Immigration History

Filed in archive Latin Chat , Latin Culture on November 15, 2006

I've just found a really good blog: Ally
Work. I read about the Very
Brief Primer on Immigration they're writing (so far Part 1 is up) on Vivir Latino, and went to check it out. I was nicely surprised. Perusing the archives, I discovered a very interesting blog, worth reading

Although I don't always agree with their points of view, I think it's a good voice speaking against racism and discrimination, from a most unusual place. Here's what the Ally Work's About Page says:

"Ally Work is a blog dedicated to helping White people fight White Supremacy. What that means, well, we'll find out won't we."

That's something you don't get to see every day. Go see it for yourself!

Now, I have to ask: what does "white" mean? As I've said before, and you can see in my picture, I don't look "Latina". I'm a white girl - Caucasian. But I'm not sure everyone would agree - the US Government, for instance, probably would put "latin" in the "Race" line of my passport, as they did with my mother.

I remember I couldn't believe when she told me, years ago, the man who reviewed the forms she filled in the Airport was angry at her, because she wrote "White Race". "This is not correct!" he said. "You're not white, you're Latin!" In his words was implicit she was trying to lie. I was what, 5 or 6 years old, and I didn't understood.

Today, however, I understand where he was coming from. And that's so sad.