Author: guerena.5

Text Review – “El Norte” (1983) – Joseph Guerena

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El Norte (1983), or The North, follows the story of two indigenous Mayan siblings looking for a new life in the United States after ethnic and political persecution brought on by the Guatemalan Civil War decimates their home. Terrible working conditions for the native people under the strict control of governing bodies forces the village to attempt to organize. The Guatemalan army murders the people involved in a secret meeting which includes Arturo Xuncax. In the following hours, his wife Lupe is arrested, and their teenage children Enrique and Rosa are determined to escape their impending death by the army by illegally crossing the US-Mexico border.

Film poster for “El Norte”

The film portrays a fictional, yet very true, perspective that most people cannot see. The struggles and motives of immigration as seen in works like El Norte and The Leavers by Lisa Ko are hard to come by. El Norte visualizes racism and classism in Latin America and the United States. For example, Enrique and Rosa experience “Othering” long before leaving their village. The native people of Guatemala are called “Indians” derogatorily and are forced to work on farms under the control of harsh foremen. The two siblings must overcome racism in their home and subsequent journey through Mexico. They encounter unsavory characters in Tijuana who try to rob them and kill them. However, they eventually manage to cross the border into California. Their encounter with Othering increases exponentially after their first look at the lights and cars of San Diego.

In Los Angeles, their worth as humans is measured by their skin, work skills, work ethic, and ability to speak English. They work hard to learn a new language, run from immigration officials, work for pennies, and compete for work. Their identities as native Guatemalans is less than that of the Mexican immigrant or the Mexican-American (Chicano). Rosa and Enrique begin to learn that the American Dream is harder on their lives and physical body than they were told. They do not belong in their home village, poverty-stricken Mexico, or the United States. Without a social security number or a “green card,” Rosa is denied medical care for Typhoid she developed by the sewers they used to cross the border. Her illness inhibits Enrique from taking a job in Chicago that offers the opportunity to gain residency and eventually citizenship.

El Norte helps those on the other end of the conversation on immigration understand the motives and lives of those who illegally immigrate. Immigration systems, systemic racism, classism, and many other factors plague the lives of many in various regions. Immigrants make the journey to the USA to escape these factors. However, these same issues are heightened once they arrive. The interactions in the film prompt the audience to question the reasons behind immigration and if they themselves are contributing to these harsh realities. Are you the patron of the restaurant in which Enrique must run from immigration? Are you the consumer who wears clothes from the sweatshop that Rosa makes 30 cents per garment? El Norte helps us question how power, identity, and injustice function throughout the world in ways that contribute to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s idea and danger of a “single story.”

“Yo, Is This…” advice podcast/column – Fighting Systemic Racism/Discrimination in Education: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow – By Alec Estrin & Joseph Guerena

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http://osu.zoom.us/rec/share/23Tk_ySmHLYR9hwntmDjSaAaz9WEziUyYAOvm8CX7B8pbIFEZomnmqz1RW9K3u5O.SGTx0QndfvzA_DLC?startTime=

Transcript

Alec Estrin

Hi my name is Alec Estrin.

Joseph Guerena

00:03 And i’m Joseph Guerena.

Alec Estrin

00:06 And today on the podcast we wanted to focus on discrimination and racism that has been present in our country. I think it goes back for centuries and dates back to the founding of our country and, although since then we have definitely come a long way. I think that there’s still so. Much done that needs to be done to combat this issue, although in recent months there’s been an increase focused on racism and discrimination, more specifically police brutality against African Americans, there are several other issues and examples that are going that needs to be brought that are being brought to attention. One issue that is not spoken about as often is in justices that are going on the education system. These issues have been prevalent for a long time, and even though there have been actions in the past, such as the brown versus Board of Education decision, which ended segregation based on color. There are also many other cases, but there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done, it is actually this topic that we decided to focus on today. And I know that you actually have a personal connection to this case and I know you’ve even studied this issue such as the East LA walk outs that took place in the 1960s so let’s get into that a little bit.

