Note from the editor: The following series of articles is written by Hilina Gudeta, a second-year Mesa College student, in her efforts to promote human rights, cultural awareness and diversity as a U.S. immigrant. Although she is not an official staff member of this publication, we have agreed to publish her stories in a periodic fashion as a six-part opinion feature. Therefore, as a disclaimer, the ideas expressed in this column may not necessarily represent the views of The Mesa Press and its staff as a whole. Moreover, to best preserve Ms. Gudeta’s voice, only minor errors in syntax and punctuation will be addressed before publication. Any major stylistic differences will be ignored and attributed as such.

Part 4

Jobs for “Those” and school for “Us”

“Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.”

This is a statement from Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Just and favorable conditions are not always the provisions of jobs for immigrants who would do anything to earn money and start a living in the United States. Many immigrants with no educational qualifications work long hours at labor jobs with unfavorable work conditions in restaurant kitchens or construction sites, and many injure their limbs or backs in the process: They work in unfavorable conditions. Sometimes they have situations such as having a store manager who does not pay them accordingly for their overtime hours. Mostly, the unfavorable conditions are the heavy manual tasks they perform in areas with smokes or other health risks. This makes immigrants a very productive group of any society who work more for less pay under unfavorable working conditions. Yet, this results in immigrants quitting their jobs due to physical disability or health issues. How is protection against unemployment interpreted?

Many other immigrants work at minimum-wage jobs because their educational background is given little consideration, if any. An immigrant said that he has a degree in literature from his country. Another immigrant mentioned he has a degree in engineering from his country, too. Yet, one works as a cashier and the other as a cab driver. There are numerous others in the same boat. This leads to another point.

People should be educated, formally or informally, about human rights, because as Article 26 of the UDHR states:

“Education shall be directed to…strengthening of the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations.”

Formal education that teaches about immigrants, their backgrounds or how to interact with them is nonexistent in the United States school system. Yet, United States is a country of immigrants. As a probable result, there is a mistreatment of immigrants and ignorance of their rights. If the UDHR is to be promoted and observed, there should be courses in K-12 schools, chapters in college textbooks or mentions in the media that promote human rights for immigrants.

Part 5

New York, New York

Usually, the first generation immigrants live a secluded social life, and it is not the second, but the third generation that blends in well into the rest of the population. Think of the European immigrants who lived in New York in the 1800s. They lived in the niche of their compatriots. Neighborhoods were divided up as Irish, Italian and other countries people came from.

Today, look at a map of America that divides neighborhoods by ethnicity. Although there is no legal segregation of neighborhoods, economical and other factors have resulted in the most wonderful map of segregation. Statistically, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles are among the top 10 most segregated urban areas in the United States. As the picture below shows, Caucasians occupy parts of the city and most of the suburbs while African Americans, Hispanics and Asians occupy incomparably and drastically smaller blocks with some discernible ethnic mix.

Closer to statistics are immigrant students on Mesa Campus. Consider Ethiopian or Somalian immigrants who live in San Diego. They mostly live among their own communities and attend their own social gatherings. Although they reside in the U.S., their social lives are as close to their native lands as they can get. There is a similar truth with immigrants from other countries too.

We do not live in apartheid. We are not subject to forced segregation of neighborhoods. We are not limited to speaking with people from our races or to living in separate worlds while we share the same land. There should not be any question about the freedom of choosing the place of one’s livelihood. But this segregation, which can be attributed to social, economic, safety and psychological factors, deprives many immigrants the chance for a better life before it slowly recedes and gives way to assimilation. We are social beings. As written in the 19th article of the Universal Declaration of Human rights, we “should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” Segregated neighborhoods do not carry the spirit of brotherhood or sisterhood.