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About Me

      Date of Birth  31 August 1990   Birthplace Yerevan, Armenia   Location Kew Gardens, NY   Education  Benjamin N. Cardozo High School  Baruch College   Major  Economics   Minor  Political Science   Organizations AIESEC!
Date of Birth 31 August 1990
Birthplace Yerevan, Armenia
Location Kew Gardens, NY
Education


Benjamin N. Cardozo High School
Baruch College
Major
Economics
Minor
Political Science
Organizations
AIESEC!

This is probably one of the most difficult things I have ever had to write. How can I describe myself best?

I love football (the real kind). I can not stand liars but little white lies are essential to our society. I adore my friends and I think each and everyone of them is so uniquely special. I love my family, I would die for my sister gladly. I value respect the most, if I have your respect than I am infinitely happy. I love alphabet soup, FDR was my favorite president (although obviously I've not been alive during his presidency.) I strongly believe that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." I am not scared of dying but I fear the pain that my family would go through should something happen to me.

And as a cliche, allow me to tell you where I would like to be in several years. I love Economics, something about that field interests me. Helping people is another one of my passions, as of now I plan on getting a career where I am constantly helping someone. My dream would be to help a third-world economy improve, I was born in a country that experienced shortages of electricity and gas. I spent several years of my life in nations that were part of the former Soviet Union so I know what it is like to lack what it is you want most.

I love to be upfront with people but I do not want to give away too much about me, so if I have piqued an interest - simply [[ASK FOR MORE]].

"Oft expectation fails, and most oft there
Where most it promises; and oft it hits
Where hope is coldest, and despair most fits."


Ideal Community

My first reaction to this assignment was... communism. However, I know that communism is a perfect theory that is imperfect in practice and therefore I will try to be a little more realistic.

My ideal community is easily characterized by one word: UNDERSTANDING.
The residents of the community are tolerant and caring, prejudice is not present in this neighborhood. Self-expression is key in my community, being true to oneself is more important than any material possessions. Friendliness is also key, smiles and greetings are exchanged between all. However, I believe it is important to have privacy; therefore, the people of this neighborhood are friendly but they are not intrusive.

Also, the ideal community is highly self-sufficient. Schools, grocery stores, supermarkets, dry cleaners, movie theaters, etc. are all close by. Similarly, local parks allow runners and children to unwind from stressful work days and escape from the boredom of homework. In conclusion, my ideal community is centered around the ideals of compassion, individualism, and self-reliance.

Immigration Film Clip


Under the Same Moon or La Misma Luna is a foreign movie dealing with immigration - specifically illegal immigration. A young Mexican boy illegally immigrates to the United States searching for his mother who is working as a maid in the US.

I picked this film because I feel that it is a representation of one aspect of immigration that is widely spread throughout this country. The United States is known to have many illegal immigrants working in low-paying jobs, these immigrants often leave behind their families in order to earn money to send back home or to bring their family here. This movie displays how difficult it is to be away from your loved ones and what happens when your children are torn with a desire to see their parent. Under the Same Moon is a representation of an immigrant experience.


From There to Here


Twelve years ago my family and I immigrated to the United States through the Green Card lottery. The four of us – my parents, my sister, and myself were all born in Yerevan. Yerevan is the capital of Armenia, a third-world country located in Eastern Europe that was once part of the former Soviet Union. Better off than many third-world countries, Armenia still had several scarcities. Very few things were of good quality and the country often lacked full-time heat and electricity.

My parents were lucky to be born to great families with hard-working parents. Their parents, like my parents now, strove to provide the best for their children. This is precisely why my parents spent so much time trying to move my sister and I to a better place. In 1992 we immigrated to Bulgaria, the country of my maternal grandmother’s birth. We would live there for five years, painstakingly trying to establish a better life for ourselves.

Eventually my parents realized that no country that was part of the Soviet Union would be a fruitful place for their children to grow old in. Therefore they spent countless hours applying for the Green Card lottery and planning our move to the United States. Many things were left behind in Europe – grandparents, cousins, close family friends, as well as many material possessions that are tenderly missed. However, we all always knew that coming to this country and more specifically to the city of New York would be the best for all of us.

