Hereâs a poem published in 1979, 43 years ago, that seems quite current, as it deals with anti-immigrant sentiment. Read it twice, at least, and one time out loud, as poems are meant to be heard! What do you think of this approach to presenting and commenting on important issues? What do you think of Jimmy Santiago Bacaâs poem? Could poetry work for your topic?
So Mexicans Are Taking Jobs From Americans
by Jimmy Santiago Baca
O Yes? Do they come on horses
with rifles, and say,
Ese gringo, gimmee your job?
And do you, gringo, take off your ring,
drop your wallet into a blanket
spread over the ground, and walk away?
I hear Mexicans are taking your jobs away.
Do they sneak into town at night,
and as youâre walking home with a whore,
do they mug you, a knife at your throat,
saying, I want your job?
Even on TV, an asthmatic leader
crawls turtle heavy, leaning on an assistant,
and from a nest of wrinkles on his face,
a tongue paddles through flashing waves
of lightbulbs, of cameramen, rasping
âTheyâre taking our jobs away.â
Well, Iâve gone about trying to find them,
asking just where the hell are these fighters.
The rifles I hear sound in the night
are white farmers shooting blacks and browns
whose ribs I see jutting out
and starving children,
I see the poor marching for a little work,
I see small white farmers selling out
to clean-suited farmers living in New York,
whoâve never been on a farm,
donât know the look of a hoof or a the smell
of a womanâs body bending all day long in fields.
I see this, and I hear only a few people
got all the money in this world, the rest
count their pennies to buy bread and butter.
Below that cool green sea of money,
millions and millions of people fight to live,
search for pearls in the darkest depths
of their dreams, hold their breath for years
trying to cross poverty to just having something.
The children are dead already. We are killing them,
that is what America should be saying;
on TV, in the streets, in offices, should be saying,
âWe arenât giving the children a chance to live.â
Mexicans are taking our jobs, they say instead.
What they really say is, let them die,
and the children too.
This poem has an interesting message, with a clear point that immigrants don’t randomly go to your job at gunpoint to take your job. Still, instead, they just look for any job that can pay them. But people are to focus on people trying to work hard to maintain a living in this country and aren’t looking at other problems. Unfortunately, poetry wouldn’t work for my topic. Or at least I don’t know how to make it work. Even though it would be an interesting task, I would have the patience to translate my topic into a poem based on how direct and complex it is.
I think using a poem to present and comment on important issues is really creative and self- reflecting. Poems are great because they leave the reader to think with just little information and see two perspectives. This poem made me think about the other perspective of what Americans really mean when they say â Mexicans are taking our jobsâ. This poem didn’t give specific details but it was meaningful. Jimmy Santiage Bacaâs poem is really important because it was speaking about immigrants and how Americans view them. This poem gives a clear understanding and important message. I donât think I would be able to use poetry for my topic because I find it hard to write a good poem. Like Josue said it would be a good way to present the topic but I don’t think I could make it work. It would be creative and meaningful to use a poem, but I think I would need support.
I think this poem is very interesting because it speaks the truth. Generally speaking there are immigrants who do jobs that an American wouldn’t do, so I think the message is very clear. I think that the way in which this topic is presented in the form of a poem is very creative and intelligent. Poetry wouldn’t work for me because even though it looks easy, writing a poem isn’t for everyone, even if I tried I know it wouldn’t be any good.
I really like the way poetry is used to portray the injustice Mexican immigrants face in the U.S. I think it’s important to explore the literature medium because there are so many creative ways to get a message out there and bring awareness to any issue. I’m not sure if poetry would work for my topic. To me poetry requires a lot of emotion like in the poem above. I can really feel the anger coming from each stanza. I wouldn’t know how to portray my topic in form of a poem. Though I’d like to try.
I like how the poem contrasts the âtruthâ that people are taught and the actual truth. This poem is still relevant to this day. People are made targets and while everyone is looking at them all of them don’t realize how truly flawed the system, they rely on is. And it is true that few hold all the money in the world. It doesn’t make sense, there are more than 2,000 billionaires in the world. A person does not need that much money if they want to live a luxurious life. Think of the number of lives that could be saved with a billion dollars.