Joseph Guerena

01:13 yeah, so this is where we kind of wanted to focus on systemic racism and discrimination in education, yesterday, today and tomorrow so. We were thinking of kind of focusing on a bunch of different angles, in which this has been targeting the education system and Alec yeah he was saying, I have some personal connection to things that happened in the past, of course I wasn’t there I wasn’t in high school in 1968 but um I did grow up and go to school in East LA and They don’t, let us forget that these really important walkouts happened in the 60s. So back then the eastside schools were rundown overcrowded and the Community, the Chicano, Latinx community had little political power. In terms of just politics education anything like that, and so Mexican American students, especially were funneled into schools with Terrible dropout rates. like I said everything was run down, the materials were outdated, classes were overcrowded there was little college readiness and there was a lot of racist staff, police harassment and brutality And a lot of the students were Spanish speakers they weren’t given tools to branch out from low skilled jobs, not a lot of the staff spoke Spanish. And the students kind of became really fed up with this, because they would look at like West side schools west of downtown Los Angeles, and those are more affluent neighborhoods Where The Asian and white communities kind of thrived in school and so They were inspired by like the civil rights movement that just you know was taking off in like the 50s going to the 60s and eventually the 70s. And the students in East LA; they started to walk out of the classrooms and protest because The schools got funding from who was at school on a certain date so by walking out, they were hurting the district financially and they wanted to protest these inequities as compared to the affluent westside schools. They demanded better conditions, new resources, materials smaller classes, bilingual staff and counselors, less policing, more cultural education, cultural foods, college readiness and these walkouts, or some people call it the blow outs, resulted in, You know, kind of bad views of the community people started calling them communists.

Alec Estrin

04:30 I thought that was really interesting that they started calling them communists and yeah even some of the students parents, I actually the article I read an article on this one that you’ve actually sent to me where the parents were even not supportive of their children in This movement and I thought that was really interesting because even the teachers at the school I forgot which Member Of the protest, but he was looking out the window and his teacher just let them go to go support that protest and it kind of shows that even the teachers, I mean maybe. I want to see your opinion on this, but even the teachers were aware of what was going on, like going back to what you said were like teachers weren’t like bilingual or like supportive. There’s an example where a teacher made a student wear like a hat that said “Spanish” until he learned to speak English and I thought, like that was like just like not right which is kind of like would spark to these protests.

Joseph Guerena

05:29 yeah definitely so. One thing i’ve learned from like my grandparents and things like that. Is that, back then, when parents migrated. They kinda wanted to keep a low profile, nothing too crazy, you know “we’re chasing the American dream here”, you know “we got to become Americans, we got to integrate ourselves” not create a lot of drama. so when their children started doing this, they started feeling like you know it would bring bad attention which I, you know parents, I guess, they they do know a thing or two but there comes a point where you’re like this isn’t right, you know.

Alec Estrin

06:16 yeah I think it’s um I think it’s really interesting also like to look at what they accomplished like they did accomplish something like the change was brought because of what they did. I know, like the didn’t they get some of the requests that they seek to get like following this, I know that they didn’t have the funds to do all of it, but some of it did actually come true, and they made a change.

Joseph Guerena

06:39 yeah definitely so High School college enrollment i’m sorry college enrollment out of high school skyrocketed there was less dropout rates, but obviously it didn’t match that of the more affluent schools. But I think the biggest accomplishment was the ignition of the Chicano Power Movement throughout the United States, which would then lead into more awareness, for this community and more political power, but obviously in 2021 there’s still conversations on racism and discrimination in school and the walkouts in 68 we’re only a small kind of segue into other problems, especially fast forward to now with the recent focus on social justice and policing in 2020. Communities are helping to reignite conversations about structural racism in education. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted a lot of disparities. Many Black and Latino middle and high school students stopped participating in virtual classrooms around March 2020. That’s 10 to 20% lower than white or Asian students, the impact of the pandemic on Black and Hispanic/Latinx communities disproportionately affected them and many different factors like race, socioeconomic status, disability, disadvantages still matter in education. And you know some families are essential workers they can’t help with school work remotely. Lack of resources and and money to help them through virtual schooling, so we still see this going on now in 2021 and you know there’s a lot more focus on it, and we have.