Not a day goes by when I do not realize how lucky I am to be in this country. This fact along with knowing how hard my parents worked and how much they gave up so that I could have the future I deserved pushes me to work to my utmost. I strive to succeed in anything I do because I know that my parents will be proud of me – and that is my true immigrant story.


Neighborhood Census Tract


Image:Censusmap.JPG Image:AlisadCensusdata.jpg

Richmond Hill is a middle class neighborhood in central-southern Queens. The neighborhood is bordered by Kew Gardens, Woodhaven, South Ozone Park, and South Jamaica.

The neighborhood has a mix of suburban houses and city apartment buildings. Amenities are available all around the neighborhood - grocery stores, supermarkets, DVD rental stores, and many other stores can be found in Richmond Hill.

Decades ago Richmond Hill consisted of Germans, Italians and the Irish. Today Richmond Hill mostly consists of white Americans, Asian Americans and Caribbean Americans. Currently, Richmond Hill has the largest Sikh population in the City of New York.

What I love most about my neighborhood is that it is very DIVERSE. There are many types of people that live in Richmond Hill and the stores around are very diverse as well. Restaurants include Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Indian, and Russian. Dry-cleaning stores are owned by Latin Americans and Asian Americans. A grocery store has Korean owners while the supermarket is owned by a Dominican couple. Richmond Hill embodies the melting-pot of New York.

Field Trip Notes

ELLIS ISLAND


Courtesy of ellisisland.org

Ellis Island was the facility in which over immigrants entered the United States after the original immigrant processing center at Castle Garden in Manhattan was closed. Over 12 million immigrants were processed at Ellis Island from 1892 and 1954. The island is located in New York Harbor, at the Hudson River. The National Park Service is in charge of what remains of Ellis Island but the center is owned by the Federal government.

The Statue of Liberty National Monument encompasses Ellis Island. There is a ferry that visitors can take that takes them to Liberty Island (the home of the Statue of Liberty) and Ellis Island.

One of the most interesting things on Ellis Island is the "Wall of Honor". After taking a look at the Ellis Island website I found out that the wall does not list all of the immigrants that passed through but it actually consists of names that people sent in (along with a donation, of course).

The island also contains a museum that displays rooms immigrants stayed in and the shows the process these immigrants went through when immigrating to the United States.



AFRICAN BURIAL GROUND


Courtesy of africanburialground.gov

African Burial Ground National Monument is a National Historic Landmark and National Monument site located in Lower Manhattan. This location is of a site containing the remains of African Americans. Over 400 remains have been counted, and have been found to be buried during the 17th and 18th centuries. However, the tour guide stated that over 15,000 burials occurred at the burial ground.

Interestingly, the African Burial Ground was founded in 1991 when excavation for a new federal-office building let to the discovery of the remains of African Americans.

The memorial for the African Americans that were buried in the African Burial Ground is located next to a federal building that houses The African Burial Ground Visitor Center. Visits include viewing a video, having a tour guide explain about the site, and seeing the monument.


LOWER EAST SIDE TENEMENT MUSEUM


Courtesy of nytimes.com
More images available at: [[1]]

The Lower East Side Tenement National Historic Site is the site of a six-story brick tenement building that housed several thousands of immigrants. Between 1863 and 1935 people from over 20 nations lived in the tenement located at 97 Orchard Street.

The Tenement Museum is a site that displays the lives of late 19th century and early 20th century immigrants. The museum includes exhibits of apartments that display the lives of immigrants that lived in New York City from 1863 to 1935. That is what makes the museum interesting, visitors can actually see the conditions in which immigrants lived - we get to see the squalid apartments and realize the hardship immigrants went through.

The museum provides several public tours. However, they have a very strict policy against picture taking, touching walls and artifacts in the museum, and consequently their website is just as strict on allowing the public to use its materials.

