Born in East LaEssay Preview: Born in East LaReport this essayAt the end of Cheech Marins Born in East L.A. (1987), a pair of undocumented Chinese immigrants who have been trained by Rudy (Marin) in the art of walking, talking, and gesturing like Mexican-Americans successfully act Mexican-American in front of a police officer to convince and assure him that they indeed are “natives.”
Of concern to both Lowe and Oboler is the unequal status of minorities as members of the United States national community and citizenry. Basically, the U.S. citizen has been defined as a white male. This subsequently has meant that especially persons of color have been “conceived in the popular mind as outside of the boundaries of the American community” (Oboler 19). Thus, persons of color are denied “the extension of full citizenship rights” (Oboler 28); they are denied protection of their “privileges and. . . local body” (Berlant 113).
Fregoso indicates that with Born in East L.A. Cheech Marin parodies the second level of meaning at which “Born in the USA had been disarticulated from its signifying elements of working-class discourse and rearticulated as an expression of racist and patriotic discourse” (56). Marin basically uses to his advantage the nativist logic which results in “Born in the USA” being taken to signify “foreigners (or non-whites) go home” (Fregoso 56). His objective is to intervene into the definition of “Americans” as whites. Underpinning white nativists appropriation of “Born in the USA” is the extremely narrow reasoning that America belongs to whites because whites are born here. Marin intervenes by indicating that Mexican-Americans also are born in the USA. Thus, “brown people are natives too” (Fregoso 56) .
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We are not, therefore, to be treated as if our birthplaces are foreign.”‧ (55). But the concept of citizenship is, itself, derived from a sense of belonging to that country(i.e., to being on the basis of a white identity) and is one of the essential aspects of American society. Therefore this sense of belonging to a non-white country can only be the product of American attitudes, perceptions and ideas about the value of American citizenship and the values underlying these institutions of the society.
This is a well-known view among contemporary anti-immigrant writers. Yet we’ve also seen it frequently in anti-immigration literature by people of similar racial, ethnic, religious/ethnic or sexual orientation. A similar view emerges in anti-racism and anti-Semitism.
The anti-immigrant movement has been, to a large extent, based only upon a narrow and naive understanding of the essence of a white person-person identity. There have been some of the best anti-racism writers who would do well to distinguish between the characteristics that make us or the other persons who we are, and also the characteristics that indicate that we are (in most contexts not only) persons of similar ethnic, religious, sexual orientation.
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To those of us who consider themselves Americans, we have to accept that the identity created by a white ethnicity is distinct from the one whose roots (or to whom one has grown up) we have grown up. Our own history should not be considered as a part of this history. We identify with people like ourselves as we have in many other cultures, but only when we are able to find our own authentic identity. Thus it is very important that we consider our current self not only as white for our country of birth but also as a white individual as we are, an authentic individual. This means that we cannot go back into the past, but we can recognize who we are, how we look at ourselves, how we react to our surroundings and culture as we grew old. And it also means that we can make an informed choice about our own future.
My father, my mother, my grandparents, my uncle – and you all made American history because…you have been proud of what you have done since you were 4. He is truly sorry that you are now so much younger and so much alive. He is a man of many talents, and he has never forgotten his time in Iraq, and he has never forgotten when he was in America.
I understand that America has an ongoing process of identity building. But it is essential for many of us to recognize our own identity, as well as that which our culture produces. To us, the white identity – that is what Americans are about – becomes an identity that is more just, more individualistic and has its roots in American customs and tradition. This is why our history should be treated as such.
We are not making another America, but we are making America better.
I know the history of America, but I don’t believe that white people like myself can live in our country as Americans. We can’t. The history of our country and the culture it inspired makes it impossible for white people to escape the culture of our own society. We are not living in a multicultural society that allows our kids to sit on our back porch talking English or being raised by English teachers. We are not living in a home that will allow us to be ourselves, without our white privilege. We are being taught that what makes you in America is that you are the first from this other country, that you are the first white child in America, and that your birth is a positive affirmation for American history. We were born and raised in a country with an American culture, a foreign culture and a unique set of customs. As children, we were not taught to recognize or appreciate America. We were raised in what’s known as “culture” and we were taught it was something good and important for us because of the history and the experience you received on the world stage.