Alec had a found a article from the Center for American progress by Roby Chatterji on things we can do to help solve these issues.

Alec Estrin

09:03 yeah definitely I think a lot of identifying what these injustice are but you got to come up with like different ways to solve everything. This article proposed like three great ways that they can help solve these injustices and the first one was to have people advocate for equitable funding a big thing is that schools are not being funded equally and education as it’s been known to just help people find more success and have better opportunities, meanwhile, there was a quote, that said “predominantly non white school districts across the country received 23 billion less than their predominately white counterparts” and it’s just it’s just not fair it’s putting certain people at a disadvantage and by advocating to get this equitable funding to get these schools to have the same resources, the same skilled teachers things like that. by doing that It gives them an equal opportunity another thing that uh. They proposed was to advocate for less policing and surveillance of students and a lot of this came after the devastating school shootings that have been going on across our country and it’s it’s definitely an issue that needs to be addressed, so people have started to have more policing and surveillance of students but If you look at this from the perspective of people like African Americans, Hispanics, and American Indian students, the US Department of Education office for civil rights explains that they’re more subject to interactions with police in schools in the form of contraband sweeps interrogations physical restraints and arrest and they even said, this is on the article, they said “Black students are more likely to be subjected to social media surveillance and use of biased artificial and facial technology.” And they’ve allocated almost 960 million for security upgrades meanwhile it’s only hurting it’s hurting a certain section of the students. So people need to advocate for this money, instead of going to policing and surveilling the students. A lot of these schools are already underfunded, to begin with, which goes back to the first point that this money could be going into other areas to help make schools more equal, but instead it’s just widening that gap. You know. uh.

Joseph Guerena

11:39 yeah I wanted to mention something about the policing and all that, like yeah definitely it’s like.

Alec Estrin

11:45 You know.

Joseph Guerena

11:46 We can barely even you know get through like a lesson plan without first worrying about you know the police being on your backs at school, rather than learning, you know.

Alec Estrin

12:00 It yeah it’s making them school should be a place where you’re not you’re not in fear of something and it’s just adding that to it, making it even more, making it even harder to get a well rounded and great education, which could lead to a better opportunities in the future. The one of the. The last thing that they recommended was to end de-facto segregation through school and district boundaries so essentially even though they’re technically like desegregating schools. The schools are still being segregated through like different different boundaries, where in lower income areas that that school district is not as great as other school districts and the de facto segregation was actually a term used to describe a situation in which legislation did not overtly segregate students by race, but the segregation still continued. And it was an, this is a quote from the article it says that it was an “intentional result of the design of school districts and neighborhood school assignment boundaries”. So it was on purpose to still segregate them, whereas they’re not equal, this is wealthier and whiter areas took the local tax revenue from districts and increase the number of schools that are racially segregated and these schools need to become desegregated and the money needs to become more equal, so the schools are more equal And people can achieve this goal by attending local board meetings and just advocating to end this this way of separating schools, based on the area because certain areas have more money which does could lead to better education, leaving the other areas who don’t have those opportunities to not receive an equal education.

Joseph Guerena

13:46 yeah definitely especially you know when you take into consideration, like migratory patterns and you know these communities that are low income that attracts you know different people from many different backgrounds and so, especially in the case like I was talking about 1968 with the East LA schools is that area is predominantly Hispanic Latinx Chicano communities and then south of that you know there’s more Black communities. And those those areas of the district, you know are almost they almost have a wall between them over here is more affluent white Asian areas over here is the Black areas over here’s the Hispanic areas and it really makes you think. You know.

Alec Estrin

14:41 Exactly the issue like although it’s not like written law segregated it still is going on and and needs to end.

