Thursday, September 17, 2009

Farmingville

Describe your initial reaction to the film. What struck you or surprised you? What do you think the conflict it shows is "really" about? What views of America in relation to the world are presented in the film?

18 comments:

  1. Initial reaction..WTF My suprise is this crazy bitch found so many other crazies like her to support this no sense cause. When you have a problem with something, your supposed to present a practical solution to the issue. The real conflict here is these white people are so used to STRONG island being such a tight knit white community, that it scares to see minorities try to integrate themselves in this whitebred community. The other thing it made me realize is how much free time these racist organziers had to develop this case over so many years, you would think legislators signed this bitch off as crazy once they heard her case. SUPPLY and DEMAND is all that happened to this ignant community. Their only potential arguement would be that they dont pay taxes, but trust me these "day laborers" would pay their taxes if they could in a heartbeat.

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  2. To think that all this time, I was doing it wrong. This video just makes the people of Farmingville out to hicks. People had a chance to throw out their "lets just all get along" mentality out, and bought themselves some "white power" bigotisms.

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  3. what surprised me was that i used to live in LI and...i drove through Farmingville all the time and to know that that kinda activity was going on 6-9 years ago caught me off guard because i never expected that kinda hatred to be going on in a community that is so peaceful and so nonthreatening right now. also it takes me back to the times of the civil rights movement but this time it wasn't blacks and whites it was Farmingville citizens and Mexicans...it angers me that people are still so immature so bias so...so...racist that they create problems for the sake of doing it because there was no real threat wit the Mexican residing there they just created them because they were bored....GOD I HATE STUPID AMERICANS

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  4. From what i saw in this mini documentary was very appalling but at the same time it was not new to me at all.Even though these people come from different places they shouldnt be alienated out cause of the color of the skin or the stereotype of them.Many people think that mexicans are smelly old drunk men who are always hissing at women.All of them are not the same.We must get out of this stereotype and move forward.For godsakes we have an African American as president...Cant we just all get along!!!:)

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  5. My initial reaction to this film was how America is not as equal as it is portrayed to be. I think the conflict that is presented by the residents of Farmingville is that the Mexican immigrants are a burden to the community. The community does not want their money to be wasted on immgrants' needs since they do not belong here. I think the way the Mexicans are treated is very inhumane and unethical. People should not treat others in this manner.

    I saw many comparisons between the way the community was treating Mexicans and how African Americans were treated after Reconstruction. In both situations, the labor workers began to negoitate their price for work and were labeling women as being seductive. Another examplw would be how labor workers were tormented by verbal abuse and physical abuse. The actions by the white supremists was very disturbing and unethical. The abuse that the communtiy residents used against the Mexicans was very familiar to what the Ku Klux Klan did to the blacks. By publically emabrressing innocent individuals, minorities lost a lot of self respect.

    I was very happy to see the Mexicans fighting back for their rights. Although the youthful generation took it upon themselves to take action, they did not choose the correct method by committing the same actions as the whites. I think the idea of a support group was very helpful for themselves. Their mistreatment was uncalled for but they were and still are able to overcome a great obstacle.

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  6. This film Farmingville was very interesting and it shocked me alot. It suprised me to see how people can be so insecure about things. I was suprised to see how much it bothered people to see these illegal aliens in their country. It would of made sense if they were harming the country but thats not what there doing. They came here for a better life and to make money. These illegal aliens just looks for work to do so they can make money. The people in America went as far as trying to kill some people. Two of the mexican men almost died from the attack. This shocked me the most. How can people hate so much that they go as far as attempting murder.

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  7. Great start to the comments, guys! A couple things:

    Roushandra, That's a great comparison to Reconstruction as far as new group entering the labor force. I'm not sure what you mean about the role of women in this, though: can you explain?

    A couple of the comments point to the idea that for some people we saw in the film, being "American" is connected to being "white." This is a really important point and one we'll want to think about in connection with our readings across the cluster.

    Finally - notamorningperson, I share your shock and outrage about the bigotry in the film, but to create an atomosphere for respectful discussion on the blog we want to try to avoid slurs like 'bitch' even when discribing people with hateful ideas.