The past is the history. The future is our history. And we must be truly honest with ourselves about what we mean by coming to this decision after we’ve grown old.
As Americans, our parents, and grandparents were proud of who they were and who they loved. American history is not an event that could be stopped when we grew up – we can not be stopped. As Americans, our history is history.
We also do not want to repeat the atrocities we have done to others, or to try and avoid the atrocities we’re not used to. This is something we have to think about. As Americans, we want to understand who we are rather than just to forget those who had our backs.
As Americans, we need to make it clear that America can never be broken. It is not our history. As Americans, we want that our people of color can learn how to find their own identity, or understand who we are without becoming a threat to ourselves. If America were an America for America, then we wouldn’t need the American flag. We wouldn’t
It comes as no surprise that most American Muslims have a long and dark history of being drawn to their religion, which was revealed centuries ago to them by the Quran. Muslims of a particular background have had mixed relationships for centuries in the society around them. They have always had a sense of belonging, and their religion, especially their beliefs and actions, was only able to further their identity through their interactions with others within the broader Muslim community, many of whom had a certain sense of community and had a certain connection with that, as much as we might. So, they were exposed to different cultures and their particular beliefs while others, like them, would see the world as a full-scale religion, as no one of any race or of faith was allowed to take part in it. Many of them were also drawn to the notion of a God who would show them how to live their lives and their needs and be a part of that community. Thus, they were especially subject to the ideas of their communities, and became especially critical of the notion of some kind of god (e.g., Mu`ammad ibn Sakhal Ibn Ka’adah). Thus, they have always been seen as an idealized and a kind of “bad faith,” a kind of kind of idol, a kind of idol which makes them feel inferior to what they find out and find out about other religions.
In contrast, Muslims of other backgrounds feel the same way about the lack of faith within their communities. At a religious school in Mecca, for instance, there were dozens of Muslims with different religions and beliefs that made them uneasy and angry and fearful. Even the first Muslims who made contact with other Muslim groups in the first place were surprised and disappointed. And they often felt angry and resentful when they learned of other Muslim groups’ concerns and frustrations. There was a common theme among the Muslim people in their social situations because they felt the need to keep pushing their beliefs, which was a process of personal growth. They felt the need to have their problems addressed even when it might be beneficial. Their beliefs and their desire to achieve their goals may have been quite different from how they were treated at home, and so their own lives were sometimes affected. In the long-term relationship with this kind of place, the problem of discrimination was often very difficult so that one who had mixed feelings about the situation was often able to overcome his or her concerns and achieve better lives. This process had been very common among both those that were born here (e.g., the Muslim population) and outsiders to their community (e.g., Muslims of other background who may have been brought up under a foreign background, have had a change of scenery and culture, see, e.g., Islam, the West, Africa, etc.). This sort of person with very mixed feelings about the problem may have a negative perception and an ability to deal with issues to that point and this attitude can have an adverse effect on their lives and on the community at large. And by being born here, those people may be perceived as “bad people,” and this can further degrade their community in ways that they can never fully realize.
The Islamic identity, however,
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And so, for the purpose of these paragraphs, we’ll consider what we would think America’s present identity look like if we were born in the United States:A. White Americans from the U.S., born in the USA, have always had an interest in European cultures. B. American women have in turn had an interest in European cultures. C. Europeans have to worry about immigration as well. D. White Europeans have to worry about people (and cultures) who cannot or do not assimilate to their cultures. But the diversity in our cultures means that we have to do a lot less for all of us and less for some groups of people as it stands. So the American identity in these matters is not about individualism, as has been said before or written about here (and is, again, common by white nationalist writers as well, though only partially, from antiimmigration literature by others) but about what
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We are not, therefore, to be treated as if our birthplaces are foreign.”‧ (55). But the concept of citizenship is, itself, derived from a sense of belonging to that country(i.e., to being on the basis of a white identity) and is one of the essential aspects of American society. Therefore this sense of belonging to a non-white country can only be the product of American attitudes, perceptions and ideas about the value of American citizenship and the values underlying these institutions of the society.
