The Race Card Project
By Michele Norris
Jesus Castro
Menifee, CA
California Baptist University
CBU HIS311
I was born in Mexico and am the first person in my family to have a career with retirement benefits. Proud to be in this country and served in the Military. I now have a family and I am teaching my 2 year old son the spanish language. **CBU HIS311
James Rojas,
Buena Park, CA
Hello, I am a Mexican who was born here in the United States. I moved to Mexico at a young age and that’s where I grew up with Mexican culture.
When moving back to the United States, my mom kept repeating that I received a chance that she couldn’t have, and that is being able to finish high school and be able to attend college so I can get a career. She states that it is not only her but she is aware that her own race struggle on getting an education and a proper future. She notices the stereotypical views towards Mexicans that they only come to the US for labor and get paid minimum. Examples such as working at fast food restaurants, retail stores, and the most well-known job for Mexicans which is a construction where everyone sees Mexicans working on that job as a norm.
But, does my mother make that claim because she embraces those stereotypes because of how common they were? Well, in reality, she works with her sister cleaning houses which is work that requires physical work.
So now, I am a college student trying my best to make my mother’s dream true and show that as a Mexican I can be able to achieve more. I not only want to make my family proud, but I also want to make my culture be seen more as just pity for working the hardest job for little reward. I believe that I can do it, that I have the same chance just as every American, and that I can make people from my culture be seen as more than hard workers. I am someone with a future.
Donna Fisher,
Piney Flats, TN
Our Black and brown brothers and sisters have just as much right to the American Dream as the next person.
Janice Cooper,
MN.
My newly married parents immigrated to the U.S. from Germany via Ellis Island during the mid 50’s to follow the American Dream. Growing up in small town Michigan and attending Catholic school, my younger brother and I were constantly accused of being Nazis during our grade school years. Even though my parents spoke English well, their German accents were enough ammunition for our classmates to think that my parents, and their unborn children were responsible for WWII. I will always remember seeing a drawing, along with that sinking feeling in my stomache, when I saw the confiscated piece of notebook paper on my 4th grade teacher’s desk with drawings of American bombers striking our clearly-labled German house).
Many years later, I can laugh at it now, since the race card stopped following me once I hit high school…But I also I think about how the race card does affect those young and eager families who still come to Ameria to chase their own American Dreams.
Alondra,
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA
Coming from a family of immigrants I saw how much they sacrificed and how they struggled in the pursuit of the American dream. My father was born in Guadalajara, Mexico and when he moved to the U.S he had to give up his education in order to help his family. Due to his sacrifice to have to help his family earn money he never was able to pursue his own dreams and passions. My mother was raised by immigrants who taught her the value of hard work and the importance of family. Knowing the life they lived to get where they are now has really inspired me. I now feel driven to really take advantage of the opportunities I was given. I also see that I have certain luxuries that my parents didn’t have. This gives me even more motivation to pursue more opportunities.
Ninfa Pena-Purcell,
College Station, TX.
This picture of my parents captures a young Mexican American couple with aspirations to live the American dream in the 1950s only to find out that their family of six children would never be welcomed in their neighborhood. Years later this experience has stayed with me and made me resolve to live my life with purpose and compassion for others.
Jonna Marie Mallillin
Alameda, CA
“First generation means second is mediocre” explains the stress immigrant parents put on their first generation children. People who immigrate to the states come for new opportunities. As a child of an immigrant, getting good grades, going to a good college, and getting a high paying job is the American dream these parents have put on us. Nothing but the best is expected from these parents because of the opportunity given to us. The sacrifices the parents gave for these new opportunities means that their expectations are higher. These parents may or may not have had the same opportunities, so they want their child to succeed but the push or drive they are giving to us children can be stressful. As a child, you can only wish that your best was good enough, but sometimes, it’s not. “First generation means second is mediocre” shows the stress of what I feel to reach these high expectations.
Haley Wheelon,
Camas, WA.
I am the “white american”, the majority and the priority. I hope someday to own a white perfect 2 story house, with a white picket fence in a all white neighborhood. I will be a stay at home mom with 2 boys, Luke and Levi, and a golden retriever, Max. For fun we will go to the all white park in our neighborhood with all the other white boys are girls, meanwhile my husband works a comfortable job with flexible hours, great pay and little competition for his position at work.
This is what the whites expected in America, they wouldn’t accept anything else but this. They considered their “american dream” ruined when immigrant came to america. They saw them as corrupting their white neighborhoods and schools, ruining the american culture and taking jobs. The immigrants didn’t ruin the american dream for most, it was their own arrogance that did.
(HIS311)
Cynthia Lawrence,
Carmichael, CA.
Working together we can learn from each other and build a better community.
Kate Moss,
Tuscaloosa, AL.
The narrative of ‘work hard and you will flourish’ has become the rallying cry for people unwilling to face the realities of systemic inequity in the United States. I do not believe the American Dream is alive and well, but I think the idea of it allows people to keep a close mind and perpetuate stereotypes. Its hard to pull yourself up by your bootstraps when our system decides who gets boots and who does not.
Levaughn,
Grand Blanc, MI.
I’m a master social worker and received my accelerated advanced degree from a top ten university…MSU… I am an outpatient therapist and attained this job in less than a year from graduating. Which in my field is highly unlikely. I have worked very hard to go from poverty to the “American dream” by pulling myself up from my own bootstraps….but truth is…my educational and professional attainment means nothing. I am still viewed as a young educated black woman…..How did she make it this far? You must not be from this area? You speak so well?
Richard Wynn
Charlotte, NC
By focusing on the future and improving themselves, all Americans can live the American dream. Assuming, of course, that their skills are in demand. Every American who is focusing only on the past, and not doing well in school, will surely continue to suffer economically. This will be even more of a problem as the U.S. continues its decline into a third-world country due to complacency and the lack of innovation.
Richard
Rochester, NY
Born poor. Struggled to make it. Became successful. Hurt no one. The American Dream. I am not evil or greedy, just good at what I do. Yet I am vilified. Prejudice has many faces. I have done what we all want to do, better myself and my family through hard work and ethical behavior. Applaud my hard work, do not automatically hate me for what I have accomplished. If this post irritates you, then perhaps you are struggling with your own pre-conceived notions, which is the essence of prejudice. I will not apologize for my success, and I hope we all can succeed and prosper. Just don’t hate me for what I have accomplished honestly.
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