The first chapter of George Borjas’s book brings up a lot of topics. He touches on ideas of his own personal immigration and the reactions of Americans when the topic of immigration is brought up. It is interesting to see someone’s life story of being an immigrant into a country that has a reputation of being a melting pot, but to see how his interactions with the topic show something very different.
Borjas talks about how he was brought up in his early years in Havana. He witnessed the Cuban rebellion and did not seek refuge with his family right away. His father was sick during this time, so they had to endure the hardships that were given to them in Cuba. His school was shut down and the ‘crazy-eyed’ people were the ones teaching them about what was politically happening in their world. His stories bring a new light into why people leave their homelands to seek refuge in another. He came to the USA in the 60’s when he was only twelve years old, after his father had died. As a young teen he was excited to see what the US had to offer him for a new life. Yet he later found out it wasn’t all movie stars and money that awaited him.
The early parts of this book showed me a different side to the immigration argument. I always knew that people objected immigrants and claimed that they were stealing our jobs, but Borjas actually found they were helping America. These immigrants that we are trying to run out of the country are rising our national wealth and are actually making us a more productive country. They are taking the jobs that no one wants because Americans believe they are better than those jobs. The immigrant community is our working class. If we didn’t have this working class the economy would crumble, because everything would be outsourced to other countries. I found it very interesting how we are deliberately ignoring as a country that these immigrants are our backbone.
2 replies on “ERA, We Wanted Workers Chapter 1”
Sophie, your viewpoint to the fact that” immigrants are the backbone of our country” couldn’t be a stronger statement. Realizing that they are not given the credit they deserve it raises other issues, such as minimum wage. Even though this topic is very sensitive and can create many arguments, America should take notice that immigrants help our economy and give us the privileges that we have.
Sophie, I completely agree with your reflection of the first chapter of Who Wanted Workers by George J. Borjas. This was an interesting way to start his book to say the least, but I completely agree, I was moved after I read it. Taking us with him, back to his early childhood in Cuba and talking about what he was forced to leave in order to escape and seek refuge in a new country. This chapter alone says so much about how we initially judge the immigrants that come to our country without looking what they had gone through just to get a chance of breathing American air.
I also agree with Emily on the importance of your quote from the book, “immigrants are the backbone of our country” this is important because it is really how America got its start as a society. Without the involvement of immigrants from other societies coming to America to seek refuge, we would not have the diverse America that we have today. The importance of having people from all different walks of life entering our society and making an impact would be over looked if it was not for our robust past involving immigrants.