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  8. I think farmingville supports some of Richard Wright's "ideas" about the American people in his essay "I choose exile". As we can see, the people of farmingville dont like change and what is happening to these Mexicans were also happening to African Americans on some level. Of course there are some differences. I see everyone is bashing the people of farmingville (your own blood) but you cannot deny that the illegals are breaking a law. I wont support either side because its a waste of time, nothing can ever be done, and maybe it shouldn't. But what do i know? im just a undeadmedic xD

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  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  10. I was really shocked at the begining of the film, specially when the boy came out, and he showed his scars and where he was stabbed. Is incredible to see that this still exists now in the modern time. It will have not be a shocked event if you hear these kinds of news 60 years ago. But hearing this now it totally draws a national media attention. But it gets me upset that after this crime event, instead of the community coming together, there were more racism against the undocumented mexicans. But even with all the community resistence am glad too that they created anti-immigrant groups. Also that they continue with their jobs and still continue to achieve the "American Dream" and send the money to their loves ones, even if no resolution was made. This film really shows about who really controls the American dream, and who could share it also.

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  11. I initially thought the video was about illegal immigrants in America, which was true. I was suprised that such a small issue was being taken out of proportion, when it couldve been resolved easily. I think the conflict "really" is about the people of the Farmingville community not wanting members of another race or culture living in their neighborhood.

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  12. I just wanted to edit a little of the comment I wrote above. I didnt meant to write anti-immigrant groups, I meant to say, a Human Solidity Association

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  13. Jnttroc, thanks for the clarification. I think it's the Solidarity Association - would be interesting to think about what that term means.

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  14. Prof. T,

    I honestly do not remember what the exact scene was from Farmingdale, but I do recall the film stating that Mexican women were also being labeled as being "seductive," like African American women were being labeled as.

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  15. America is a land of immigrants. Or, that’s what we hear whenever the topic of today’s
    illegal immigration comes up.Farmingville meticulously reveals the underlying forces, and the human impact, of what has become the largest influx of Mexican workers in U.S. history – a migration that economic globalization is carrying beyond border areas and major cities and into the small cities and towns of America.
    The documentary shows a very poignant picture of mexicans workers in farmingville their hardships,the humiliation they have to deal in their daily life and then a vicious crime brings the conflict fully to the surface. Lured to a basement under pretext of a job two mexican workers are brutally stabbed and beaten.even after suffering so much day workers build up their mutual help association called Human Solidarity to counter the harassment, fight for their rights, and reach out to the community. The workers come together on one of their most shared cultural traditions – soccer – and, in one of the conflict’s few bright spots, employ their hard-earned expertise in landscaping in exchange for permission to play on a local school’s athletic fields. The fields are groomed and a different kind of interaction is fostered when the workers joyously take the field. Yet despite the hopeful signs of conciliation and progress, Farmingville ends without resolution; at the film’s conclusion we find the community still struggling with a situation to which no clear solution seems imminent.

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  16. oopsie...Farmingville*...I don't know where I got Farmingdale from...

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  17. When I saw this documentary about the racism against Mexican workers that there is in Farminville; I wasn't surpriced at all, for the same reason that this is not something new in the United States. We have seen in history that people have been discriminated, attacked and most times pushed out of the country. In the United States we have always seen discriminism agains immigrants we seen it with Chinese, Irish, Africans and now is Mexicans.

    In my opinion I think that immigrants now these days, they only come with one purpose and it's just to make money to give a better living to their families and I don't see nothing wrong with that, I think that the problem here is the ignorance of the people who don't want to see changes in their neighborhood. We must remember that United States is build based on immigrants and there is no reason to discriminate them.

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  18. My first reaction was like: wtf? how can they people of farmingville hate the Mexicans to the point of beating them up, and denying them of their rights? For a while I thought the video we watched was in the early 1990s (where descrimination was certain), but this is the modern world, and they still act shady towards people of the other race.
    This is actually a conflice about racism, and also reveals that Americans don't like the other inhabitants of the world migrating to live with them.

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