My name is Azazel Pierce, I’m a Native American and Turkish mix born into a family with multiple generations in the united states. I appear close enough to Caucasian to where I don’t frequently face any forms of racism. However, my ethnicity connects me to a people who faced some of the highest levels of racism and foul treatment. My, ancestors were forced to walk thousands of miles to small reservations, where many faced disease, death, and extreme change of life.
In the beginning of “An Open Letter from an Immigrant” the opening statement refers to these people being scrutinized and dehumanized simply because they face hardships in integration and are judged and biased because of their appearance. This is a childish complaint that resembles a child not being chosen to play on a team because they are small or weird. There are people who are literally facing civil wars, slaughter, and extreme poverty, yet they still complain that someone makes a comment on race, or they feel unwelcome and outside of the population.
The writer also makes an outrageous claim that he, a Venezuelan living in the united states, is judged as a middle eastern and faces common scrutiny due to the outpour of Syrian refugees. The idea that a Venezuelan would in any way resemble, sound like, or be mistaken for a middle eastern rather than of Spanish descent is a far stretch. To also say that you are included in a group of over 43 million people who are judged with racial names, is like saying you are Cherokee because somewhere in your heritage there was some small number of Cherokee introduced to your lineage. The reason you feel this was is because you won’t change it, you benefit from the pity, or you put yourself there.
When you explicitly state that these millions of immigrants face, “scrutiny… rejection and hate.” You forget that every immigrant has different reasons for their arrival. Not every immigrant faces these struggles, and definitely not to the level of hate. The only immigrants I would even put to a level close to hate would by Middle Eastern. This is not a racial thing, but because of what is going on. If you know that person or group of people who, let’s say, just moved next to you, but they moved from a city or area where people get killed for money or because of gangs. I’m willing to bet that your first thought isn’t to watch your house for a week. That isn’t to say that they aren’t amazing people who were just from a bad place. The wars and terror occurring from the Middle East require a level of scrutiny. It would be idiotic and simple to just take every person. That is the way terrorists and murderers get into places without question.
You made a statement saying, “I…was in fact an immigrant…I was not born here.” Anyone can become in immigrant, moving from one state to another is in fact immigrating. I get that it isn’t the same as moving from one country to another, but each holds its challenges. Part of my family moved from nice temperate Tennessee to cold mountainous Washington state. They experienced almost completely different culture, strange accents, new food, and the loss of a lot of normal things to them. Now, almost a year later, they have new friends, relationships, and even use some slang they have picked up. I get that there is struggle, but if you take the time and put in the effort, you can find people, even people who share your same struggle. If immigrants focus on how different they are, they will never be a part of anything, but I truly believe that an immigrant who aims to succeed, to relate, and to grow has the same chance as a majority of Americans to build a social, economic, and political relation with this country.
Throughout your article, you constantly refer to being an immigrant from Venezuela, but you remove yourself from pity, because you also say you are an American citizen. You lived in Miami for several years, and found yourself only residing in the Latino-American areas. You geographically only allowed yourself to be a part of the people in just about the same situation as you. Based on that fact there was no way for you to grow as an American, only as a Latino-American. After you traveled to Gainesville you realized you had only involved yourself with Spanish speakers and never had to have the need from clear English, to answer questions about your culture, or typical racial expectations like being able to dance. You can’t blame those around you, because they don’t know. I understand it is tiring to repeat the same answer to the same question countless times, but to say that American treat immigrants with hate then you’ve never felt real hatred. When you say things like this, it does nothing but infuriate those who have never done anything of the sort, because they have had no control over what a handful of people think and do.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alfredo-j-ramirez/an-open-letter-to-immigr...