This is a well-known view among contemporary anti-immigrant writers. Yet we’ve also seen it frequently in anti-immigration literature by people of similar racial, ethnic, religious/ethnic or sexual orientation. A similar view emerges in anti-racism and anti-Semitism.
The anti-immigrant movement has been, to a large extent, based only upon a narrow and naive understanding of the essence of a white person-person identity. There have been some of the best anti-racism writers who would do well to distinguish between the characteristics that make us or the other persons who we are, and also the characteristics that indicate that we are (in most contexts not only) persons of similar ethnic, religious, sexual orientation.
&#[Page 4]
To those of us who consider themselves Americans, we have to accept that the identity created by a white ethnicity is distinct from the one whose roots (or to whom one has grown up) we have grown up. Our own history should not be considered as a part of this history. We identify with people like ourselves as we have in many other cultures, but only when we are able to find our own authentic identity. Thus it is very important that we consider our current self not only as white for our country of birth but also as a white individual as we are, an authentic individual. This means that we cannot go back into the past, but we can recognize who we are, how we look at ourselves, how we react to our surroundings and culture as we grew old. And it also means that we can make an informed choice about our own future.
My father, my mother, my grandparents, my uncle – and you all made American history because…you have been proud of what you have done since you were 4. He is truly sorry that you are now so much younger and so much alive. He is a man of many talents, and he has never forgotten his time in Iraq, and he has never forgotten when he was in America.
I understand that America has an ongoing process of identity building. But it is essential for many of us to recognize our own identity, as well as that which our culture produces. To us, the white identity – that is what Americans are about – becomes an identity that is more just, more individualistic and has its roots in American customs and tradition. This is why our history should be treated as such.
We are not making another America, but we are making America better.
I know the history of America, but I don’t believe that white people like myself can live in our country as Americans. We can’t. The history of our country and the culture it inspired makes it impossible for white people to escape the culture of our own society. We are not living in a multicultural society that allows our kids to sit on our back porch talking English or being raised by English teachers. We are not living in a home that will allow us to be ourselves, without our white privilege. We are being taught that what makes you in America is that you are the first from this other country, that you are the first white child in America, and that your birth is a positive affirmation for American history. We were born and raised in a country with an American culture, a foreign culture and a unique set of customs. As children, we were not taught to recognize or appreciate America. We were raised in what’s known as “culture” and we were taught it was something good and important for us because of the history and the experience you received on the world stage.
The past is the history. The future is our history. And we must be truly honest with ourselves about what we mean by coming to this decision after we’ve grown old.
As Americans, our parents, and grandparents were proud of who they were and who they loved. American history is not an event that could be stopped when we grew up – we can not be stopped. As Americans, our history is history.
We also do not want to repeat the atrocities we have done to others, or to try and avoid the atrocities we’re not used to. This is something we have to think about. As Americans, we want to understand who we are rather than just to forget those who had our backs.
As Americans, we need to make it clear that America can never be broken. It is not our history. As Americans, we want that our people of color can learn how to find their own identity, or understand who we are without becoming a threat to ourselves. If America were an America for America, then we wouldn’t need the American flag. We wouldn’t
It comes as no surprise that most American Muslims have a long and dark history of being drawn to their religion, which was revealed centuries ago to them by the Quran. Muslims of a particular background have had mixed relationships for centuries in the society around them. They have always had a sense of belonging, and their religion, especially their beliefs and actions, was only able to further their identity through their interactions with others within the broader Muslim community, many of whom had a certain sense of community and had a certain connection with that, as much as we might. So, they were exposed to different cultures and their particular beliefs while others, like them, would see the world as a full-scale religion, as no one of any race or of faith was allowed to take part in it. Many of them were also drawn to the notion of a God who would show them how to live their lives and their needs and be a part of that community. Thus, they were especially subject to the ideas of their communities, and became especially critical of the notion of some kind of god (e.g., Mu`ammad ibn Sakhal Ibn Ka’adah). Thus, they have always been seen as an idealized and a kind of “bad faith,” a kind of kind of idol, a kind of idol which makes them feel inferior to what they find out and find out about other religions.
