Immigration

Immigration
Name
Institution
Abstract
“I am a banana and proud of it” was written by Choy and explains the causes and effects of migration. Choy explains that his parents migrated to North America to escape the starvation that was in China. But they found a racist community which never welcomed visitors. They faced hostilities such as forced labor and prostitution to survive in the foreign country (Choy, 1987). The author was born in the American nation even if he had Chinese parents. These Americans were racists and usually gave immigrants funny names such as bananas and apples according to their skin color. Choy absorbed the American language and culture because he never got a chance to learn his mother language or his lifestyle. Adichie also migrated to the United States from Nigeria to receive an education. She was born and raised up in Nigeria meaning that she knew her culture well (Adichie, 2009). She explains that learning other people’s culture will only cause misunderstanding because everyone has a different culture. She, therefore, sees the need for everyone to learn their culture just like Choy who states that he still hopes to learn about the foundation of his parents.
Key words: immigrants; racism; foreign citizenship.
Immigration
Choy explains how his parents migrated to American when he was still young. His parents were both Chinese, but he could not speak or write in the Chinese language. The immigration, therefore, made him lose his culture and could not interact with other people from his region.

In North America people used to call him a banana because he had a combination of yellow and white colors. He accepted the name because other immigrants were nicknamed just like him by the locals (Choy, 1987). For example, the native Indians were named apples while the blacks were called Oreo cookies because of their white and black colors. Choy explains that his parents migrated when the Americans never welcomed immigrants. They chose to be called aliens rather than dying of hunger in China. At this period, Chinese were denied citizenship (Kil, 2012). In these days immigrants were turned into slaves who offered cheap labor or even became prostitutes for the locals. However, these people survived the wrong and ugly times because they had no option.
The Americans were racists and never thought that other human beings were equal to them. They despised them and even ordered some to go back to their country (Pinto and Sablik, 2018). The Chinese volunteered to take part in the Canadian and American military which made most of them lose their lives (Holland, 2007). But the hostilities ended after several people rose up against racism and slave trade which caused more people travel overseas. The ultimate sacrifices made by immigrants made by immigrants caused many people revoke exclusion laws (Choy, 1987). The Chinese immigrants were happy and even welcomed their family members to come and stay in America (“Immigration laws,” 2017). Many people are born in foreign countries to take up the culture of the locals and end up behaving like them. Some parents migrate to foreign countries to ensure that their children live a peaceful life. But they forget about the history of their language and their traditional practices.
On the other hand, Adichie explains a story on how she found her real cultural voice. Adichie warns the reader that if he or she hears a story about a country or another person he or she is at the risk of critical misunderstanding (Adichie, 2009). The writing purpose for Adichie was to explain that limited perspective and misunderstanding was a universal challenge but not to rebuke her audience due to lack of acquaintance. In her text, she reveals that she came from a low-income family and even opens the critic of her story (Pinto & Sablik 2018). She tells us that immigration leads to erosion of people’s way of living. She explains her personal experience as a Nigerian in the united states.
Adichie grew in in Africa but went for further studies in America. Just like Choy, she describes how the experience as an immigrant gives us potentially damaging, or incomplete understanding of other individuals. These two writers both moved to other countries for a better life, but all had to learn the American culture. According to the two articles, we need to know what our culture tells us before learning other foreign cultures.
References
Adichie, C. N. (2009). The danger of a single story.
Choy, W. (1987). I’m a Banana and Proud of It’. Toronto Globe and Mail, 18, 20.
Immigration law — local enforcement — massachusetts supreme judicial court holds that local law enforcement lacks authority to detain pursuant to ice detainers. (2017). Harvard Law Review, 131(2), 666-673.
Kil, S. H. (2012). Fearing yellow, imagining white: media analysis of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Social Identities, 18(6), 663-677. doi:10.1080/13504630.2012.708995
Holland, K. M. (2007). A History of Chinese Immigration in the United States and Canada. American Review Of Canadian Studies, 37(2), 150-160.
Pinto, S., & Sablik, T. (2018). Unauthorized Immigration: Evaluating the Effects and Policy Responses. Richmond Fed Economic Briefs, 18(1), 1-8.