I read Alyssa Hollins’ discussion post.
- one important thing she noted was that there was different expectations for Gregory compared to white kids. I did not mention that.
- I like how Alyssa uses direct quotes in her discussion responses, whereas I only summarize the articles.
- The intriguing aspect that she notes is that Gregory was deemed unintelligent/stupid and that he knew everyone felt this way about him.
- Gregory also never learned shame at home. That was a big aspect of the essay and I didn’t really touch on this in my response whereas Alyssa did.
- We both talked about Helene symbolizing/ was the physical manifestation of Gregory’s inadequacies/shortcomings.
- Alyssa and I both talked about our own personal experiences.
Individual writing: Historical Event
My family members are not immigrants, we are refugees from central America. My family didn’t move here, they were forced to escape a horrific 13-year civil war that was raging in El Salvador. They came to the U.S. in the mid 80’s along with so many other central Americans. First, my grandmother made the trek thousands of miles and next, her four children all under the age of 13. To say that all of us in the United States are immigrants is a gross injustice, an incredible use of passive voice that shifts the blame away from those responsible for this and so many other atrocities.
Many in the United States hold xenophobic ideals and reject the idea of “outsiders”. The main issue is with this logic is that many of the refugees coming from Latin America are fleeing countries whose stability was disrupted by the U.S. Because of greed, the United States dismantled the Salvadoran government by forming a coup which created instability. How is a war that was occurred from 1979 to 1992 relevant? Well, it is now that the United States, along with so many other imperialistic states are reaping what they sow. As mentioned before, destroying foreign governments and creating instability creates refugees that these “developed” nations are pressured to take in. Due to greed, the world is burning up, we are facing such catastrophic climatic conditions. All these issues are interconnected as they all stem from colonialism, imperialism, racism… greed.
