them, I hated blacks like them and of course, I harrased girls like them.
I was known in Middle School because I once yelled the F word to the N word, I was loved by certain circles for doing that, I felt good. One day when walking to school I found a knife so I sold it to a friend, who happily paid me a dollar only to later rat me out after he pulled it on a teacher. So I was suspended. When my mom went to pick me up form school, she was crying. When my father came home he gave me a beating that I don't care to remember. I remember one of my hands was numb. Is this child abuse, I think not because right after that I told myself, that shit ain't happening again (but in Spanish because I did not speak English at that time). So I went on to High school where I struggle in all my classes and hung around in TJ (Tijuana) with all the border brothers.
I managed to graduate and I went on to a community college. It was there that I was forced to study because I was not going to pay to repeat any of my courses (which I did because since I had to work 2 jobs to pay for school, my grades of course suffered) this wasn't free and I wasn't going to take it for granted. I finally and barely was accepted into a four year university where my performance was much less than stellar. At about that time I got married and had my first child and naturally I had to drop out of college. For years later I'm going back to school to finish what I started, except now I have a wife, a son, a girl on the way, a mortgage, car payments and a Green Card. Making it isn't easy and only our families can support us so that we can make things happen. If we let others tell us that we are entitled to an education, trust me that we will fail because anything that is free and comes easy, we humans don't know how to appreciate.
I went off on a tangent and now I don't know how to continue this entry. Please forgive me for going into several topics, but this blog entry, as most of my other entries, was not planned, all these thoughts came as a read page 93 in book The Immigration Solution.
Those of us who go through the immigration process and comply with the US immigration laws must endure putting our lives on hold, while we must wait a decision that will grant us our green cards. Yet, those who even when they can will not abide by the rules, have champions like Illinois congressman Luis Gutierrez who said, "There's an implication that somehow you did something wrong and you need to be be forgiven." (The Immigration Solutions P. 93). Well, for those of us who went through the motions, that is exactly what it means.
What our elected officials don't realize (and only God knows why) is that they are "protecting" those who cannot vote for them and in turn they are neglecting the opinions of those, who in a few short years will become citizens and WILL vote them out of office.
Nut job Joaquin Avila (UCLA Chicano studies professor) believes that denying voting rights to non-citizens is a form of apartheid. The Africanencyclopedia.com states the following:
The implementation of the policy, later referred to as "separate development," was made possible by the Population Registration Act of 1950, which put all South Africans into three racial categories: Bantu (black African), white, or Coloured (of mixed race). A fourth category, Asian (Indians and Pakistanis), was added later. The system of apartheid was enforced by a series of laws passed in the 1950s: the Group Areas Act of 1950 assigned races to different residential and business sections in urban areas, and the Land Acts of 1954 and 1955 restricted nonwhite residence to specific areas. These laws further restricted the already limited right of black Africans to own land, entrenching the white minority's control of over 80 percent of South African land. In addition, other laws prohibited most social contacts between the races; enforced the segregation of public facilities and the separation of educational standards; created race-specific job categories; restricted the powers of nonwhite unions; and curbed nonwhite participation in government.
Mr. Avila, are you aware that illegal immigrants can actually own property, may join a union and are not forced to work in any specific field (although our limited or non existent education forces us to take the low paying jobs). On the contrary, as illegal immigrants we stay within our comfort zones where a sub-culture of sub-citizens is created. Its really a shame that you were forced to take a job at UCLA as a professor because of apartheid. Also, don't forget that because we (Mexicans) for some reason refuse to learn English, we keep ourselves out of the competition for better paying jobs, which inevitably will lead to more income which than leads to progress.
What do you know about La Raza? Do you live or did you come from the barrios? If you are from the barrio and you made in on your own through hard work and perseverance, than you know what it takes to make it. It takes will, hard work and the use of our own resources, not activists and their cheap talk about human rights and Aztlan. All these activist accomplish is to perpetuate our sense of entitlement and help us "take advantage" of government social programs which undoubtedly make us lazy and why work when the government will provide? Keep in mind that a government big enough to give you all that you need, is also big enough to take everything you've got (Ronald Reagan).
Activists like you demand human rights, I propose this. Go to a country like Mexico, and demand all those things Mexicans demand from a foreign government. First of all, if you are illegally in Mexico, you will go to jail or you will have to pay a "mordida" to stay out of jail. Now lets say that teachers gather in their state's capital and they demand a rightfully earned wage increase. The result? 4 dead teachers after the state governor sent police to evacuate the teachers from the zocalo and an ongoing social-economic-political crisis that has caused many deaths, loss of jobs, loss of safety and loss of oaxaquenos that have migrated to the US. We should consider ourselves lucky that the US and its politicos allow us to come, go to school for free (yet we have the highest drop out rates of any minority) and to use all the social services that the government may provide.
Mr. Avila, If you are not from the barrio, than your parents must have had the resources to educate you. Perhaps you should ask them how it was that they manage to achieve and use those resources. Did an activist provide those, were they given to them? Probably not.
I grew up in Riverside, CA where crime is no where near as bad as it is in cities like Los Angeles, Santa Ana just to name a few. I grew up on the "e side" where I of course associated with Mexicans only and i witnessed first hand what Mexicans come for to the United States.
