Takaki CH. 7: Foreigners in Their Native Land

In Chapter 7 of Takaki, he discusses the control that the Mexicans had over California. The Mexicans were the first to find California, where they were able to build up their own sort of lifestyle there. Very few Americans lived in California at this time. “Initially, Mexicans in California… welcomed foreigners from the United States (170). Eventually, problems soon developed. Americans were coming to California for the wealth and land ownership. They weren’t trying to “fit in;” instead they wanted to transform the territory into their own image” (171). “The Bear Flag Republic” was established when Americans tried to gain control over California from the Mexicans. The Mexican-American war took place in Texas and began due to the American “invasion” of the Mexicans in California. The immigration of Americans into Texas became an illegal act, yet it still happened. Many of them were slaveholders. In 1830, the Mexican government outlawed the institution of slavery and prohibited further immigration into Texas (173). The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo states that the United States handed Mexico $15 million for nearly one half of Mexico’s territory (at that time). This treaty gave the Mexicans the option to either stay or move to Mexico. During this time, many of the Mexicans that stayed felt alienated. They felt that the Americans hated them. “They had become foreigners in their own land” (178). Even though the constitution stated that if the Mexicans stayed, they would be “guaranteed the employment of all the rights of citizens of the United States,” (177) they were still treated unfairly. No division was made between Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. The people of Mexican-American decent were plainly considered to be Mexican. Work conditions were different as well. “Anglo workers operated the machines while the Mexican minors did the manual and dangerous work” (186). The same amount of work was done, but the pay was significantly different.

While reading this chapter, I felt bad for the Mexicans because of the treatment they received. It was obvious that they were in California first, but the Americans didn’t take that into consideration. They made the land their own without any understanding of what the Mexicans would have to go through. Their work was unfair, as well as their pay. This chapter relates to a lot of the course material we’ve discussed through out the semester. It shows the unfair treatment the Americans give to other races, which makes Americans look bad.

Facebook Analysis - King Arthur Burt

Looking at Facebook, I came across the page of ‘King Arthur Burt.’ By looking at his profile picture, I could see that he is an African American male. In his picture, he is bending down low in front of a black SUV, holding an intimidating look on his face. His profile shows him to be heterosexual. He has numerous “favorite quotes” listed on his profile page which are song lyrics by artist such as Jay Z and P. Diddy. Both of these artists are African American as well and rap in the music industry. He seems to be strongly involved with his fraternity which looks as if mostly African Americans are involved in it. On his “wall” where people post comments for him, it was filled with comments from only African American men and women. One person wrote, “CALL ME SO WE CAN KICK IT IN THE D!!!” From personal knowledge and by looking at where King Arthur Burt is from, I can conclude that “The D” means Detroit. Another person (who was also African American) used the ‘N’ word on his wall.

Most of the pieces of King Arthur Burt’s profile are commonly stereotyped with African Americans. If I would have covered up his profile picture, it would have been easy for me to judge that he is of African American decent. His most recent wall posts are all by African Americans, which shows the race of some of his friends, especially because one person actually called him the ‘N’ word. I know that this word is not an okay word to use unless it is said by and African American to an African American.