Book Notes


FROM ELLIS ISLAND TO JFK by Nancy Foner

This book by Nancy Foner concentrates on immigration. From Ellis Island to JFK details two great waves of immigration to New York City - the first that occurred in the beginning of the 1900s and the second that occurred at the end of the 1900s. Foner touches upon most of the immigrants that came to New York - comparing and contrasting the old and the new, while providing in depth research and analysis on many aspects of immigrant life.

Chapter 1

  • Many immigrants enter New York now with college degrees and technical expertise
  • Population growth, persecution, chain migration, and the globalization of capitalism are forces that led to immigration during both waves
  • During the first wave most immigrants were Russian Jews and Italians, now arrivals are more diverse but many come from the Dominican Republic, China, and Jamaica
  • Change in government policy has allowed more and more people to immigrate to the US
  • The first wave of immigrants came to New York on boats through Ellis Island (lengthy trips), while the second wave of immigrants came to New York on planes through JFK International Airport

    Chapter 2

  • The first wave of immigrants lived in Manhattan tenements that were the image of poverty and despair - there was much residential segregation at that time
  • Many contemporary immigrants start out in decent housing in lower-middle class neighborhoods because they arrive with skills and resources to help them find jobs that support such housing
  • In the early 1900s Manhattan's population far exceeded the other boroughs because public transportation was not yet in place and so immigrants needed to live as close to their jobs as possible
  • Although ethnic clustering still occurs, many of today's neighborhoods are highly diverse

    Chapter 3

  • The first wave of immigrants often worked long hours doing backbreaking work because they were mostly poor, had little education, and did not speak English very well
  • For the newer immigrants there is a great variety between occupational and educational status - therefore some new immigrants toil in backbreaking work while others work in much higher positions
  • Also, in the early 20th century New York was an industrial city, now it is a post-industrial city which is why there are less jobs in the manufacturing sector and more jobs in the service sector
  • Many occupations are dominated by one ethnicity: West Indian nursing aides now and Russian Jews in the garment sector then

    Chapter 4

  • Women during the first great wave took on low-paying jobs with few opportunities when they were young and single in order to help their parents - often their brothers would attend school while the girls toiled to earn little money
  • Women now vote, go to college, hold political office, and enjoy high-paying jobs
  • Currently, most women work - many working moms in essence have two jobs (1) their outside work and (2) the work they do at home, often working parents split responsibilities but women are still taking on a brunt of the work

    Chapter 5

  • Most immigrants today are people of color while immigrants at the turn of the last century were white
  • In the early 1900s Italians and Jews were not considered fully white and were thus treated inferior - they have attained the 'white' status over the years, however it is doubtful that the current batch of immigrants will be seen as white in 50 years
  • Immigrants such as West Indians are thought, by the general public, to be black and thus are constantly discriminated against
  • Asian immigrants are the one race that seems to be moving toward 'whiteness' - public perception of the Asian race has begun to see them as "proto-whites"

    Chapter 6

  • Transnational perspective - immigrants maintain familial, economic, cultural, and political ties across international borders
  • Immigrants of the first great wave often had trouble keeping in contact with their home countries because of the long distances and little technology - however, many immigrants sent money to their home communities as aid
  • Some immigrants went back to their villages seasonally; some immigrants returned to their homes after earning money in New York
  • The second wave of immigrants have had an easier time keeping in touch with family in their nation of birth because of modern technology - many of these immigrants are financial support for their families and the political parties in those nations
  • The government now is more committed to spreading cultural pluralism and diversity

    Chapter 7

  • Contrary to popular belief most European Jews who found their way to the middle-class did so through work in the garment, fur, shoe, and retail trades as opposed to through education
  • Few employers in the early 20th century required high school diplomas
  • Extended schooling (such as college) was difficult for newly arrived immigrants to afford
  • The few schools that existed were packed to the brim with students (60 to an elementary school class)
  • The second wave of immigrants have it differently - it is widely known that education is the path to social class mobility in this era
  • Schools in the areas that have many immigrants are often in a state of disrepair because of underfunding and budget cuts

    Chapter 8

  • Economic successes of Jews and Italians and their intermingling with other European groups led to their attaining "whiteness"
  • The black-white divide is being challenged by Hispanics and Asians
  • Question is: what will be the new categories that people will be assigned to?
  • Immigrants are constantly changing New York both for better and for worse


    THE WORLD IN A CITY by Joseph Berger

    Joseph Berger creates a book in which he discusses the many different communities that make up the diverse city of New York. The World In A City is basically a journey through the neighborhoods that immigrants have created and altered. Berger details the neighborhoods while also giving locations of interesting sites and eateries in those communities.

