College Days: Freedom, The American Dream and Immigrants

The word freedom is defined by Webster’s dictionary as “the quality or state of being free”: independence, self government, the ability or capacity to act without undue restraint or hindrance. (Merrian-Webster, 434) The question of whether America is the land of the free is something that resounds as a common question, not only to immigrants but to American born citizens. Our founding fathers proclaimed this to be a free nation and yet there was slavery; it appears that America was only free for some but not all. In addition to slavery, why was America permitting the practice of racial purity or Eugenics pre WWII? After all, America was founded and is comprised of immigrants from all around the world.  How can a nation that consists of immigrants be prejudice?  In actuality, there really is no such thing as a “pure” American. Essentially, the word freedom has no “correct” conception; rather it is subjective for each individual. Freedom, therefore, is left to an individual to determine what it is and how it can be distributed. This is clearly depicted with slavery, eugenics and with current immigrants. This subjective interpretation has given people the opportunity to put themselves above others to which they consider to be “less” than themselves. For an immigrant coming to America, they would be looked down upon as the lowest members of a society.

            The American Dream is the chance for a better life filled with opportunity and the freedom to make decisions necessary to achieve these goals. In addition, monetary wealth and possessions would follow these goals. These ideas provided an incentive for numerous amounts of immigrants to flood American borders begging for their chance for success and happiness.

            In the beginning, immigrants come to America seeking the “American dream”, however, often times they do not find the promise and the hope of this so called “better life”. Instead, the life of an immigrant consists of hard work and very little rewards. They are forced to live in slums, take lower paying jobs, face discrimination, perform illegal acts to make enough money to survive and have few rights. Often times, these immigrants dream of the home and country they left behind, due to the erosion in quality of life. The only life they now know is back breaking work.  According Junot Diaz, in his book Drown there is a very grim outlook for immigrants coming to America to achieve freedom and the “American dream”. However, if these immigrants can stand the test of time and endure a tremendous amount of disappointments and hardships they may be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

            The simple principles in which the US government was founded on was created to protect the rights, liberties, and property of its citizens. This meant creating the least coercive government in the history of the world. (Paul, 2006) However, the implementation of democracy or majoritarianism into our governmental system is inherently incompatible with real freedom. (Paul, 2005)  The reason democracy does not equate for “real freedom” is that the majority vote takes precedence even over those who oppose. “John Adams argued that democracies merely grant revocable rights to citizens depending on the whims of the masses.” (Paul, 2005) Some philosophers such as, Ayn Rand, believe that in order for a nation to have freedom for the majority the government needs to take freedoms away from others. (Paul, 2005)

In the case of slavery, in particular, the social and economic status of an individual would be based on the color of the skin. (PBS Online, 2006) The color of your skin would ultimately decide whether a person would live as a free citizen or be enslaved for life. (PBS Online, 2006) Since the late seventeen hundreds, when immigrants came to America they brought along with them slaves or they were imported from Africa. They were needed to conduct the menial and heavy labor for a newly developing nation. A nation founded on freedom even in the seventeen hundreds was not free for all.

             In addition, the first three decades of the 20th Century eugenics, a pseudoscience, institutionalized race politics as national policy. “The goal was to create a superior, white race and obliterate the viability of everyone else.” (Black, 2006) By identifying what they called “defective” family trees, which consisted of: poor people, brown- haired, Africans, immigrants, Indians, Jewish people, the infirm and anyone who was on the outskirts of the “superior” white race. (Black, 2006) After identifying these “defective” qualities in an individual, they were separated from the general population and coercively sterilized. Ultimately, 60,000 Americans were sterilized and only later did they learn the truth of why this had happened to them. (Black, 2006) In addition, many highly influential Americans lent their support for eugenics such as the president of the United States, highly prestigious universities and prominent scientists.  Their support and published research ended up aiding Hitler to create his “mater Aryan race” free of the Jewish people. Even in the twentieth century, America was not truly free for all of its citizens.

Where there stands a democracy freedom for one will not necessarily equate freedom for all, especially, if everyone is in agreement with the practices of slavery and eugenics. Essentially, the word “freedom is what scientists call a “contested concept”, which means there will always be distinct versions of freedom that are inconsistent with one another.” (Lakoff, 2006) The conception of freedom is subjective, which thereby gives an individual the ability to use it as he or she sees fit. The subjective interpretation, can allow for one person to put themselves above another, as seen in slavery. Not only were slaves looked upon unfavorably, but also immigrants as seen in eugenics and recent times, as described by Junot Diaz. When they come to America they are looked upon as “different” the color of their skin is not the same, they speak a different language, differing religious practices, carry diseases and sometimes are uneducated.

