2. Do you agree with the deportations of the young men described in the film Sentenced Home [viewed in class on 6/25]? Explain. Show your understanding of the issues brought up in the film and from the readings in your answer.
The film Sentenced Home described three young men caught up in the legal system and is facing deportation to their native homeland, Cambodia for crimes they had committed in their youth. I strongly disagree with the deportation of the three young men in the film because those three young men have been living in the United States of America for most of their lives, and the United States of America is their homeland. For those three young men in the film home does not mean where they are came from, home means where they grew up and lived for most of their lives that is home for them. The film Sentenced Home described the 1996 Immigration Acts, the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act states that “non-citizens are subject to laws that apply no matter how long ago their crime was committed, regardless of time-served, without recourse to judicial review or appeal and without the chance to challenge their deportation based on ties to family or length of time in the U.S., even if they arrived as infants”. The 1996 Immigration Acts do not make any sense at all and it is not fair for those of who had already served their times. All people living in the United States of America are granted the Bill of Rights, which granted the rights of due process. You can not be trail for the same crime twice, so if you have already done you times then simple you can not be charge with the same crime. The 1996 Immigration Acts conflicts with the Bill of Rights which are rights belonged to all the people who live in the United States of America. If the 1996 Immigration Acts only apply to deporting felons who commit severe crimes such as murder, rape, and violent gang members it would be reasonable and few would argue against the Acts. Yet when a minor mistake made years in the past results in permanent deportation and a life sentence to a third world country is unacceptable. I believe that everyone in this world should deserve a second chance, if you made a minor mistake when you were young. Deporting people out of the country from minor mistake from the past is too crucial and unfair for many people who have lived in the United States of America for most of their lives; our world does not only consist the color of black and white, we also have a gray color in reality that is why everyone should be able to have a second chance no matter what mistakes they had made as long as they are willing to make it right and change it. I strongly disagree with the 1996 Immigration Acts, and the deportations of the young men who had made some minor mistakes in the past.
3. What are some of the negative impacts the term model minority has had on the Asian American community? Explain how the model minority stereotype subordinates other people of color and intensifies interethnic conflicts.
The stereotypes of Asian Americans have changed from bucked-toothed, slanted-eyed, and uncivilized to hard working, talented, and mathematic and science brilliant model minority. Asian Americans have over representatives in most of America’s private universities and the Ivy League. Asian Americans are considered as a model minority group because they have been viewed to be more successful comparatively than other minority groups in the United States. Asian Americans being viewed as economically successful racial group in the United States do have negative impacts on other Asian Americans who are not doing so well in the United States. Asian Americans are commonly stereotyped by the public as being excessively studious, materialistic, and passive; this may have impacts on the people who are having learning disabilities. Those people who are lack of the abilities of learning might have been neglected, instead of giving them more attention which they needed. The negative impacts of the model minority are the fact that those positive images of Asian Americans are not always true. Most of the Asian Americans are not able to achieve all that has been claimed by the public, as a result viewed as the model minority for Asian Americans, their problems are often ignored. Another impact on the model minority is the resentment from other minority groups and the main stream Americans. The main stream Americans and the other minority groups feel that the Asian Americans are robbing them in their communities because they are their biggest competition. In addition, the model minority are not getting any benefits from the affirmative actions. The labeling of the Asian Americans as the model minority group has brought much tensions between other minority groups in the United States. Because of the Asian Americans are considered as the model minority which consists of the idea that they are doing successfully in the United States of America and if they can do it then so does the rest of the other minority groups in the United States of America can achieve the same thing. The main steam of the America Society expects that all the people color should or have to follow what Asian Americans because they are the model minority. Not only does the America Society want other minority groups to behave like the Asian Americans, the America Society also demands them. If an Asian American and an other minority people of color goes out and applies for the same job, the Asian American will likely to get the job because the Asian Americans are viewed as the model minority which have the characteristic of hard working, honesty, and obedient. In terms of how other minority groups are being subordinated by the Asian Americans is due to the model minority myth, which consists many of positive aspects of the Asian Americans, and on the other hands the other minority groups in the United States of America are lack of those characteristics from the Asian Americans.
4. Drawing on evidence provided in the readings and class discussions, make a case that Asian immigration to the US will a) continue at a steady rate, b) slow down significantly, or c) halt altogether.
The Asian immigration is the fastest growing racial group in the United States, the rapid increase in the Asian American population was motivated by an immigration act made in the 1965. The Immigration Act of 1965 which ended the national origins quota system; before the 1956 Immigration Act Asians were accounted for about 6 percent of the immigrants in the United States, yet after the Immigration Act of 1965 the Asian immigrants represented about 40 percents of the immigrants in the United States. The 1965 Immigration Act had opened the door for many immigrants from Asia; many of those immigrants were elites and are highly educated people from Asia, as a result of their skills and education they had became very successful in the United States, achieving the American Dream. As those successful stories and people traveled back to Asia, many of the people in Asia want to emigrate to the United States so that they can also have a piece of the good cake of the American Dream. In addition many of the immigrants who happened to have an opportunity to emigrate to the United States have leaved many family members behind. Family reunion is a must for them, and the United States is one of the top developed countries out there in the world, which means that most of the people in third world countries will always want to live in the United States or sees that the United States is an opportunity for them to get out of poverty. I believe that as long as there are immigrants going back to their original homeland and show off how well they are doing in America there will be always a lot of people from Asia will want to come to the United State of America so that they can achieve the American Dream. Therefore I believe that the Asian immigration to the United States will continue at a steady rate due to the factors of successful stories of the Asian Americans in the United States, family reunions, and the fact that the United States is a country where dreams existed and fulfilled.
