“Traveling by rail overnight, the migrants traveled great geographical as well as cultural distances”. ( Takaki 1993) When I read this quote I immediately thought of a film I had just recently watched called “Sin Nombre”. The movie was very culturally rich and enlightening. The movie showed how migrants from central and South America struggled and journeyed toward the United States border in search of a better life. Many of these people boarded trains and made their way toward the Rio Grande. In the film, a gang member named Willy boarded the same train as a beautiful Honduran girl named Sayra. Sayra was traveling with her father and her uncle in hope of making it across the United States border. Although Willy was in a gang, he was trying to get out of this association. The leader of the gang and Willy began to systematically rob people on the train. The gang leader had a gun and Willy was armed with a machete. Eventually these two came across Sayra and her family and began to rob them. This gang leader began to fondle Sayra and this seemed to really infuriate Willy. This man started to rip Sayra’s clothes off her body and Willy could not stand to watch this no longer. He swung his machete at his leader and killed him. This was a great act of courage on Willy’s part and it really moved me. I do not by any means condone the killing of a human being no matter how vile they are. However, Willy rescued this innocent girl from being raped and I respected him for that. I felt that this situation in the movie was a great example of how perilous the journey could be for these migrants attempting to get into the U.S. Sayra ended up following Willy towards the border where he eventually sacrificed his personal belongings to have her safely escorted across the Rio Grande. Tragically right as Willy was about to cross the river his former gang members tracked him down and shot him over a hundred times. “Sin Nombre” was a film that really opened my eyes to the hardships and struggles that migrants experienced through on this perilous journey.
“ To be left behind was to feel a sudden loneliness” said a Mississippi woman.(Takaki 1993) this quote came from a black woman living in the south during a time when many African Americans were moving their families north. This quote stood out to me with its theme of loneliness. As human beings we all feel lonely at certain times. For some reason when I read this I thought of my mom and this poem hit me right in my heart. The short poem that followed this quote described a scene with people leaving by train heading north and disappearing in a cloud of smoke. After reading this quote I immediately thought of my mother and felt kind of sad. I remember seeing the same kind of loneliness in her the day that my sister and I left for John Carroll this past fall. My mom is a very intelligent compassionate woman. She could have done many things in her life but chose to focus on her kids. She decided to be a stay at home mom because she wanted to spend time with us kids as we grew up. She really did a good job raising us and I know I wouldn’t be the person I am today without her in my life. My younger sister just graduated high school this past year and chose John Carroll. The day my sister and I left for John Carroll this August was a bitter sweet day for my mom. She has always pushed me and my siblings to do well in school. Her goal had always been to see her kids go to college and get the education that she never had. The day that we left was the first time she had to deal with living in an empty nest. I knew that she was hiding sadness behind her smile as we drove off that day. My mom has always had a really close relationship with her kids. She has told me countless times “ You kids are my life”. So when I read this quote I thought of her and how I should call and visit her more. College is a very hectic time and I think it would go a long way if we took the time during our days to focus on the people that matter to us. I think I’m going to call my mom after I get done writing this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNcloTmvTeA
“ The rabbi then noticed thousands of scratches that must have been made on the inside of the door, scratches that must have been made by the fingernails of so many men, women and children.” (Takaki 1993) this quote discusses how a rabbi walked into a gas chamber at Dachua where thousands of Jews were executed by the Nazis during World War One. When I read this I got a sick uneasy feeling in my stomach. Jewish people were exterminated in these gas chambers like animals. The scratches gave me the horrible image of people screaming in agony with such fear in their final moments. I pictured people scratching the walls in such desperation with blood dripping from their fingernails. That must have been such a horrible way for people to die. When I was about 12 or 13 years old I watched a movie with my family based on the diary of Anne Frank. To this day it is one of the saddest movies I have ever seen. My parents warned my brother and I that it might be hard to watch, but they wanted us to watch it with them. The entire movie was really sad, but there were a couple of scenes that really stood out to me. One of these scenes was when Anne and her family were taken away by the Nazis. They were taken away in a train and eventually everyone was forced out when it reached one of the camps. Anne was clinging to her father for dear life and the Nazi soldiers ripped her out of his arms and she was separated from her parents. Some of the men in this scene were lined up and ordered to get on their knees. Following this they were shot and killed in front of their families. Perhaps one of the saddest scenes took place after Anne and her sister had been at the camp for some time. One morning Anne tried to wake her older sister. She continued to shake and yell for her sister to wake. She finally came to the realization that her sister was not sleeping but she was dead. I remember looking over at my mom and seeing tears rolling down her cheeks. That movie gave me a strong sense of the horrors that took place during the genocide of Jewish people in concentration camps during World War Two. The movie was excellent but awful to me at the same time. The inhumanity that took place during the Holocaust will never be erased in my mind.
“ The rabbi then noticed thousands of scratches that must have been made on the inside of the door, scratches that must have been made by the fingernails of so many men, women and children.” (Takaki 1993) this quote discusses how a rabbi walked into a gas chamber at Dachua where thousands of Jews were executed by the Nazis during World War One. When I read this I got a sick uneasy feeling in my stomach. Jewish people were exterminated in these gas chambers like animals. The scratches gave me the horrible image of people screaming in agony with such fear in their final moments. I pictured people scratching the walls in such desperation with blood dripping from their fingernails. That must have been such a horrible way for people to die. When I was about 12 or 13 years old I watched a movie with my family based on the diary of Anne Frank. To this day it is one of the saddest movies I have ever seen. My parents warned my brother and I that it might be hard to watch, but they wanted us to watch it with them. The entire movie was really sad, but there were a couple of scenes that really stood out to me. One of these scenes was when Anne and her family were taken away by the Nazis. They were taken away in a train and eventually everyone was forced out when it reached one of the camps. Anne was clinging to her father for dear life and the Nazi soldiers ripped her out of his arms and she was separated from her parents. Some of the men in this scene were lined up and ordered to get on their knees. Following this they were shot and killed in front of their families. Perhaps one of the saddest scenes took place after Anne and her sister had been at the camp for some time. One morning Anne tried to wake her older sister. She continued to shake and yell for her sister to wake. She finally came to the realization that her sister was not sleeping but she was dead. I remember looking over at my mom and seeing tears rolling down her cheeks. That movie gave me a strong sense of the horrors that took place during the genocide of Jewish people in concentration camps during World War Two. The movie was excellent but awful to me at the same time. The inhumanity that took place during the Holocaust will never be erased in my mind.
How many people have to die before people finally realize what hate breeds?
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