First case: A 15 year old girl gets pregnant and she gives birth to a beautiful boy whom I baptized and I take the moral and religious responsibility to help raise (a responsibility on which I have miserably failed). By the time she was 21 she has had 4 children with 3 different fathers and was living in a motel. On one of my occasional visits to my God Child he told me that he saw his mommy with 2 "cholos" kissing in her room. I was outraged, but not even Child Social Services could do anything and to date they haven't. by the time she was 23 she had bored 2 more children and added another father to this family. By this time her brother, whom I use to play video games with, was in jail and his girlfriend lived with her parents with a fatherless child. Also, by this time she appeared in a local video about recovering meth addicts. All this by the time she was 23. Who pays for her housing? Section 8. Who pays for their food and possibly her drugs? WIC, Medical and any other social service she might find. How much does she pay in the way of taxes? ZERO. Her cousin was pregnant by 16.
Second Case: A family of 4 siblings and their unemployed mother and disabled father. Third oldest was a female pregnant by 15. All 3 of the high school aged siblings dropped out of High School. I hate to make this prediction but I think the youngest will follow the elder's footsteps. Every weekend we would gather and these brothers would always talk about a certain drug dealer, idolizing him while getting drunk. I don't know whats become of them, because I made the choice to move out of California.
Third Case: A friend in High school, more like an acquantence, we hung around a few times a month, he played video games and studied more than most of us. He only lived only a few blocks from the second case family. What I know is that he is a "bitch" because he no longer hung around with his old friends (out of all his friends, a group of about 15, he was the only one that went to and finish college). What are the statistics so far? out of the 30 people mentioned here, only one has gone and completed a college education.
The fourth case is about me. Why? because I want to let people know that I have all the right, knowledge and first hand experience to have an opinion on this topic. As I grew up as an illegal immigrant I wanted to be like the cool Mexicans, the cholos. So I dressed like them, I hated blacks like them and of course, I harrased girls like them.
I was known in Middle School because I once yelled the F word to the N word, I was loved by certain circles for doing that, I felt good. One day when walking to school I found a knife so I sold it to a friend, who happily paid me a dollar only to later rat me out after he pulled it on a teacher. So I was suspended. When my mom went to pick me up form school, she was crying. When my father came home he gave me a beating that I don't care to remember. I remember one of my hands was numb. Is this child abuse, I think not because right after that I told myself, that shit ain't happening again (but in Spanish because I did not speak English at that time). So I went on to High school where I struggle in all my classes and hung around in TJ (Tijuana) with all the border brothers.
I managed to graduate and I went on to a community college. It was there that I was forced to study because I was not going to pay to repeat any of my courses (which I did because since I had to work 2 jobs to pay for school, my grades of course suffered) this wasn't free and I wasn't going to take it for granted. I finally and barely was accepted into a four year university where my performance was much less than stellar. At about that time I got married and had my first child and naturally I had to drop out of college. For years later I'm going back to school to finish what I started, except now I have a wife, a son, a girl on the way, a mortgage, car payments and a Green Card. Making it isn't easy and only our families can support us so that we can make things happen. If we let others tell us that we are entitled to an education, trust me that we will fail because anything that is free and comes easy, we humans don't know how to appreciate.
I went off on a tangent and now I don't know how to continue this entry. Please forgive me for going into several topics, but this blog entry, as most of my other entries, was not planned, all these thoughts came as a read page 93 in book The Immigration Solution.
How America benefits from illegal immigration
America benefits from its many immigrants. Asian entrepreneurs have helped revive inner city LA. Haitians and Jamaicans who have stabilized the neighborhoods in Queens and Brooklyn. Indian programmers have spurred so much innovation in places like Silicon Valley and Boston’s Route 128.
Unfortunately, Mexicans while known for being great workers, we are eternally enclaved in our communities where we rely on government hand outs instead of relying or our resources and that of your friends. 40% of high school Mexicans will drop out of high school. Of the 60% of us who graduate from high school, only 4 -6 graduates is ready for college, and of the 6 ( at best) 3 are stuck at remedial courses in college. This is the cycle that our uneducated Mexican parents have put us through, Is this what we want for our children?
What can we do about it? First, lets help our parents assimilate the culture. If they are in love with Mexico so much, encourage them to go back and I will bet anything that they will be back in no time. They must learn the language for if they do not, they can never advanced at their jobs and thats what its all about, making the green.
Secondly, lets get educated, for us and for our children. For some of us, a technical career will suffice. We cant all get BAs, or even a Doctorate. Plumbers make a great living. Lets encourage our children to be educated and lets show them our parents as an example. Tell them, your grandparents are great people, but they never learned English or went to school and so they were disadvantaged against those immigrants that did. Let our children know why we were brought to the land of dreams and that we must not let that dream die with our parents.
Unfortunately, Mexicans while known for being great workers, we are eternally enclaved in our communities where we rely on government hand outs instead of relying or our resources and that of your friends. 40% of high school Mexicans will drop out of high school. Of the 60% of us who graduate from high school, only 4 -6 graduates is ready for college, and of the 6 ( at best) 3 are stuck at remedial courses in college. This is the cycle that our uneducated Mexican parents have put us through, Is this what we want for our children?
What can we do about it? First, lets help our parents assimilate the culture. If they are in love with Mexico so much, encourage them to go back and I will bet anything that they will be back in no time. They must learn the language for if they do not, they can never advanced at their jobs and thats what its all about, making the green.
Secondly, lets get educated, for us and for our children. For some of us, a technical career will suffice. We cant all get BAs, or even a Doctorate. Plumbers make a great living. Lets encourage our children to be educated and lets show them our parents as an example. Tell them, your grandparents are great people, but they never learned English or went to school and so they were disadvantaged against those immigrants that did. Let our children know why we were brought to the land of dreams and that we must not let that dream die with our parents.
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