I am a Mexican-American
woman and I face both immigration and looked as lower class as I continue my
days of living in America. Even though ever since October 5, 1996, my date of
birth, I’ve been a legal citizen of the United States. My parents have also
been legal citizens of the Unites States.
I personally have been
accused and labeled of being an “Alien”, illegal immigrant, due to having
grandparents, friends, and family members who work in the fields. Even though
they obtain their papers they decided to go out and work hard labor underneath
the Salinas Valley sun because they thought earning money per units they
created, was well worth more than getting paid the hour. As in the fields you
don’t get paid per hour, or per days, you get paid per cases of strawberries,
berries, or broccoli you bring in. My family and so forth work very hard, and
harder than those who earn the same pay because of education they received.
However, that gives no one the right to accuse them of being illegal. I
personally deal with this accusation on a daily basis because my mother is
short and tan, and I’m constantly with her. We get stared at and even talked about
because of our skin color whenever we walk into fancy stores. But the crazy
thing is, once we start purchasing these very expensive items we start getting
treated as if we were light skinned. So what the heck?
We Hispanics get labeled
because the color of our skin. We can relate to African American as well. Due
to the fact that we get treated differently than others just based on color and
race. But what people don’t understand is that we Hispanics are hard workers.
Without all those farmers in the fields picking out the crops and fruits, and so
forth, who would pick them and take them to the supermarket where we can
purchase them?
Personally I can say I saw
my mother work the hardest she’s ever worked in her life as I grew up. Due to
the fact that after she realized she was pregnant with the middle child she
went straight to work in the fields till the point she felt she couldn’t work
as hard as the day before. Moreover, seeing this struggle could relate to Alexandra’s
Kollontai’s “Working Woman and Mother”, as the main character was a pregnant
woman. But she wasn’t just an ordinary pregnant woman. Many around her would
advise her to not put in as much work as she did in her work, and to make sure
she didn’t lift heavy items or go to work every day. However, she realized the pregnancy
wasn’t going to stop her from performing her duties. As stated in the story, “Where
have you seen a woman of the working class given special treatment because she
is pregnant?”. And that is the same motto my mother had. Because without her
job and earnings where else could she have gotten the funds to care for a baby?
I deal with issue calmly
because I learned that judgment can’t hurt nor embarrass me. It only persuades me
to do better. Because I think of years ahead, where I’ll be. I see myself as a
Hispanic social worker for the troubled youth who will most likely receive the
same treatment I did while growing up. And I will be the one who will be there
to help them get through that phase because I will be there role model who went
throughout that same phase but didn’t let it affect my future life, and that’s
what I need to let them know to help persuade then to not let judgment get in
the way.
Work Cited
"Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development Timeline History: 1960-1979." DWD History. Web. 09 Mar. 2016. <http://dwd.wisconsin.gov/dwd/dwdhistory/year_pages/1960_1979.htm>. Picture.
Kolmar, Wendy K., and Frances Bartkowski. Feminist Theory: A Reader. Boston:
McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2005. Print.
Hello and welcome to my blog titled, Bereniz The Feministaaa.
My name is Bereniz Retamoza-Edeza and I am a Mexican-American living in Salinas,
California. My blog title is called Bereniz The Feministaaa because ever since
starting college in 2014, I realized women and men weren’t being treated equally,
therefore constantly talking about issue on the daily with fellow classmates,
friend and family I finally got labeled the name feministaaa. As you can see it
is a Spanglish version of feminist, plus it has triple a’s at the end, due to
the fact that I would talk both English and Spanish while arguing or stating
fact about current feminism politics to my audience. Plus, I’d always giving
off long wording, for example if I want to say women, I’d say womennnnn. Get
it? Lol. Anyways, that name got carried with me throughout college and still
till this day, so there you have it. 
