Reflection

I enrolled in this course because it would fulfill one of my general education requirements and I was also interested in learning about race, labor, and migration. I came into this class not knowing much about these topics. I knew that African Americans had been enslaved and that there are currently about 11 million undocumented immigrants in America.
I was never too sure why Africans had been unwillingly shackled and shipped to America. However, from this class I learned that it was all about increasing the profits of the capitalist. I also learned that the African slaves were seen as labor units and not as humans. I was surprised by the Scottsboro verdict because the lady who was "raped," claimed that she in fact, had not been raped. I believe the reason why the young men were still found guilty is because the jury was explicitly white and had racist ideologies.
As I child growing up in the Central Valley of California, I noticed that most of my Hispanic peers worked picking crops in the fields. I also noticed how many of my friend's mothers, including mine, worked as custodians. I was too young to question why the majority of people who did those jobs were Hispanic. When I read the chapters by Mae Ngai, I learned that field labor had been racialized. The chapter taught me that the United States created the Bracero program in 1942, which imported Mexicano field laborers. At the time, it was said that the braceros were contracted because there was a labor shortage. However, the importation of Mexicanos continued even after the war ended, which shows that braceros were being used to create a surplus of laborers. Therefore, being utilized in order to reduce wages. I was also outraged to find out that braceros were used as "scabs" to end strikes. Most of the people who worked in the fields during the mid twentieth century were Filipino and Mexican. Not much has changed since. In Mendota, my hometown, my Latino peers continue to toil under the blazing California sun for a minimum of about 9 hours a day. From reading the article by Evelyn Glenn, I learned why many Hispanic woman work as custodians. White elites created separate schools for young girls of color, which taught them to become custodians in white households. From the Marx readings, I learned that field laborers and custodians are paid low wages so that the capitalist can maintain their immense profits. Laborers are only paid enough to reproduce their labor for another tough day of toiling in the fields.
This class also taught me that Hispanics and African Americans have not been the only ones to be oppressed in America. I learned that Filipino field laborers were greatly resented in the United States. Mobs of white men use to show up to their barracks and burn them down.
I've learned that solidarity among the working class is of great importance. Workers of all colors must come together and unite in order to make demands for better working conditions and wages. There is strength in numbers and if we fight against each other we will never meet our demands.
It pains me to know that my mother's hands are discolored and full of calluses because the United States has worked to keep people of color from obtaining less difficult jobs. I hope that some day people of color will no longer be marginalized in the United States.