    Chapters 1 - 3

  • Astoria - a community that has flourished as a Greek centered area is now also encompassing the cultures of North African and Middle Eastern countries, amongst many other nations
  • Many of Astoria's Greeks are moving to the suburbs after accumulating enough money to do so, they are being replaced by peoples who have not yet had the opportunity to earn their fortunes in the US
  • Whites, blacks, Asians, and Latinos make up the population of Ditmas Park; multi-cultural friendships flourish in this neighborhood in Brooklyn
  • East Harlem used to be filled with Italians several decades ago, now it has transformed into a neighborhood mostly inhabited by Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, and Dominicans
  • The Italians moved away to suburban areas while newer immigrants took over the area - however increasing rents are making it difficult for newer immigrants to afford living in East Harlem

    Chapters 4 - 6

  • Chinatown is full of immigrant peddlers (cobblers, fortune-tellers, etc.) from Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean
  • Chinatown is the largest center of Chinese population in the Western Hemisphere - however the Chinese have also come to inhabit Flushing, Elmhurst, Sunset Park, and Bensonhurst
  • Douglaston and Little Neck are two neighborhoods in Queens that are primarily white although there are many Asians living in those areas currently
  • Residents from Douglaston and Little Neck complain about Asian shop owners who do not stick to the old rules and etiquette
  • Brighton Beach is a neighborhood filled with Russian immigrants clad in long furs in the winter - the neighborhood feels like a little Russia because many of the stores are Russian owned and sell Russian products
  • Many of the Russians have opened up ballroom dance schools

    Chapter 7 - 9

  • Many of the diverse residents of Bedford Park travel extremely long distances to the city's center for work
  • Jackson Heights and its neighboring communities include Hispanics and Asians who are heavily in tune with their roots - televisions blare shows from their home countries, travel agencies provide cheap tickets, and people video chat with the families they left behind
  • Flushing has an enclave of Afghans who are more modern than their counterparts in their home nations but at the same time they retain familial ties and roots

    Chapter 10 - 12

  • Midwood is full of Orthodox Jews who make the neighborhood look like the Jewish towns of Eastern Europe
  • Rego Park is full of immigrants from the former Soviet Union - many of them being Bukharan Jews; one of the main issues in this neighborhood is that of wife beating, new immigrants are learning that beating their wives is simply unacceptable and punishable by law in the US
  • Black and Latino families have taken over the Grand Concourse - especially those from Ghana and the Dominican Republic

    Chapter 13 - 15

  • Filipinos primarily inhabit the neighborhood of Norwood - the Filipino nurses display the character of the new Norwood
  • Religion is a big aspect in Norwood because Filipinos socialize through the church
  • Richmond Hill is full of South Americans from Guyana, and peoples from Trinidad and Tobago - the streets are filled with stores and restaurants that display the ethnicity of these people
  • Bensonhurst used to be the city's largest Italian neighborhood, however these Italians began to move to the suburbs and Chinese, Russians, Arabs, and Pakistanis are moving in

    Chapter 16 - 18

  • Gerritsen Beach is a village clustered with small homes whose residents rarely change - the neighborhood is not very diverse
  • Broad Channel is an island of bungalows filled with blue-collar civil servants who change rarely over the years
  • All types of artists are making the South Bronx "a vanguard address" - the area is experiencing a change for the better


    BEYOND THE MELTING POT by Daniel Moynihan and Nathan Glazer

    Another book that concentrates on immigration in the United States, Beyond the Melting Pot focuses on the arrival of new ethnic groups to New York and how these immigrants influence the character of the greatest city in the world. Glazer and Moynihan mention how some groups, such as Blacks and Puerto Ricans are the poorest in the city. Another aspect they touch upon in their book is that of the power of the Catholic Church and its steady decline.

