Spaces an exchanges : to which extent has immigration helped to shape the America nation?

Spaces and exchanges

To which extent has immigration helped to shape the America nation?

The caricature

What we have here is a caricature drawn by Joe Heller and published in 2010 which shows the statue of Liberty at the wheel of a convertible in the middle of Arizona desert. A fat policeman wearing sunglasses has ordered her to pullover and is asking, I quote: "I can tell by the colour of your skin you're not from around here, are you?".

What is odd is that the statue of Liberty which supposed to be in New York and more precisely on Liberty Island seems to be in the middle of nowhere in the US. Perhaps the statue of Liberty is moving spaces and places. Or maybe she gets lost in the Arizona desert if you see what I mean. Or does it mean that what symbolises the statue of Liberty also call the mother of the immigrants get lost somehow in the middle of the Arizona desert.

Now what about the big fat policeman? I'm afraid that's not the nicest way to describe that por bloke but from what the reader is supposed to understand I couldn't think of any other way apart from four letters words like F***...Scuse my French.

Now, what the hell is a policeman doing in such a place? Is that part of duty?

Since it's a caricature, we know for sure there is a double-meaning. So, the heart of matter is to know what both characters embody and see how the topic of " Spaces and exchanges" can be tackled.

Concerning spaces is crystal clear that the famous symbol is out of place geographically speaking but also meaningfully if we may say so.

Now what seems relevant is that the symbolic of “the mother of the immigrants” seems to depend both on time and places. Obviously, the policeman hasn’t recognized the statue of Liberty, but he managed to spot another immigrant.

What is shocking is that he uses the colour of the skin to discriminate immigrants from US citizens. Which means he has still not understood that around half of the US nation has got Latino origins. The policeman is so thick he is ready to draw out his truncheon to beat the mother of the immigrants as through she was a dangerous criminal. Does it mean that people who are green, aliens, are alleged to be dangerous criminals? I’m not sure is mentioned in the US Constitution. Which mean that what lurks behind the policeman’s comment is not only unfair but also illegal. What is more, what makes me laugh is that it is almost 100% sure that one of cup’s ancestors must have been an immigrant which means the bastard hasn't recognized his mother and he is also ready to beat her.

Is that American Oedipus? To give someone the cold shoulder?

The map

What we are here is a map entitled "The Browning of America" published by the US Census in 2010 which shows the rising/increasing/growing/rocketing proportion of Caucasian in the US. Here we can clearly see that the roots of the America nation are a mixture of umpteen origins. No wonder why NY is called the melting pot. Now the other thing to notice is that 17% of the America population has got Spanish or Latino origins but what is really striking is that this number doubled between 2000 and 2010.

These figures come from the United States Census, so we may question them, in other word, did they register illegal "aliens" as well as registered citizens? And if they did it, how did they do it?

From the very beginning if US immigration, the reason for going there was to start afresh or staying alive to be able to get right richer. As you can see there has always been push factors such as religious and political persecution, extreme poverty or famine, taking the French leave of criminals as well as pull factors such as the American Dream, the chance to have a better life, being free make your dreams come true. To make thing clear, the technical term usually used for that is bullshit.

Let me explain that point, well it all started when Christopher Columbus discovered America by accident in 1492. He was looking for a new route to the Indies to make trade with the colony quicker and safer, in other words a way to make Spain richer. In fact, instead of coming back with a new route and spices he came back with potatoes, Turkeys, Indians and illustration of the myth of the Eldorado.

Basically, America as a colony was to make European countries such as Spain, France and Britain richer. Getting richer/wealthier was the objective. Since explores didn't find any golden city, they start digging and eventually found gold. Because gold was found, and land was free this led to the Gold Rush.

Because the first immigrants settled on the eastern coast and therefore became landlords, new immigrants had to movement to be able to find free land which didn't belong to anymore because according to the Terre Nullius principle, if a land is not looked after you can make it yours. That is why savages couldn't be landlords because it was alleged, they were not civilised enough to look after a piece of land. In other words, they no rights on land whatever.

Because there was a chance to possess land and make enough money to be able to feed their families and because building steamboats made the trips shorter Intime therefore far less expensive, masses of immigrants arrived in New York. All sudden they were too many people in a little space, so authorities decided to select to be able to control immigration. Laws were enacted which means a legal immigration was born as well as an illegal one.

The picture

What we are here is a snapshot showing the Statue of Liberty and the city of New York in the background. Now, what is striking is that "the Mother of Immigrants", which by the way is supposed to represent Libertas the goddess of freedom, is shot sideways, which is not flattering for the Mother of immigrants since it highlights its androgynous features, as you see she's got Nixon's nose, Schwarzenegger’s arm and no bosom at all.

As you can see, the photographer's aim isn't to highlight the magnificence of the colossal statue, so we may wonder if the photographer's goal is not to show something else. The way he shoots the statue reveals its location in New York. We see it on Liberty Island against the city of New York in the background.

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