Manifest Destiny Speech

Try as I might, closing my eyes, keeping as still as possible, silencing the noise, I can’t remember. I know I met you. I’m the only one of my generation to go to Mexico where my mother came from, and I know I met you. I was just a child, though. I didn’t understand how special it was, how important the moment you sat me on your knee was. I know your face. I can see it in old family photos whenever I want and I try to remember looking into your eyes, but I can’t. It doesn’t matter. It happened. I know it did. I met you, my great-grandfather, Papa Grande, as my grandmother, your daughter used to call you. You, Severiano, the gentle boss of the Garcia clan. One hundred and one years old, with hoses for veins. I’m not sure how you
It was their reasoning for waging war with Mexico to expand their territory. Proponents of Manifest Destiny saw Latin Americans as inferior in cultural makeup. Americans could point to the nation’s prosperity as proof of their God-given destiny to expand their territory by invading the territory of others. However, they had to be careful not to take too much. By taking too much land, the country would be absorbing millions of racially mixed Mexicans, which in the long run might threaten the white American majority. It seems they wanted Mexico, but not Mexicans. At times, however, the United States does want Mexicans. The country needs Mexicans. More accurately, the United States needs Mexican labor, so Mexicans have been “pulled” here only to be treated as easily deportable labor. This theme or behavior pattern by the United States has played out several times in the country’s
So, in 1954, the federal government unleashed “Operation Wetback.” Yes, that is what it was called, “Operation Wetback.” Brutal raids were conducted in hundreds of Mexican neighborhoods as migrants were summarily thrown into jails, herded into trucks or trains, and shipped back to Mexico. Many of those abducted were Mexican-Americans, American citizens of Mexican descent. Between 1 and 2 million people were deported in a few short months. Just as soon as the recession ended, however, the demand for Mexican labor picked up again and the bracero program was resuscitated. President Johnson finally ended the bracero program in 1964, but agribusiness supplanted it with the H-2 guest worker