Suesue 1

Laina Suesue
Chris Case
History - 1700
December 12, 2017
Immigration Policy and Foreigners

How do we define 2017 America? 2017 America consists of a racially divided country,
that is seriously influencing immigration and foreign policy. America is in the condition that it is
now due to: the election of president Obama, President Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize,
Michael Brown and Ferguson Missouri, President Trumps campaign platform, athlete social
activism, and the immigration policy. I believe that these are important historical events that
lead up to our countrys condition now, and how the immigration policy is dividing this very
country.
President Barack Obama was elected in the year of 2008, he was the first Black African
American President. Which also set a high standard for all minorities. Being a minority myself, I
was pleased to see a man of color in white house. When Barack Obama was elected president he
gave minorities hope. He left a historical mark, that the country will never forget. FIfty years
ago, it was difficult to imagine an African-American to become the President of the United states
of America. It was difficult to imagine because of the racial injustice actions that were taking
place half a century ago. Certain white political leaders would stop at nothing to keep people of
color powerless. When in the 1950s, a former TV executive by the name of E Frederic Morrow
became the first black White House aide not to have a job description that included turning down
beds, polishing shoes or serving drinks with a deferential bow, he was prohibited from ever
being alone in the same room as a white woman.Back then, as Morrow recounted in his memoir,
Black Man in the White House, African-Americans were routinely stereotyped as sexual
predators incapable of controlling their desires.Little more than half a century later, a black man
ran the White House - occupying the Oval Office, sitting at the head of the conference table in
the Situation Room, relaxing with his beautiful young family in the Executive Mansion - a
family that has brought such grace and glamour to America's sleepy capital that it is possible to
speak of a Black Camelot. (Barack Obama Legacy). And in the year of 2009, he won the Nobel
Peace Prize.
What does Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize have anything to do with shaping our
country today? Well, the reason Obama was given the award is because he sat down with two
men and caused peace. He apparently stopped a racial war before it happened. Harvard
professor and noted African American scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. was arrested at his home in
Cambridge, Mass., spawning an acrimonious national debate about racial profiling. A few days
later, Obama, for the first time in his presidency, stumbled into a race debate from which his
image as a racial healer has never recovered. (Barack Obamas Legacy). They were soon to call
president Obama a racial healer, because he was able to sit with two men of different ethnic
backgrounds and understand both sides of their stories. The country was furious about the arrest
 Suesue 2

made due to racial profiling, and this incident was another reminder that our country has not
healed its prejudice wounds. Which leads to my third historical event Michael Brown and
Ferguson Missouri, which took place in the year 2014.
Racial Profiling seeps over into the case of Michael Brown, who was an unarmed
teenager who was shot dead by Darren Wilson. Darren Wilson was the officer that was found
innocent by the jury which soon led to buildings in Ferguson Missouri being caught on fire. As
the night wore on, the situation grew more intense. Buildings were set on fire, and looting was
reported in several businesses. (The New York Times). The reason why this is so crucial to the
immigration policy is that you begin to see the same divide between minorities, and caucasian
people that will only get worse as time passes by. As chaos continues, professional athletes
began to see the heartbreaking changes in our country and felt the need to speak up.
Colin Kaepernick is now famously known for kneeling during the national anthem. He
explains through interviews his reasoning for kneeling is because he does not believe in standing
for a country who is okay with the injustice acts taken upon african-americans, and minorities. In
the year of 2016, he chose to sit, to protest police brutality. Colin the Saturday before our next
game to discuss how I could get involved with the cause but also how we could make a more
powerful and positive impact on the social justice movement. We spoke at length about many of
the issues that face our community, including systemic oppression against people of color, police
brutality and the criminal justice system. We also discussed how we could use our platform,
provided to us by being professional athletes in the N.F.L., to speak for those who are voiceless.
(New York Times). This soon became a massive problem with our present day president, Donald
Trump. Who is in fact, disliked by many minorities because of the injustice acts like the
immigration policy he has caused.
January of 2017, Donald Trump became president of the United States. And since he has
become president. He has enforced the immigration policy. He first enforced the travel ban
which restrictions with eight different countries such as: Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea,
Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen. Although federal courts have haltered Trumps travel
ban, he was still able to remove the DACA program. The Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals allowed immigrant children who were raised in the United States but born of a different
country access to the education here in the U.S. and the provide jobs for them. But now that the
program is ending, all of the DACA applicants have to be sent back to their homelands and leave
their families that they started here in America.
Immigration is segregating our nation because it is categorizing those of being born into a
culture they did not choose to be born of, and separating them because of who they are. When
you are forcing hard-working immigrants out of the country, you are not only losing passionate
immigrants who belong in America, but you also take away the meaning of a fresh start. And
that is what America is able to provide, a fresh start.

References
 Suesue 3

How One Scholar's Arrest Tainted the President's Image as a Racial Healer. The
Washington Post, WP Company, 22 Apr. 2016,
www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/obama-legacy/henry-louis-gates-jr-
arrest-controversy.html.
What Happened in Ferguson? The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Aug.
2014, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/ferguson-missouri-town-under-
siege-after-police-shooting.html.
Amadeo, Kimberly. How Do Trump's Immigration Plans Affect You? The Balance, 10
Aug. 2015, www.thebalance.com/donald-trump-immigration-impact-on-economy-
4151107.

Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). USCIS,

www.uscis.gov/archive/consideration-deferred-action-childhood-arrivals-daca.

Reflection
These events have shaped my perception about the world I live in tremendously. I say
this because I am a minority myself. And I come from a family who has worked hard for
everything that we have, I love that we are able to praise God so freely. I see and feel the racial
events on a personal level because of my skin color, I too have called names because of my skin
color. When I was in first grade, I was told that the color of my skin was ugly. And I felt
ashamed of being brown, because of that one incident. I remember feeling angry towards my
mother, because I honestly thought it was her fault I had ugly brown skin. I feel others dont see
me as a someone who is able to obtain a high level of education because to them I am just
another brown girl who would not mind settling to be average. These events relate to me on a
deeper level of understatement because I know the struggles to be a minority and all the
stereotypes that come with it. When Trump passed the immigration law, I came to know too
many families that came to be without a father, or a mother. I came to a deeper understanding of
my own when my close friend Karlos was deported back to Mexico, when he too was only
seeking for a better life here in America. What I mean to say, is that when I do have kids, what
will this country become of? Will it change for better, or the worse? Because in my opinion,
 Suesue 4

America is falling apart by the second. There is no other course that I can relate with this
History Course.