Repatriation of Mexicans and Mexican Americans

The Depression is not associated with thoughts of Mexican Americans. I had never even considered the immense struggles they had to face. The idea of deportation really arose as a result of the Depression. With the growth of unemployment came increased hostility towards immigrant workers. White Americans were now willing to take the lower jobs of immigrants because they desired some source of income. The Mexicans were sent out of the country even though they had been recruited earlier. I think that this new hostility was a result of fear and paranoia. The immigrants could be used as a scapegoat for the extreme unemployment because it could be thought that they were taking jobs away. People were deported if they even were suspected of being Mexican. The life of a Mexican American was even harder than the average American living through the Depression because they had the same great economic struggles but had to deal with the threat of deportation as well. They are such an interesting group of people to look at during the Depression because I believe they had to suffer even more than most. Deportation is still a very large issue today, and I had no idea that some of its strongest origins could be tied back to the Depression.

Blog #2: Robertson and Heline

The two stories I read were quite a powerful combination because they allowed me to look at the Depression from two completely different lenses. Arthur A. Robertson has an extremely unique story as he was a successful broker that was actually able to make a profit from the Depression. Oscar Heline experienced the classic story of a struggling farmer. Robertson described his experience: “In the early thirties, I was known as a scavenger. I used to buy broken-down businesses that banks took over”. Heline talked about how everything was taken away from him: farm, livestock, and even household goods. One was able to almost benefit from the great economical struggle, while the other was with the vast majority of America partaking in the struggle. I associate the Depression with a person like Heline, so Robertson’s story is really a novelty for me. It was a time of desperation, but not everyone was desperate.

Robertson’s interview was not a story of his great personal struggles, but he did give deep insight into the struggles of former hotshot businessmen. He shares that many of broker friends who were once very wealthy now calling him in desperation. Robertson even revealed, “Suicides, left and right, made a terrific impression on me, of course”. For many people death ended up being the sensible response to the suffering. The insight on the story of Jess Livemore, who was trading genius but lost everything and ended up committing suicide, really struck me. I realize that optimism was a killer. Robertson credited his success to becoming frightened. He did suffer some substantial losses, but Heline gives a truer story of struggle.

The Depression was so severe for famers that the price to attempt to sell corn was actually costlier than its value. Heline admitted that destruction was the best hope for renewed success: “People were determined to withhold produce from the market—livestock, cream, butter, eggs, what not. If they would dump the produce, they would force the market to a higher level”. It is hard to imagine people destroying everything they live for. I cannot picture times being so bad that I would have to do something like that. Although all farmers did not have the same experience. The “struggle between the have and the have-nots” gives a perception similar to Robertson’s. Farmers prided themselves on individualism but the desperation forced them to come together. Heline declares, “What I remember most of those times is that poverty, creates desperation, and desperation creates violence.” It was a time of desperation but not for all; these are two completely different stories from two men living through the Great Depression.

We are all American but all of our experiences are very different. Robertson and Heline are living in America at the same time but one has personal success story versus a story of extreme struggle. Looking at American history through its individuals teaches that there is no collective experience. Each person’s American history is unique and they combine to form the true history of America.

Entry #1: C.P. Ellis / Andy Johnson

C.P. Ellis 

I will never feel any drop of remorse or sympathy for a person that was once a member of the KKK. I understand that C.P. Ellis just joined for a sense of belonging. He described, "Here's a guy who's worked all his life and struggled all his life to be something, ande here's the moment to be something". He wanted to be part of something because it gave him a sense of entitlement and importance that he was so desperately missing in life. He went through terrible hardships growing up: feelings of inferiority, the premature death of his father, and poverty. C.P. Ellis wanted a scapegoat for these problems. He wanted to hate as much as he wanted to belong. The Klan provided for both these wants. But, by joining the Klan he became an extreme racist and bigot. He was not only a member, but worked his way up to president. I cannot sympathize or forgive anyone who was president of the KKK. The want to belong does not suffice for his wretched acts. Blacks were natural for him to hate because they were up and coming while he was supposed to be superior. I believe that he blamed the Blacks for his personal flaws and struggles.

C.P. ended up making a complete 360 in life, but for me, he committed an act that is forever unforgivable. His perceptions completely cahnged, "I was beginnin' to look at a black person, shake hands with him, and see him as a human bein'". C.P. Ellis's life turned: he worked with blacks, went back to school, and eventually worked for the International Union of Operating Engineers. He realized that him and Blacks were actually in the exact same boat in life. C.P Ellis turned out to be an honorable man, but I still cannot forgive him. If I were in his shoes I cannot say that I would not have joined the Klan. Looking back, no matter what I did in the rest of my life, I would never be able to forgive myself just like I cannot forgive C.P. Ellis.

Andy Johnson   

At a young age, Andy Johnson experienced the typical  early 1900s immigration experience. Coming from Finland, America was a drastic change. He explained, "Coming to America was like being transferred from one century to another". The change was so severe that Andy saw his first Black person and thought he just had a dirty face. Andy came to America with only his mother and his sister because his father had come two years earlier for work. I believe that Andy's father prevented him from seeing the grand benefits of this change. His perceptions of America later in life were greatly altered by his father. I think that his father's struggle and lack of happiness combined with one other event to become the driving forces behind his political views. Andy declared, "You got a terrible-looking hole dowin in the ground where we used to live once. A person's first home is so sacred and especially in a foregin country. Having that home turned into a hole must be traumatic. Andy was a hardworker but never saw the rewards. He was blackballed for his opinoins and use of independence. America caused Andy to believe that humanity was going to end itself. A struggling immigrant will only see negativity so all they believe is negativity. I am almost positive that his ideas of humainty's self-termination were not unique to a child that immigrated to America in the early 1900s.