    Class Notes



    01.30.09

    Introduction and course overview - what is expected of us?

    Our grading system:

  • Class Research Project 20%
  • Class Participation 10%
  • Homework assignments and collaborative projects- 10%
  • Mid-term Examination 30%
  • Final Examination 30%

    We are expected to read:
  • Joseph Berger – The World in a City (B)
  • Nancy Foner - From Ellis Island to JFK (F)
  • Glazer and Moynihan - Beyond the Melting Pot (G&M)


    02.06.09

    Our Ideal Communities

    Discussion of our ideal communities - what do each of us think is ideal to have in a community? What do we as a class agree upon?

    GROUP 1:
  • interact peacefully
  • total acceptance of diversity
  • public services
  • clean transportation
  • amenities
  • groceries, etc.

    GROUP 2:
  • diversity
  • community events together
  • respect each other
  • no mention of schools
  • self-sufficient
  • green

    GROUP 3:
  • care about each other
  • not concerned with materialism
  • work toward common goals
  • healthy

    COMMONALITIES:
  • collaboration
  • solidarity
  • diversity

    Introduced the WIKI-PROJECT that we have to present in mid-May to other Macaulay classes.


    02.13.09

    Why was New York inhabited?
    Migration can be explained by push and pull factors:

    Pull Factors are factors that drove people to NY because of the positive values
  • Resources – seafood
  • Social diversity
  • Shopping Mecca
  • Culinary arts
  • Climate
  • Economic opportunities

    Push Factors are factors that drove people to NY because of the negative values these people experienced in their home nations
  • Boredom
  • Religious persecutions
  • Lack of economic opportunities
  • Politics
  • War


    02.20.09

    How are im/migrants to NYC (American in general) visually (and otherwise) represented in history, sociology, journalism, art, movies, television, museums, etc?

    We viewed short clips from movies dealing with immigration and analyzed their meanings and messages.

    (Im)migrants in Film: Similarities in Depictions by Andrew Garcia
  • Emotion influences the (im)migrants’ decisions: sadness (loss of home/cultural identity), grief (over death or faltered relationships), indignation (at deplorable settings, such as a workplace).
  • Attempt to ameliorate disadvantageous circumstances: poverty, lack of money, reunite with family.
  • Optimistic outlooks are common to (im)migrant characters.
  • Transition into new society is not smooth: “culture shock,” anxiety over legality (drug trafficking),
  • (Im)migrants use landmarks as a symbol of their new locales (JFK Airport, Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty).


    02.27.09

    Class visit to Ellis Island.


    03.06.09

    Class visit to Ellis Island.


    03.13.09

    Our Wiki Project.

    NATIONAL PARK SERVICE - Rolanda, Alice, Yura, Margot
  • Ellis Island
  • African Burial Ground
  • Tenement museum

    RESEARCH - Alisa, Andrew, Duke
  • Census tracts
  • Books/readings

    MEDIA - Jasper, Daniel, Andrey
  • Film clips/ movies
  • Student videos
  • News
  • Music

    OUR CLASS - Emily, Anna, Christian, Vincent
  • Overall description of the wiki project, goals, course description
  • Bios

    METHODS
  • Design, Visual (video, photography), Text/Editing, Audio


    03.20.09

    ASSIMILATION
  • Other cultures absorb American society and dissolve into it
  • American society is a melting pot of all the different cultures that came to the US
  • Many early people conformed to the Anglo-Saxon ways
  • Cultures that do not assimilate are looked upon as unwilling to blend into American society – negative connotation
  • Emphasized by Berger

    STEW POT
  • People who adjust to American society yet retain some of their characteristics – cultural pluralism
  • Emphasizes differences in cultures and highlights the best and worst aspects of each culture
  • Most realistic in our society

    SALAD BOWL
  • People who retain their own culture – multiculturalism
  • Emphasizes the commonality between cultures
  • Emphasized by Foner


    03.27.09

    POTS →Theories, Ideologies

  • Ethnic Succession
  • Social Sciences: History, Sociology, Political Science (accuracy)
  • Journalism: entertainment, accessibility, accuracy, reliability, validity
  • Comparisons: groups, theories, authors
  • Science – is, Ideology – ought to be
  • Simulation used in movies and such


    04.03.09

    Class visit to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum.