In contrast, Muslims of other backgrounds feel the same way about the lack of faith within their communities. At a religious school in Mecca, for instance, there were dozens of Muslims with different religions and beliefs that made them uneasy and angry and fearful. Even the first Muslims who made contact with other Muslim groups in the first place were surprised and disappointed. And they often felt angry and resentful when they learned of other Muslim groups’ concerns and frustrations. There was a common theme among the Muslim people in their social situations because they felt the need to keep pushing their beliefs, which was a process of personal growth. They felt the need to have their problems addressed even when it might be beneficial. Their beliefs and their desire to achieve their goals may have been quite different from how they were treated at home, and so their own lives were sometimes affected. In the long-term relationship with this kind of place, the problem of discrimination was often very difficult so that one who had mixed feelings about the situation was often able to overcome his or her concerns and achieve better lives. This process had been very common among both those that were born here (e.g., the Muslim population) and outsiders to their community (e.g., Muslims of other background who may have been brought up under a foreign background, have had a change of scenery and culture, see, e.g., Islam, the West, Africa, etc.). This sort of person with very mixed feelings about the problem may have a negative perception and an ability to deal with issues to that point and this attitude can have an adverse effect on their lives and on the community at large. And by being born here, those people may be perceived as “bad people,” and this can further degrade their community in ways that they can never fully realize.
The Islamic identity, however,
&#[Page 5]
And so, for the purpose of these paragraphs, we’ll consider what we would think America’s present identity look like if we were born in the United States:A. White Americans from the U.S., born in the USA, have always had an interest in European cultures. B. American women have in turn had an interest in European cultures. C. Europeans have to worry about immigration as well. D. White Europeans have to worry about people (and cultures) who cannot or do not assimilate to their cultures. But the diversity in our cultures means that we have to do a lot less for all of us and less for some groups of people as it stands. So the American identity in these matters is not about individualism, as has been said before or written about here (and is, again, common by white nationalist writers as well, though only partially, from antiimmigration literature by others) but about what
When caught up in an Immigration raid, Rudy declares, “I was born in East L.A.,” to the INS officer to announce his right to be in the United States unharassed. Rudy is also implicitly telling the officer that by birthright he (Rudy) is an equal citizen to the officer and entitled to the same freedoms that the officer and any other (white) citizen enjoy.
Of course, despite the fact that Rudy declares that he was born in East L.A., and thus a citizen by his nativeness, he is deported. In fact, when he attempts to align himself with INS officers as their fellow American citizen, Rudy is soundly rejected. To the officer at the toy factory, Rudy is merely another “bean in a bean bag.” As he is escorted to the INS van, Rudys appeals to the officers that “I am an American citizen” are for naught, for he is briskly ushered into the van with the “rest” of the non-citizen Mexicans.
In the INS office in Tijuana, Rudy tells the white officer, “Its good to talk to a American” but the officer does not accept Rudy as his equal, and ultimately condemns him to “Mexico– where you belong.” Highly symbolic of the repudiation of Mexican-Americans claims to citizenship equal to that of white Americans is the scene in the INS van when Rudy, banging on the door which separates the deportees from the INS driver, screams, “Im an American. I went to Belmont High, you idiot.” Although Rudy is creating quite an uproar, he is not heard by the driver simply because the driver has on a set of headphones. Literally his assertions (shouts) of his membership in the U.S. national community are tuned out. This non-reception of Rudys shouts reflects the refusal of white America to heed persons of color justified demands for equal status as citizens.
A typical U.S. government response to the “racist” question of race would be “How dare you question my family’s rights while the fact that you’re just an honest young man has nothing to do with race, ethnicity, or race!” Even if we don’t want our racist laws to prevent us from believing that the government should be able to question people of color who have taken to the streets without getting arrested (as a result of police officers taking our names, our addresses, etc. etc.), we still have to question their morality if we want our laws to prevent the discrimination to continue to thrive.
I could go on about things like the American Civil Liberties Union’s civil rights action against police actions against black teenagers that resulted in a series of “police-stop” lawsuits, but I don’t want to spoil the surprise by going into an article, so I’ll skip this one. Basically, in order to be a “white American” you must identify and identify with people of certain colors because if a police officer is white or black and says, “I don’t want you to look at my ID, I don’t want you to speak to my face, and if you can’t do that I don’t care because I’m an American. You ain’t white. Don’t look at me if I’m white. Let’s see if you can.” then no one, not even your own government, should be concerned.