The United States was built upon the idea that through hard work, courage, and determination one could achieve a better life; a life that would be richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity according to ability or achievement without limitation. “This is not a dream of motor cars and high wages, merely, but a dream of social order in which each man or woman shall be able to attain the fullest stature of which they are innately capable and recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth position.” (Adams, 214-215) This type of allure has attracted many immigrants because they were able to achieve all the things their native countries would not offer them. In fact, most immigrants have come to America primarily to flee from war, irrepressible dictators, and merely the escape from persecution. Immigrants usually come with high hopes of attaining great wealth, stable jobs, attaining the promise of a better life and even becoming a land owner.

“He didn’t dream of his familia and wouldn’t for many years. He dreamed instead of gold coins, like the ones that had been salvaged from the many wrecks about our island, stacked high a sugar cane.” (Diaz, 169)

“He was Amazed at the streets unblocked by sewage and the orderliness of the cars and houses. He was impressed with the transplanted Latinas, who had been transformed by good diets and beauty products unimagined back home.” (Diaz, 171)

Instead, immigrants are subjected to living in a slum, low paying jobs, racial discrimination, many perform illegal acts to make enough money to survive, and few freedoms. All they are left with is the illusion of the so called “American dream”, which leaves many immigrants feeling like they made a huge mistake coming to the US. Their quality of life is dramatically reduced due to grueling work schedules. The only life they know is back breaking work with few rewards.

“The first year he worked nineteen- twenty-hour days, seven days a week” (Diaz, 177)

The question of whether and immigrant is legal or illegal also plays an important role in a particular community and how well they will thrive. For example, police officers who are suppose to protect and ensure safety of the people end up taking advantage of the unfortunate, illegal immigrants by beating them and stealing their money. The reason these crimes go unpunished is caused by unwanted attention of governmental officials, which may lead to the discovery that they are in the country illegally. Ultimately, it could land them in jail or they will get deported.

“He had heard plenty of tales about the North American police from other illegals, how they liked to beat you before they turned you over to the la migra and how sometimes they just took your money and tossed you out toothless on an abandoned road.” (Diaz, 175)

“His visa expired five weeks earlier and if caught, he’d go home in chains.” (Diaz, 175)

It is much easier to be a legal immigrant as opposed to illegal because the legal immigrant is at least protected by the government. In fact, an illegal immigrant will do just about anything to become an American citizen even marry someone even though they have a wife back in their native country.

“Getting legal would place his hand firmly on the rung.” (Diaz, 179) “A friend of his put him in touch with… el General… look here friend… you pay me fifty bills and I will bring you a women that’s interested. Whatever the two of you decide is up to you. All I care is that I get paid and that the women I bring are for real.” (Diaz, 178)

One of the first major sources of negativity an immigrant faces is racial discrimination. They are called names, pointed or laughed at, accents are made fun of, they are automatically suspected or accused of crimes, beaten by law officials, face hostility and given the undesirable jobs etc. These last two points I wish to draw attention to, the undesirable jobs are forced upon many immigrants because they have to work in order to survive and their employers and fellow employees also know this fact. Many times, these immigrants are ill treated and over worked and nothing is usually done about it.

“The racism was pronounced….the whites were always dumping their bad shifts on him and his friend…. Guess what they’d say… I need a little time off with my kids this week… I know you wouldn’t mind taking this or that day for me.” (Diaz, 194)

In regards to the delivery business “We’ve had our share of delivery trouble. Trucks break down. Customers move and leave you with an empty house. Handguns get pointed.” (Diaz, 131)

The mental state of an immigrant working in these conditions can vary depending upon the person. Some people may give up and go back home, others may fight through it and get angry, frustrated, depressed or may turn to into a substance abuser.

 “He often drank too much and went to his room, and there he would fume, spinning, angry at the stupidity that had brought him to this freezing hell of a country… angry at the blinkered existence his job and the city imposed on him.” (Diaz, 179)

 There seems to be a struggle against integration of immigrants into American society because not only do the American born citizens want to be treated superiorly but they have an affinity to their own social culture. This affinity to one’s social culture wants to resist being watered down by the influx of immigrants. They want immigrants to immediately adapt to the American way of life by learning the language and forsaking their cultural rituals or customs.  There is a fundamental tendency for humans to cling their own kind because America was founded on ideas and not blood ties. (Whiteside, 2006) This seems to be a defining reason that many of the immigrants struggle profoundly upon coming to what they perceive as the “land of promise.”