    04.24.09

    Mid-term examination


    05.01.09

    Working on the WIKI-WEBSITE


    05.08.09

    Working on the WIKI-WEBSITE

    Mid-term



    My Questions

    1. Discuss the differences between old immigration and new immigration.
    2. Evaluate how old immigrants and new immigrants assimilated into society.
    3. What were the techniques the three books incorporated when discussing immigration in NY?


  • Describe, discuss and give examples of the theories/ideologies of immigrant adjustment to American society.

    The United States of America is a nation of immigrants. When one thinks about it, this country was essentially built by immigrants and continues to flourish because of immigrants. In recent history there have been two great waves of immigration: the old wave of Italians and European Jews and the new wave of Asians, Latin Americans, West Indians, and others. These two great waves share fundamental ideologies but they also differ in many ways that make them two unique waves of immigration.
    In the early 1900’s the United States experienced the first great wave that was mentioned above. These Italians and European Jews arrived through the processing centers of Ellis Island. A majority of the Italian immigrants were poor peasants who came to “escape from hunger and want”; these immigrants had little to look forward to in the nation of their birth (Foner 9). The European Jews on the other hand sought to escape political oppression and religious persecution and thus fled to the United States. Both groups faced overpopulation and slackening economies, other crucial reasons to move away from their home countries.
    The second great wave of immigration occurred through John F. Kennedy International Airport. The wave that brought in so many different cultures – from the Chinese to the West Indians to the Dominicans, had its own reasons for taking place. “One reason so many immigrants come today is that they can”, as Nancy Foner puts it crudely (Foner 23). This is because the United States had very strict policies on immigration several decades ago, once these restrictions were lifted many people desired to immigrate to the land of the free. However, most of those who came to settle in the United States came because they wished to further their lives and saw the US as the place to do so. It is important to note that many of these immigrants are still migrating to the US because of political oppression or troubled economic conditions.
    What is most interesting about these two different waves of immigration is the way the settlers have established and adjusted them selves to American society. In terms of housing the first wave of immigrants clustered together in closely-knit ethnic communities where several generations would live in cramped, dirty tenements. The newer immigrants maintain this individual ethnic clustering however they now live in better accommodations, as is described by Joseph Berger. Berger’s book is divided by ethnic neighborhoods, thus showing that newer immigrants tend to crowd together as well. However, nowadays it is easier to find neighborhoods that feature several different types of immigrant groups – this is something that was not found back in the early 1900s.
    As we look at the succession from the first great wave of immigration to the second great wave of immigration, we note the changes in society. The earlier immigrants and the peoples that fit under the five groups noted by Professor Glazer and Senator Moynihan: Negroes, Puerto Ricans, Jews, Italian-Americans, and Irish-Americans were groups whose prevalence was evident in the early 1900s. Much of the culture in cities like New York revolved around these groups and many of these groups were very isolated. After several years these cultures that once were far from the norm of American society actually transformed American society to reflect these cultures. It’s as if these ethnic groups became the basis of American society. As the second great wave of immigration hit the newcomers led to the deterioration of these past cultures. As Berger shows, shops and restaurants of different ethnicities replaced Italian restaurants and Jewish shops. The new immigrants established their own neighborhoods.
    It sometimes seems that these new cultures and immigrant groups are planting themselves in American society by not fully assimilating and that the Italians and Jews assimilated more into American society. However I like to look at it this way: the Italians and the Jews at first seemed to claim their own identity because the American society was not used to the different cultures. But now that Americans are more used to Italians and Jews it seems as if these groups have assimilated. Similarly, because the new immigrants are still fresh and new to American society it seems that they refuse to assimilate. The neighborhoods that are dominated by one or two ethnic groups such as the Guyanese in Richmond Hill or the Asians in Flushing make it seem as if New York is divided into several different ethnic areas, nevertheless these groups all come together to create a melting pot of cultures.
    I like to think that there is no need to push for assimilation and that it should be natural – through new and different cultures American society changes for the best, American cultural appreciation increases and thus America truly becomes a place of understanding and acceptance. As Joseph Berger says in his book, these cultures are “merging – conspicuously or inconspicuously – into the mighty American river” (Berger 264).

