Running fead: BEING THE OTHER

Being the Other

Being the Other

My name is Susana Patrick, one of two daughters of Robert Patrick and Jennifer Patrick. I never thought I would live in this country, but I did. I own a home in the area of ??Sun Valley, California, and my parents work in a printing company in San Fernando Valley. The worst part of my life was when my mom told me my dad did not have rights to live in the U.S.

It was not all rosy for me when I grew up. My parents spent the early years to care me and my younger sister. My mom got a job as a cook in a truck "lunchbox". When I was 12 years old, I used to see my mother getting up at two o'clock to begin work at four. My dad got a job in the office of one of the largest packers of spices in Los Angeles. He worked there for 11 years. Life of an immigrant can be troubled at times. I would first describe what problems what my family faced being illegal immigrant and then move to describe my own personal life.

Doing a job for not an easy thing for my dad, who had to have 15 arrests and deportation for illegally crossing the U.S. border, became the first graduating undocumented police in California. He was then 33 years old. Seven years later on the list of the top 10 U.S. police.

There are repeated stories of vast illegal immigrants of Mexican community in the U.S., especially Southern California. Through my elders, I have come to know that this is a home to the vast majority of immigrants from the neighboring country and a significant number of people of Mexican origin born in this country.

The presence of Mexicans in the southwestern United States has been ongoing since the days when Spain had control of the New World. The Census Bureau says that at present living in the U.S. more than 30 million Latinos of Mexican descent, a total of approximately 50 million Hispanics in this country (Becker & Becker 2010). The Mexican community is the largest national Latino group, followed by Puerto Ricans, with nearly five million. My dad also belonged to the Puerto Rican community. Those Mexicans were not immigrants, but joined the United States and the country brought their customs, religion, art and literature.

As for describing ...