Poetry Responses and Journal Entry

Poem 1

Growing up, I remember learning that I was far too similar and much too different

My face was never handsome enough

Even though I was so familiar with it

And I looked just like my father

My classmates in the nicer neighborhoods would say my skin was dirty

My language was never clear enough

Even though I understood them perfectly

And I was the fastest and clearest reader in the class

Everyone would laugh at my accent and ignore me when I stopped

My home was never close enough

Even though I only lived four blocks away

They said that was where the Mexicans lived

And no one ever wanted to come over after school

I learned quickly that my skin made me an outsider, grouped with everyone of the same shade

But despite not fitting in I learned to herald who I was, allowing my differences to guide my decisions

Today I celebrate the fact that I am from a more diverse neighborhood

And I wish that my children will have the opportunity to be different as well

I imagine a world where I wasn’t far too similar and much too different

And I shudder to think who I would be 

Poem 2

Half the battle is learning who the enemy is

Growing up poor and a minority, there was an aura of danger surrounding everything new

People, food and places that looked different from me

Always made me nervous and hesitant

In my younger years, I embraced hate as a weapon of war

I rejected everyone who did not look like me because I thought that they were trying to hurt me

But as I grew older I learned that the real enemy is not those you can see

Rather those who make our decisions and are out of our reach

To defend ourselves and win we must embrace that which we don’t know

We must go out on a limb and gain new perspective

Gain a voice to be heard and make clear decisions

The forgotten and trampled must speak out as one

Journal Entry

In Unsettling America, I chose to focus on a poem that I believed reflected circumstances similar to those that I felt and experienced while growing up. The first poem that I looked at was So Mexicans Are Taking Jobs from Americans, and I chose to enter it beginning from the third stanza. The reason that this particular poem caught my attention was that it immediately reminded me of the discussions that I have had with my family members, both immediate and extended, as well as my friends. In minority communities, and Latin American communities specifically, discussing the realities of everyday life in the United States is something that cannot be avoided. Overwhelmingly, we as united communities and friends understand that there are fundamental differences in the way minorities are treated, and this creates a mindset that guides us in our everyday lives. While most minorities try to live normal lives, it is undeniable that there is an inherent belief we share towards people in power and non-minority groups. This creates permanent and perpetual themes of restlessness, helplessness and inherent angst among minorities that I felt were reflected in this poem. By naming the poem So Mexicans Are Taking Jobs from Americans, I felt that Baca was directly challenging the bigoted and unfounded attitudes of people in power in the U.S. Rather than shying away from the issue or addressing it subtly, Baca chose to confront it head on and address the underlying bias that all people who look at Mexicans with blanket disdain share.

After choosing this poem, I was immediately drawn to the third stanza and chose to enter from there. The reason that I entered here was that I believe the author, Jimmy S. Baca, did an excellent job of capturing the egregious and facetious nature of the argument people present when saying “illegal aliens” are taking jobs from Americans. While there are many different arguments that are weaponized and specifically used against Mexican and Mexican-American communities, this particular argument holds significance because of its ignorant nature. For years, Mexicans have been regularly painted by popular and widespread news media as outlying pieces to the American fabric. An image has been created that paints Mexican people as predators and invading oppressors, rather than the abused scapegoats for the failures of American exceptionalism. 

What Baca is doing with So Mexicans Are Taking Jobs from Americans also goes beyond simply pointing out that the problem exists. Rather, Baca makes it a goal of his to point out the true degree of ignorance present in the argument that Mexicans are job-thieves by actually adopting the role of thief in the poem. He describes scenarios in which a Mexican arrives in the United States, hunts down a random white American and demands their job and possessions, which the American quickly obliges. This type of scenario would be impossible to imagine in the real world, and the reason that Baca is choosing to illustrate it is that he is showing what an actual invasion of job thieves would look like. Baca is adopting the justified rage that exists in all of the accused Mexican communities and condensing it within the boundaries of his poem. He challenges those who continue to push negative images of Mexicans to prove their claims.

The reality of today’s American social and economic makeup is that work by undocumented immigrants exists only because it is demanded. If local, state and federal governments organized themselves and truly enforced the pre-established rules governing undocumented workers, outright refusing to hire then, their only option would be to return to their homelands. Baca tapped into a deep-seated dissatisfaction with treatment these workers receive, and the overall theme of dissatisfaction is clear. It is in the nature of people to be unhappy when they are treated poorly and disrespected, but what Baca shows with this poem is that the Mexican community, as a whole, has been overlooked for several years. They have been undervalued because their voices and opinions have counted for very little, but their rage and unhappiness continues to exist. By challenging non-minorities who falsely accuse Mexicans, Baca is bringing to light the hypocrisy, ignorance and stupidity of the red herring arguments that have dominated the real issues of poor leadership and misdirection in the U.S for several years.