Blog 3 Japanese and Mexicans

The Mexican and Japanese were very different but in some ways exactly the same. Everyone that came to the United States at least in the lower classes had very similar goals that they wanted to accomplish. They wanted to make money and make a decent living doing so because life in their old country had few opportunities to keep themselves alive, employed and out of debt. The Mexicans were really going through some major economic problems as a whole in the early 1900’s and there was the Mexican Revolution going on during this time so people wanted to get out of Mexico and the economy is still why they want to get out today. The Japanese were having the economic problems of their own because they could not pay their taxes and they were stalked with hunger. These two groups needed to get out of their situation and go to a place to start over which was in the United States. Little did they both know that they were both going to be treated as lower class even if they had an education or not.

The book was talking about the rush of Mexicans coming to the US in rapid numbers because jobs were scarce in Mexico. These people came with the big sombreros on their head and they felt that they had pride for being a mexican. They filled up the streets and trains to get here because they had an opportunity. They located in the southwestern part of the United States which is where many Japanese people located. In Mexico there still are very few job opportunities because of the dense population. When the Mexicans reproduce they really reproduce which is why Mexico has such a high population. In the book it said the avg. American had 3 children while the avg. Mexican had 9. This is a huge jump in population to the United States and because of this happening the Americans needed to control the number of Mexicans that came to the US. The Mexicans were very important and still are very important to this day in age to the United States because they do many jobs that most of us do not want to do. The Mexican Americans helped build the United States International Railroad and connected the US railroad 900 miles south into Mexico. Mexicans did work on a wide range of job whether it was on a farm, railroad, hotel waiters, elevator man, or pouring asphalt. The Mexicans were very proud of who they were and built a strong community around themselves. They felt safe in their community even though it was a slum but everyone came from the same place and did not need much to be happy. This reminds me a lot of my heritage as well. No they were no Mexican but they never had a whole lot could maybe have been lower class but did not even know it. The families were united and neighbors would help eachother out because that built community and happiness. Your friends were your neighbors and when you have that feeling you can feel safe at night when you sleep. Unlike now in cities everyone has the ADT protection but where I live today people are still close and do not even lock the doors when they sleep because they feel safe.

The Japanese Americans were coming during this same time frame as the Mexican and they both believed that America was a land of opportunity. The Japanese came over with their families and some came as “picture brides” which where women who had a picture and a marriage license with someone in America and never met them before. Many Japanese Americans would come to start the American family farm which was much larger than the one that they had in Japan. The one in Japan usually had around 2 and half acres unlike the ones in America which could be in 40 acre plots. In Hawaii there was a big request for Japanese labor which in the book they had a receipt where a company was ordering bonemeal, canvas and Japanese labor. I found that very interesting that a company would order people as a product that they needed. But just as the Japanese were really needed in Hawaii the Mexicans where needed every in the south such as Texas to help with the crops. There were so many acres in Texas and Mexicans needed to be of assistance since many of the black labor wanted to move to the northern part of the United States.

Both the Mexicans and the Japanese had very low paying jobs. That would really stink because many of the Japanese were educated through high school and many into college. They were very smart individuals but where discriminated against so they never were able to get a real opportunity to work in a better condition. The Mexicans on the other hand thought that education would help them fit in to the society as well but Americans kept saying that why do the Mexicans need to know how to do anything. The discrimination was defiantly there and it still is today. These groups were assimulated into doing the things that they would be good at which was the farming and harder physical work. They were a lower class citizen to the English and were paid that way as well. The Japanese were paid 18.00 while the Portugues did the same work and got paid 22.50 This was just a way the Japanese and mexicans were treated because they where the lower class because they were not white.

There were some differences between the Mexicans and Japanese though. One was in the education. In the 1900 Japan believed that women should be educated alongside of the boys which gave them an advantage compared to most women that where reaching the United States. Unlike the Mexicans, many people including men and women where hardly educated at all. Also Japanese people also did not have the accessibility to come back to their homeland to see their family like the Mexicans could. Japanese were not likely to ever go back or if they would it would be at least 20 years. The Mexican Americans really had a different advantage when it came to migrating to “El Norte” as the book called it because the border between Mexico and the United States were touching. The border was pretty much nonexistent in the 1800 and early 1900’s because people were still locating yet across America. Illegal Mexican Americans could come to America and leave as they wished. Today that is really not the case. It is heavily bordered by 18,000 boarder patrollers and large fencing around some cities.

That is some similarities and differences that I have noticed about the Mexican and the Japanese Americans. Overall I think all of the groups that we read about this week had a mission when coming to America. They wanted an opportunity to succeed in a better life than what they were in before. They also came for money and a new beginning to start a family in a better place.

I hope this is what I needed to do for this blog because it was a hard one to start and come up with. On top of that we have that family heritage paper due next Friday.