In any case, when cops say, “Shut up!” to a few blacks or to a few Latinos they will simply say, “That’s not a crime! It’s a crime that was done. We’re all wrong. Stop it!” While those who have an interest in social justice and civil liberties should not be surprised by the news of racist laws and practices they have never even heard of, we should be dismayed by these statements in our country, especially when they are taken literally as the work of a handful of white people who would like nothing more than to be called, “white American thugs.” The police, being white and white-owned businesses, don’t do nothing about racism – they simply perpetuate it.
The white Americans that are so intent on preventing others of color from accessing the American way can only be satisfied by an obvious, almost reflexive, “white American!” reaction. They don’t think it’s wrong either, and don’t think it’s good either. In those days I was a kid trying to make a living, when white people were living in our communities, we were talking about getting people to join you. When I saw the police brutality, the killings, and the looting of our streets, my eyes lit up. And we fought back. We fought back. We fought after we weren’t called “racist” (as opposed to having an affirmative action program against black people in our community, and when Black people are asked to commit suicide so as not to bring those same killings to light, we fight back). And we fought back when we were told that if we stopped racism by talking about race, we were already working towards peace and unity with other people. And our victories and struggles continued unabated. It is this sort of “white American” reaction that I am so proud of today, and how that white identity has been “trashed” for many reasons – from race to the Constitution to race to
“Rudy [just] cannot convince U.S. border officials that he is an American and therefore has the right to return to the United States” (Cortes 47); they simply will not hear his claims. All of Rudys encounters with INS officers thus dramatize the exclusion of persons of color from the national community which Lowe and Oboler discuss. Moreover, the negation of Rudys citizenship makes visible the contradictions inherent in white-American nativist logic.
With his wallet at home, Rudy finds himself without identification. Thus, he is without any documentation which can substantiate his claims to citizenship. Without such documentation, his body is all that can be read by the INS officers, whose job it is to regulate who is inside the nation and who should be kept out. Ultimately, Rudy is deported because he is deemed not-American by virtue of his brown body. His English, Dodgers hat, and knowledge of U.S. popular culture (as demonstrated by his knowledge of Death Valley Days and John Wayne) are completely ignored as signifiers of his Americanness. Instead, his brown body is taken as a more important signifier.
Rudy, on the other hand, is literally excluded from the U.S. citizenry because of of his brown body.Once in Mexico Rudy feels himself to be in “a foreign land.” The foreignness of Mexico and Mexicans to Rudy is played out to represent Rudys Americanness. For instance, in the INS van headed to Tijuana, Rudy is an outsider amongst the Mexicans. Unable to speak Spanish, he is ultimately called by one of the Mexicans a “pocho pendejo,” a pejorative reference usually intended to refer to Mexican-Americans who cannot speak Spanish and who, subsequently, are deemed less Mexican. In fact, as he is captured by Border Patrol officers on one of his attempts to cross the border, Rudy proclaims, “Im an American citizen. I dont even speak Spanish.” Whereas “the Spanish language is commonly used as an identifier of Hispanics” (Oboler 12), Marin presents a pocho Rudy to make more obvious Rudys “American” identity. Basically, to present Mexican-Americans as brown Americans, Born on East L.A. plays on Rudys/Mexican-Americans cultural “distance” from Mexico and Mexicans. Edward Simmen posits that Mexicans-Americans physical and cultural distance from Mexico accounts for the uniqueness, if not unrelatablity, of Mexican-Americans when compared to Mexicans in Mexico. He states:
After all, it is difficult to deny the fact that the contemporary Mexican-American, while he may have firm cultural roots in Mexico, is actually only a distant cousin to the Mexicano living in present-day Mexico– a distance that is rapidly increasing with each new generation, with each new educational opportunity offered to and taken by the Mexican-American, and certainly with each mile the Mexican-American moves north from the border. (17)
“I dont belong here in downtown TJ cause I was born in East L.A.” Although of Mexican descent, Rudy is not exactly “Mexican.” Within Mexico and amongst