Commenter Profile
- Yolette Garcia
- Username: ygarcia
- Location: Dallas, TX
- Joined PRX: Mar 31, 2005
Piece Information
- "Jincho"
- Summary: When Josue arrived in the US he was surprised to find that some of the Latino students in his school weren't as welcoming as he thought they'd be.
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Review of Jincho
Yolette Garcia
Posted on October 03, 2005 at 08:33 PM
Reporter Josue Melgar gives voice to a rarely discussed problem regarding immigrants: the tension between the ones who have assimilated and those who haven’t. By looking at the situation in his high school, Melgar provides a sense of how it feels to be truly on the outs, beyond the regular feelings of simply being a teenager. The assimilated kids feel superior and pick on the new ones. As a student Carlos says with pride, “it’s tradition,” and Carlos has only been in the U.S. for 4 years. Jincho is the derogatory name given to a student who can’t speak or read English. Painful as it is for them to experience, these young people understand the ascendancy of language and how it shapes identity. I appreciate the sound of their accented voices, fighting to be heard above the surety of those who feel comfortable. This is commentary adults should hear.