People migrate to different countries for many different reasons, for Kim an opportunity for better life is was what brought her to United States of America. Kim migrated over from Kingston, Jamaica to the U.S. over 14 years ago at the age of 37. Having already had family living in the U.S., Kim came in hopes of finding an easier life with better opportunities for her and her three children. In this paper I will discuss the positive and negative sides to immigration that Kim experienced here in America. Sacrifice for her meant leaving behind what was familiar for a life in America that would not be free of struggles. Kim had to overcome obstacles when assimilating to the American culture, her children lost their original Jamaican culturally identity, and she came to see that obtaining citizenship was not an easy process for immigrants of the Jamaican culture.
Assimilation to the American Culture
Most immigrants experience culture shock when moving from their homelands to the United States. They leave behind what is familiar and must go through the inevitable assimilation process as they try to participate and grow accustomed to a whole new culture and way of life. Individuals can experience both physical and psychological symptoms of culture shock (Jandt, 2013). In Jamaica, the main language is English, this similarity made assimilation easier for Kim. Although Kim did not experience a huge culture shock, she had to learn to overcome internal fears of prejudice, stereotyping and possible judgement being passed on her and her three children due to their cultural differences. According to Ruby Cain, the assistant professor of Adult & Community Education at Ball State University, “The cultural landscape of communities is constantly changing (Cain, 2012). As an immigrant, Kim must become culturally adapted to her new community and adopt and learn the norms and values of the American culture (Jandt, 2013).Upon arrival to the U. S., on drive back to her sister’s house form the airport, Kim instantly began to realize that she was very misinformed about life in New York City. Kim imagined that she was moving to grand new place. Her family members who immigrated before her came back on visits bragging about the Big Apple to her; they told her that people were fined for spitting on the streets and for throwing their trash on the streets. To her surprise, she quickly learned that the roads were quite bumpy due to having numerous pot holes and that the city reeked from the stench of garbage bags piled high in mountains throughout the streets.
Kim began to discover that “Big Apple” was not the dreamland she envisioned it to be. She has to overcome resenting the uncleanliness in New York City. She resented going to the laundry mat and washing her families clothing in the same washers that others washed their filthy laundry in, she missed washing her clothes by hand in her own home because at least there she knew their clothing was not being cleaned in an unclean environment. She also had to get used to the cold. Although she loved experiencing snow for the first time, she grew to hate the cold weather. She spent her entire life in a warm climate which was never cold and needed no heating, snow would be the one thing she could never grow to love.
Psychologically, Kim had to overcome her timidity in speaking to Caucasian Americans. She was afraid of being mocked due to rumors she heard in which Jamaicans were made fun of due to their accents when speaking their Native language Patios (broken English). Due to this fear, she always reminded her children to speak properly when in Public and to keep their PATOIS (broken English) for the home discussions only. Although, we tend to think we live in a post-race era, “Unfortunately, the continued validity of racial, ethnic, cultural, and religious identities, particularly as they impinge upon human communications, is underlined by the real but imperceptible ways in which they are brought to bear in the judgement that people make about each other” (Hirji & Karim, 2009). In a research study discussed by Hall (2010), it was found that cultural adaption triggers a crisis in identity formation and that there are issues with the willingness of the host society (the U.S. in the case) to receiving the immigrants. Kim had to overcome her fears of not being accepted into the American culture.
Memories of the Homeland
Looking back, Kim can remember her school days in Jamaica all the way back to age three. In Jamaica, children begin school as soon as they are potty trained. At the young age of three that are enrolled in school and lessons teaching them to read, count and spell begin. In America, children are not enrolled in school until the age of give; so Jamaican’s are introduced to education at toddler age. Kim has fond memories of the school house she was taught at when she was a child. The school house resembled a house and was located just across the street. She recalls a truck that would come and pass out frozen chocolate milk treats called, “Ovaltine”. This fond memory is one that stands out to Kim because they were tasty treats that she truly enjoyed.
Opportunity for a Brighter Future
As with most mothers, Kim wanted her children to have the opportunities for higher education so that they would never have to struggle the way she did. In Jamaica, every aspect of education costs money. Kim stated, unlike in the U.S., there is no free bus transportation, no free meals, no free books, they are required to wear uniforms which parents must purchase, and they must pay tuition in order for their children to be educated. Due to overcrowding, school days had two shifts: one in the morning and one in the late afternoon. The only help parents found was that they could pass the books on to younger children to save money or purchase used books from neighbors in cases which parents only had one child. Contrarily, in the United States, education up through senior year of high school is free to the public. For this reason, Kim constantly reminded and encouraged all three of her children to take advantage of this free opportunity that they were blessed with. All of her children followed her command and all graduated as honor students.
Education in Jamaica is very costly. One survey discussed in the MPI, found that approximately 7 percent of all Jamaicans in Jamaica have university degrees whereas 24 percent of Jamaican-born women and 19% of Jamaican-born men holding bachelor's degree in the United States (Glennie, 2010). The opportunity for education is likely why the less well-educated in Jamaica are migrating to the United States.
Citizenship Does Not Always Come Easy
Although being an illegal immigrant is not easy, she has faith that God will one day honor his promise to her and answer her prayers. When this time comes, she said she will give all glory to him knowing no other can take the credit. It has been 14 years since Kim has visited her homeland. According to Kim, if she were to visit Jamaica she would have no guarantee that she will ever be allowed back in the United States, because Jamaicans are exempted from both the Lottery and Refugee status laws due to the Jamaican drug posse reputations that go all the way back to the 1970’s-1980’s.
According to Golash-Boza, “the notion of home is complicated for deportees who have spent most of their lives in the United States”, Boza also states deportations create economic hardship as well as alienation, shame and isolation (2014). As a single mom in the US, Sandra had to be very cautious with whom she shared her secret with. Statistics show that have been nearly 30,000 deportees back to Jamaica since 1997, and even legal permanent residents in the USA likely will face deportation in the event of any criminal acts (Golash-Boza, 2014).
The Melting Pot
Immigration in America is commonly referred to as the melting pot due to the diversity which is known to be a great strength in the American democracy (Smith, 2012). At a naturalization ceremony on July 4, 2008, former President Bush stated that immigrants have made America a melting pot of cultures from all across the world (Smith, 2012). While this may be so, many immigrants are keep their cultures behind closed doors in order to avoided racism and stereotyping. Americans are known for being patriotic and having pride for our culture; however, out of fear Kim had to teach her children to keep their cultural language within the walls of their home. She did not want her children to be subjected to stereotyping or prejudices that she saw others had to endure. She taught her children to work hard to overcome language barriers and speak the English language appropriately, and this lead to them disconnecting with their culture somewhat. In Kim’s case it appears that the Sapir-Whorf hypotheses is valid, Culture in fact does control language (Jandt, 2013).
Although they still enjoy the music and food, Kim’s children have become “Americanized” and can no longer fluently speak their native language, Patois. America may be known to be the Melting pot; however, immigrants do not always feel welcomed or comfortable with sharing their cultural values and communicating inter-culturally. Although it was an adjustment initially, Kim knew that failure was no option to her. Over time she adjusted and slowly integrated into the American culture and she personally has maintained some aspects of her own Jamaican roots through her cooking, faith and love for her culture’s music.
Conclusion
References
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