California Refugee Voters

            Refugees in California are part of the voting population, but they have different reasons for voting and not voting. In this article written by Megan Burks from KPBS talks about the voter population in California. Burks interviewed a Somali refugee, Ali, living in a district in San Diego and the refugee said she came from a place where she say a government fall and where there was no people to govern her people.  She has participated in ever election in the United States since she became a citizen. The article goes on to say that most refugees in San Diego are not like Ali and they hardly vote.

            I can see why some of these refugees vote and do not vote. The ones that vote are looking to make a change and difference to their current situation. Possible some of these voters were not even allowed to vote in their past countries and they are freely expressing their right to vote. The refugees that do not vote are the same people that came from harsh political climates, but they think that all the governments are the same and they will not make a difference.

http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2016/03/09/california-counts-mobilizing-the-states-refugee-voters

Chinatown Residents Fear Evictions and Gentrification

This article written by Stephanie Taylor from KQED and she writes about gentrification in San Francisco. A Chinese retiree, Owen Wang, was locked out of his apartment in Chinatown when he was out running errands. He and another resident were left with change locks and notes on their door asking them to bring their lease. A lawyer that specializes in tenant right said that he has never experienced that where they did not file anything, they just change the residences locks. In the end the tenants were give possession of their homes and the owner of the property was given a citation.

This type of thing is a small sample of what has been going on in the Bay Area with gentrification. This is happening in more in the tech hub around the Bay Area so they can accommodate higher income residents.  Gentrification I think now hearing more stories like this, can be very dangerous because it forces lower income people to move with a chance to keep their homes.

http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/07/28/san-franciscos-chinatown-fears-evictions-and-gentrification

Teaching Openness in a Muslim only College

            Anna Challet from KQED wrote about a Muslim only college in Berkley teaching an open mindedness towards other cultures and religions.  Zaytuna College is the only Muslim institution that is an accredited in the United States school system. It is a small school that has only Muslim students, they also course offers both Muslim and non-Muslim teachings. In this article Challet speaks about the professors in the college teaching more openness to different ideas and religions. They also offer extracurricular activities with other religions, such as working alongside with Christians for Habitat for Humanity some of the people she interviewed were not Muslim before and one was converted during a time where he was not “rock-bottom”. I found that to be interesting because when people convert religions, it is usually when they are at a low point of their life.

            I believe that this is a great thing for this Muslim only college to be open to investing their time in leering openness. I hope more religions and cultures take a note from Zaytuna College to learn to appreciate other religions and cultures. In this current time there are a lot of Islamophobia in the United States; many right-wingers even to want ban Muslims from immigrating to America.  Ideas like that are dangerous to the growth in America, but if history tells, there’s always a race or religion people will blame for their problems.

http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/12/24/berkeleys-zaytuna-college-asks-muslims-to-think-outside-the-mosque

Teaching Spanish to the kids isn't easy for second-generation parents

In this article written by Maya Sugarman, from KQED, she writes about teaching Spanish to a second generation of children. Second generation parents are having trouble teaching their children Spanish. One parent said that she had been speaking and learning in English for thirty years and she is more used to speaking in English even though she learned Spanish first. This parent also said once she went to college in Pepperdine, that she assimilated to American culture and her parents were pleased to this new development. Sugarman also brings up a study that Spanish speaking households in America are shrinking as the time goes by.

This article is interesting to me because I call myself a first generation Latino and a second generation Southeast Asian. My father came to America in the sixties and he picked up English quickly. He did not force of even have to teach my brother or me Tagalog. While my mother came in the eighties and she did not know any English, so she forced us to speak Spanish at home, thus, making my first language Spanish. I feel though that I would teach my children English first then Spanish because if I were to live in American if or when I would have them, I would want them to learn the more dominate language.

http://www.scpr.org/news/2015/11/17/55696/teaching-spanish-to-the-kids-isn-t-easy-for-second/

Man Reports Car Stolen, Ends Up In Deportation Limbo

This article written by Richard Gonzales from NPR was an extremely good read about immigration in the United States. This man, Pedro Figueroa was found to be an illegal immigrant when he reported his car stolen. Figueroa reported his car stolen to local police in San Francisco and the police found out he had an outstanding warrant for skipping on a parole meeting. The police proceed to detain him and he was later sent to the ICE. The interesting thing is that Figueroa did not know or understand that he is considered an illegal immigrant. He was fleeing El Salvador from gang members hunting him down and he was waiting for a hearing on his case by the American immigration authorities. The authorities released him from custody and he was free to what he wanted, but he did not know his status was illegal.

            The article goes on to say that this certain incident is just an example of how outdate the United States immigration policies are. I agree that the policies are outdated, but in this case I think it was the fault of the immigration system and Figueroa for ditching his warrant.  

 http://www.npr.org/2016/02/16/465278302/the-curious-case-of-the-man-in-the-u-s-illegally-and-his-stolen-car

Gentrification in San Francisco

            In this article written by Shereen Meraji from NPR, she writes about gentrification in a small Latino Neighborhood in San Francisco. The article begins in a Neighborhood in the Mission district in San Francisco and there is a dispute between tech employees and local residence over a soccer field. The tech workers rented out the field and the local community was not happy about this because of the growing number of outsiders buying out their communal things. Later on in the article Meraji states that housing in that area three years ago was 1,900$ an now the rent is about 3,200$.

            The basic definition of gentrification is rebuilding a deteriorated area and making it for middle class or upper-class. In some ways I agree with gentrification because it helps improve city and makes it “safer” new middle class people. I disagree with making housing prices so high that it forces the current residence move out. Typically lower income areas tend to have a lot of immigrants and life for them in a new country is difficult and gentrification makes their life just as hard.

  http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/12/27/373284989/icymi-2014-soccer-field-standoff-highlights-gentrification-tension

Californias growing number of Chinese Students

In this NPR article written by Josie Huang, she talks about the growing number of Chinese teenagers moving to California for a high school education.  The article states that more than twenty-three thousand Chinese teens have moved to escape the pressure of China’s education system. The main goal of them moving for high school is to better their chances of getting into an American college. The article says that in the past most of the international students came from countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

I have a lot of experience of knowing a great deal of these international students because I went to an international boarding school in Minnesota. Most of the international students that came to my school were from South Korea, China, and various places in Europe. Most of these students after they graduated from high school ended up going to colleges all over the US. From my experience, most the international students that were more open to new things and races were the South Koreans. The South Koreans would want to dorm with American students so they would get the full experience of “being American”. Now seeing that more and more Chinese teens are coming here for an education did not surprise me because people are always looking to get the advantage of an American education.

http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2016/01/26/464427108/in-california-a-growing-group-of-chinese-teens-are-coming-to-american-high-schoo