  • Describe, discuss, and give examples from the readings and class notes the following question – Is attaining the status of “whiteness” the threshold of being “American”?

    The subject of race has and always will be a prominent matter in the United States. From the first discrimination against Native Americans to Africans to the Jews and Italians to all other races, our country has always featured racial discrimination of some sort. Somewhere in the history of this great country it was decided that being white would be the ultimate stepping-stone to being a true American, most likely because the first colonies were populated by white men from Britain. Personally, I think the fact that such positive emphasis is put on being white is atrocious – the color of ones skin should not matter at all.
    The first great wave of recent immigration, that of the Italians and European Jews occurred in the early 1900s. These groups immigrated to the United States seeking better lives, some fled because they were being persecuted in their home countries. The Italians and European Jews were discriminated against in the United States because they were not thought to be ‘white’. As Nancy Foner mentions “discrimination against them was open and, by and large, legal.” (Foner 148) It took these groups of immigrants several decades to attain the status of “whiteness” that is so sought after in this country. It is very clear to see that after attaining this status these groups are little discriminated against now.
    It seems hard to believe now that several decades ago Jews were kept out of shops, resorts, and even certain neighborhoods while Italians were paid small wages because of their Italian background. It appears that attaining the status of “whiteness” is the threshold of being “American”, or so thinks the majority of the United States public because as soon as these two immigrant groups were looked upon as “white” they were truly allowed to assimilate and flourish in American society. Joseph Berger makes the point that many of these older immigrants have cleared out of city neighborhoods and have instead opted for “suburban greenery”, with two story homes, gardens, and large driveways. Is this not what the media portrays as the true American lifestyle? It seems that by attaining the status of whiteness Italians and Jews were able to fulfill the requirements of American life by purchasing a house with a picket fence and backyard, thus truly attaining the American Dream that is so popularized by the media.
    The second great wave of immigration in recent history is marked by the arrival of groups such as the Chinese, West Indians, and Dominicans. These groups have seemingly replaced the Italians and Jews as groups to be discriminated against. Despite my dislike toward it, the fact is that in this country being able to call yourself white has its advantages. This is very unfortunate for the new immigrants to this country. The Italians and Jews were lucky to be able to so easily fall into the sphere of “white” after they were accepted by society in general. The darker immigrants will have difficulty assimilating to a society that is biased against color.
    Asian immigrants have begun to be incorporated into white culture because the color of their skin is lighter than the rest of the newer immigrants. Again, race and ethnicity play a large role in American society; this is highly unfortunate because a democratic nation should not use race and ethnicity as judgment of a person. Many of the newer immigrants have clustered in ethnic neighborhoods as is best demonstrated by Joseph Berger’s book. These immigrants have incorporated their cultures into American society. Many of these neighborhoods are bilingual – shops have signs in English and the language of most of the inhabitants of the neighborhood. Some areas even have signs only in the language of the inhabitants.
    Although much of elite American society sees attaining “whiteness” as the threshold of being American, the new immigrants are creating their own rules. By establishing neighborhoods in which they can prosper and assimilate into American society while still keeping their roots and customs, these immigrants are creating a new order in American society – a society that still sees whiteness as the threshold for being American but with much of its population no longer caring to attain this status. Yes, attaining the status of “whiteness” is a threshold of being “American” but the new immigrants are creating their own version of what an American is.