“Maybe you make good, maybe you don’t. That’s the way it is. They built these barrios out of bad luck and you got to get use to that.” (Diaz, 179)

On the other hand, one must truly feel for these immigrants, as many of them are risking their lives and everything they own to come to this country to escape the terrors of their own, such as destitution and starvation.
      Thus far I have painted a grim picture of an immigrant’s life upon coming to America, but this does not necessarily have to be the case. With much hard work, the refusal to give up and the right friends one can succeed and achieve the American dream. Take for instance a character name Jo Jo. He was able to through hard work and unrelenting, visionary spirit to become part owner in a local thriving grocery store. With this ownership came great prosperity for which he wanted to share with his friend.

“Jo Jo owned two hot dog carts and co-owned a grocery store that was very prosperous. It had once been a tired place rotting wood and cracked tiles… that was rebuilt… while driving a taxi and working as a translator and letter writer for a local patron.” ( Diaz, 189)

“Jo Jo told Papi, you need to use things to your advantage…. Save money and buy yourself a little business. I’ll sell you one of my hotdog carts cheep if you want. You can see they’re making steady plata. Then get your familia over here and buy yourself a nice house and start branching out. That’s the American way.” (Diaz, 190)

However, Papi did not want to take Jo Jo’s offer because it would require him to start at the low end of a totem poll. Often times we get an idea in our head of what something is to be like but when you get there you find that sometimes you have to change your perspective. In this story, the changing of one’s perspective can be disheartening and seemingly humiliating.

 “Papi wanted a negocio of his own, that was his dream, but he balked at starting at the bottom, selling hot dogs. While most of the men around him were two times broke, he had seen a few, fresh off the boat, shake the water from their backs and jump right into the lowest branches of the American establishment. That was what he envisioned for himself, not some slow upward crawl through the mud.” (Diaz, 191)

Even though an immigrant faces many obstacles if he or she truly wants to succeed in their new home it is possible. It will take much hard work, dedication and a lot of self-sacrifice to attain. In addition, it may take a resourceful person to create opportunities, as Jo Jo demonstrated.

Although, America promises to be the land of the free; it will never be completely free primarily due to the governmental structure of democracy or majoritarianism. However, American citizens and immigrants alike can come much closer to “real freedom” by stopping racial discrimination. Unfortunately, America still has a long way to go in order to achieve this goal. As history has shown through slavery and eugenics, more work needs to be done to stop discrimination not only for American citizens, in particular African Americans, but also for the immigrants who migrate here. In addition, Diaz points out that the situation in recent times has not improved much. One would like to believe that America as a nation has learned from past mistakes, however, this is not entirely the case or racial discrimination would cease to exist altogether. This has a profound effect on the immigrants who come to America seeking the “American dream” many are not able to achieve the promise of a better life. Instead they find the illusion of what they once thought and end up working unbelievably long hours, they are mistreated, taken advantage of and find little reward along the way. Unfortunately, today the American dream places a lot of emphasis on monetary possession – the more you have seems to be equated with the successful attainment of the dream. However, if one carefully looks at the original philosophy for which the American dream was based on,  equal opportunity and hard work. It is sadly concluded that the original intent is no longer intact, which makes it easy to see why so many immigrants get discouraged with their level of success in their new home.

On a more positive note, there are rare cases where an immigrant will thrive no matter what it takes. A perfect example was Jo Jo, he started from the bottom and worked his way up. Once he achieved his goal he began to help others to see that they too could get the taste of success. In fact, I think he is a great example of how we should help those who are in need and may need a little direction in achieving their dreams. By helping others in this manner, Americans may be able to preserve the true meaning of the American dream.

Works Sited:

1) Adams JT. 2001.The epic of America. Arizona:  Simon Publications; 214-15 p.

2) {Anomonous} 1999. African in America Narrative. WGBH Educational Foundation (see original): http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/narrative.html (July 13, 2006)

3) Black, E. 2006. Eugenics and America’s Campaign to Create a Mater Race: War Against the Weak. Edwin Black (see original): http://www.waragainsttheweak.com/ (July 13, 2006)

4) Diaz J. 1996. Drown . New York: The Berkley Publishing Group; 163-193 p.

5) Lakoff G. International Herald Tribune. 2006. Divided America: Reclaim the meaning of ‘freedom’.The international Herald Tribune (see original): http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/07/opinion/edlaokoff.php (July 7, 2006)

6) Merrian-Webster. 2006. Webster’s Dictionary .New York: The Berkley Publishing Group; 434 p.

7) Paul R. Texas Straight Talk, A weekly column. 2005. What does Freedom Really Mean?. Texas: Straight Talk (see original): http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2005/tst020705.htm (July 5, 2006)