Joseph Guerena

14:51 yeah there’s a lot to think about.

Alec Estrin

14:54 And a lot to think about but I definitely think that this is an example of just the racism and discrimination that goes on the education system.

Joseph Guerena

15:03 yeah definitely well I think that’s all we have time today.

Alec Estrin

15:08 yeah it was great discussing this issue.

Joseph Guerena

15:10 yeah.

Works Cited

Chatterji, Roby. “Fighting Systemic Racism in K-12 Education: Helping Allies Move From the Keyboard to the School Board.” Center for American Progress, 24 Sept. 2020, www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-k-12/news/2020/07/08/487386/fighting-systemic-racism-k-12-education-helping-allies-move-keyboard-school-board/.

“East L.A., 1968: ‘Walkout!’ The Day High School Students Helped Ignite the Chicano Power Movement.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 1 Mar. 2018, www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-1968-east-la-walkouts-20180301-htmlstory.html.

“L.A. Latino, Black Students Suffered Deep Disparities in Online Learning, Records Show.” Yahoo! News, Yahoo!, news.yahoo.com/l-latino-black-students-suffered-120018227.html.

Women of Color in the Golden Age of Hollywood – Diary of Systemic Injustices Showcase – Joseph Guerena

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Race in Hollywood can be a large discussion within the overall world of film. In the Industry, Women of Color have fought hard to be recognized and taken seriously throughout silver screen history. Black women like Hattie McDaniel, Asian women like Anna May Wong, and Latinas like Rita Moreno have proven time and time again that recognition for acting in Hollywood is nothing more than an injustice. Women of Color are marginalized in film and cornered into being cast based on their race or excluded all together.

Hattie McDaniel is the first Black woman to be nominated and ultimately win an Oscar. Her role in the 1939 adaption of the book Gone with the Wind was her big break that fizzled out like soda. Prior to the film, the Motion Picture Production Code (Hays Code) was established. This code set out strict guidelines for films and the studios that made them. Being that the Civil Rights Movement had yet to occur, the Hays Code along with the power of Jim Crow in the South, limited representation of People of Color in film. Black actors were cast as the train porter and actresses were the maid (“…The Legacy”). At a segregated ceremony is Los Angeles Hattie McDaniel won an Oscar for her work in a supporting role. In her speech, she echoed a hope that this win would open doors for her and others. As we know, that did not exactly happen as she never escaped the Southern Mammy typecast (Abramovitch). Along with Black stereotypes, Asian women fell into the same familiar sense of Otherness on the Silver Screen.

Asian stories in film are just as rare as those of Black, Latin, or Indigenous ones. Asian women and the stories of their characters became mysterious, seductive, and exotic. They are cast as the seductive Geisha or the submissive housewife (“#Oscarssowhite”). The characters were something exotic rather than real. Similar to that of blackface, yellowface during the Golden Age of Hollywood was the studio system’s way to circumvent the Hays Code. White actresses were given makeup and had their eyes taped to resenble an East Asian woman. This was becvause if a white man was cast in the lead role, a white woman would have to play the love interest. Anna May Wong, arguably one of the best actresses of her time, was snubbed multiple times. She was not only snubbed by never getting an Oscar nomination for her work, but Asian roles that she could represent. A great example being 1937’s The Good Earth. After lobbying efforts, the main female lead was handed to German-American actress Luise Rainer; a role that would win her an Oscar that year (Desta). Although Anna May Wong was born and raised in Los Angeles, she was continually labeled as “Chinese.” Her roles were primarily of an exotic Oriental. This point is corroborated through “An Introduction to Asian American Identity” by Eunice Uhm in our section about Lisa Ko’s The Leavers. Uhm states that Asians are cast into a cycle of being seen as “perpetually foreign.” It is no secret that the Hays Code silenced and marginalized People of Color. The proof is in the films’ cellulose.

Anna May Wong (Desta)

Women of Color, no matter how good their work, were and still are not recognized by organizations like the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Recent recognition for films like Black Panther (2018) and Parasite (2019) at the Oscars have begun to reignite the conversation on #Oscarssowhite, however, it took 72 years  of Oscar history for a Black woman to finally win an Oscar for a leading. Could there be a well-deserved change in this cycle? Only time will tell.

 

Works Cited

Abramovitch, Seth. “Oscar’s First Black Winner Accepted Her Honor in a Segregated ‘No Blacks’ Hotel in L.A.” The Hollywood Reporter, 2 Feb. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/oscars-first-black-winner-accepted-774335.

Desta, Yohana, et al. “Hollywood: The True Story of Anna May Wong and The Good Earth.” Vanity Fair, www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/05/hollywood-ryan-murphy-anna-may-wong.

Oscars. Hattie McDaniel Winning Best Supporting Actress. YouTube, YouTube, 27 Sept. 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7t4pTNZshA.

“#OscarsSoWhite: From Anna May Wong to Awkwafina.” Be Kind Rewind, YouTube, 24 Mar. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mmcvgd8XF0.

“#OscarsSoWhite and The Legacy of Halle Berry.” Be Kind Rewind, YouTube, 18 Feb. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEberAZhZy4.

The Role and Impact of Marriage on Indians/Indian-Americans – “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri – Joseph Guerena

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“To say that Indians are obsessed with the idea of marriage is an understatement” is the opening sentence by Dr. Aparajita Jeedigunta on her article about Indian and Indian-American culture and its relationship with matrimony (Jeedigunta). The Indian wedding is one of the most important and extravagant events within a given family. Influenced by Bollywood and India’s richest residents, Indians and Indian-Americans strive to have some of the flashiest weddings around (Lal). Culturally, making sure your children are married soon and to the right people is paramount to parents’ claim to fame (Administrator). Not only must children be completely focused on education and their career but must also be wed before hitting the early 30s. If a child is not married by then, peers begin to view the parents as being neglectful (Administrator).

The current social structure of marriage in Indian culture stems from old customs and traditions. However, there is tension within Indian immigrant households in the United States. Children growing up in the States start to embrace popular American culture and attitude towards marriage and social life. Being completely different from one another, Indian and American culture clash. Immigrant Indian parents were raised to believe that the children must be married young, to people within their religion or race as well as social class (Administrator). Indian-Americans tend to view this as old fashioned. They feel that the priorities of the parents are counterproductive to their social development (Jeedigunta). In some homes, dowries and arranged marriages prosper and neglect to recognize the opinions of the child.

Additionally, the expenses of these weddings are cause for concern. Due to the extravagance of the event, many families must resort to loans and pile on debt to achieve the right look. The Indian wedding is a time to flaunt wealth and class to guestlists of hundreds. As part of social status, some weddings are cancelled (Lal). If all needs are not met, some families call off weddings and relationships altogether. Due to the idea that women leave the family after marriage, they are viewed as a liability for a family’s expenses. Therefore, the family of the groom has more say in what the wedding should be like. The men are thought to be an investment in the future of the family (Lal). These power dynamics, mixed with all other expectations, have proven to be a large issue with Indian-Americans who are caught between two cultures.

Works Cited

Administrator, grandforksherald. “Dating and Marriage: Tradition Meets Tension in Indian-American Homes.” Grand Forks Herald, Grand Forks Herald, 23 Jan. 2010, www.grandforksherald.com/news/2118215-dating-and-marriage-tradition-meets-tension-indian-american-homes.

Jeedigunta, Aparajita. “The Indian-American Marriage Conundrum.” The Indian SCENE, 1 July 2019, theindianscene.com/health/the-indian-american-marriage-conundrum/.

Lal, Neeta. “The Financial Burden of Weddings on India’s Poorest Families.” Arts and Culture News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 31 Jan. 2021, www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/1/31/the-financial-burden-of-weddings-on-indias-poorest-families.