W
elcome to Currents, a new series that views global and national issues through a local lens. For the inaugural editon of the series, we will be examining contemporary perspectives on immigration. Books, both fiction and nonfiction, will be the core of each Currents, along with screenings and discussions of films, community dialogs, art exhibits and distinguished speakers. The central work of this series will be the novel “The Book of Unknown Americans” by Cristina Henríquez, who will appear at the library on Tuesday, March 10 at 7 p.m. More information on “The Book of Unknown Americans” and other immigrationrelated titles can be found in this guide. We’re pleased to present this edition of Currents in conjunction with the Arts Council of Princeton, the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund, La Hermandad Latinoamericana, Not in Our Town Princeton, the Princeton Human Services Department, Princeton University’s Dream Team and Princeton University Press. — Janie Hermann Public Programming Librarian
Currents has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Celebrating 50 Years of Excellence. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this programming do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
ON THE COVER: Detail from cover art for The Book of Unknown Americans
IMMIGRATION REFORM TACKLING THE TOUGHEST QUESTIONS Excerpted with permission of the American Immigration Council. Full text: americanimmigrationcouncil.org/special-reports/tackling-toughest-questions-immigration-reform
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mmigration reform is a key issue in the United States and will play a significant role in upcoming elections at all levels of government. Despite significant public support for immigration reform among members of the public in both parties, many of the most basic facts about immigrants and immigration remain misunderstood. Debunking the myths about immigration and providing short, concise answers to the often-complex issues raised by the immigration debate is a challenge. Smart, thoughtful answers often take longer than the sound bites and quick retorts that the media demands today. The staff of the Immigration Policy Center (IPC) has prepared a Q&A Guide to help get to the heart of the toughest questions on immigration and the library has included a sample of those questions below. To get further succinct answers to immigration questions, as well as more in-depth analysis, fact sheets, and data we urge you to visit their web site at www.immigrationpolicy.org Q: Why do we need Immigration Reform? A: Immigration reform is part of the solution for creating a stronger, more successful, and unified nation. America is a nation of immigrants, and welcoming immigrants reflects the key values on which this country is based: hard work, perseverance, taking on challenges, demonstrating individuality, and showing compassion. In addition, immigration reform is a bipartisan issue where everyone can agree that a working immigration system contributes to a stronger country — economically, socially, and culturally. Anti-immigrant pundits often downplay the importance of immigration to America’s future, treating immigrants and immigration as a threat. While there are plenty of legitimate issues to question and debate in immigration policy, choosing to use the topic as a wedge issue, stirring up fear and uncertainty, hoping to pit people against each other, is not only unproductive, but damaging to our civic life. The facts make it clear that reform of our immigration system can benefit everyone. We must ensure that we have a legal immigration system that works, which will make it far easier to enforce our laws, protect our borders, and provide the people and ideas we need to thrive in the 21st century. Q: Why allow unauthorized immigrants to become U.S. citizens? Isn’t legal status enough? A: The integration of the 11 million unauthorized immigrants now living in the United States into full citizenship is not only good for those individuals, but the country as a whole. Citizenship, and the quest for citizenship, facilitates integration in myriad ways that legal status alone does not. From learning English and U.S. civics to earning higher incomes, serving on a jury, and voting in elections, citizens and would-be citizens benefit from a deeper form of incorporation into U.S. society than do legal immigrants who have no hope of ever applying for naturalization.
IMMIGRATION REFORM
Q: What can be done about unauthorized immigration? A: Unauthorized immigration as we know it will only end when we change the way we think about our immigration system as a whole. A public policy that seeks to end unauthorized immigration must understand the reasons it occurs in the first place. While enforcement plays a role in reducing unauthorized immigration, the deciding factors are often based on economic need, family unity, or fear of persecution, which will never be fully addressed through enforcement-only measures. Instead, reducing unauthorized immigration turns on increasing the number of visas available for employment and family members—numbers that haven’t changed since 1990. It also requires addressing the roughly 11 million people living unlawfully in the United States, more than 60 percent of whom have been in the U.S. more than a decade. Creating a roadmap to legalization that acknowledges the integral role many of these immigrants play in our communities is key. Millions of U.S.-citizen children and family members risk separation from deported loved ones, and the country cannot afford to deport 11 million people. This requires lawmakers to focus on fair ways to bring those who have resided unlawfully in this country for years into full legal participation in their adopted home, which is the only thing separating them from truly being American. Q: Don’t immigrants take jobs from Americans? A: Immigrants do not compete with the majority of natives for the same jobs because they tend to have different levels of education and work in different occupations. As a result, immigrants usually complement the native-born workforce. That increases the productivity, and therefore the wages, of natives. Immigrants are also more likely to start businesses than the native-born. According to a 2011 report from the Kauffman Foundation, “immigrants were more than twice as likely to start businesses each month than were the native-born in 2010.” Immigrant-owned businesses employ millions of people across the U.S.
Q: Most undocumented immigrants just got here, didn’t they? A: Most unauthorized immigrants are integrated members of U.S. families and communities. Nationwide, unauthorized immigrants comprise 5.2 percent of the workforce, and in states like Arizona, the unauthorized share of the
workforce is even higher. In certain sectors, like agriculture and construction, unauthorized workers comprise up to 25 percent of the workforce. Nationwide, there are approximately 4.5 million U.S.-citizen children with at least one unauthorized parent, and policies that target their parents have grave effects on the children. Approximately three-fifths (61 percent) of unauthorized immigrants have been in the U.S. 10 years or more.
Q: These days, immigrants are mostly Mexicans, right? A: No. Fewer than one-third (29 percent) of immigrants in the United States are from Mexico. Roughly 28 percent are from Asia, 24 percent from countries in Latin America and the Caribbean other than Mexico, 12 percent from Europe, and 4 percent from Africa. Moreover, contrary to some popular misconceptions, most Latinos in the United States (63 percent) are native-born—not immigrants. And 29 percent of foreign-born Latinos are naturalized U.S. citizens.
Q: But people in the country unlawfully don’t pay taxes—Aren’t they just a drain on our economy? A: Like the rest of us, unauthorized immigrants pay taxes on their property and are subject to sales taxes on what they buy. More than half of them have taxes taken out of their paychecks. Households headed by unauthorized immigrants paid $10.6 billion in state and local taxes in 2010, according to estimates prepared by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). Moreover, ITEP estimates that, if provided the opportunity to earn legal status, formerly undocumented immigrants would pay a total of $12.7 billion in state and local taxes each year.
MORE INFORMATION American Immigration Council www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org Immigration Policy Center www.immigrationpolicy.org Immigration Advocates www.immigrationadvocates.org Migration Policy Institute www.migrationpolicy.org LOCAL: The Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. www.laldef.org STATE: Eagleton Program on Immigration and Democracy http://epid.rutgers.edu/gallery/facts-about-immigrant-nj
THE BOOK OF UNKNOWN AMERICANS READER’S GUIDE
Also online at: randomhouse.com/book/227962/the-book-of-unknown-americans-by-cristina-henrquez#reader’sguide
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he questions, discussion topics, and other material that follow are intended to enhance conversation about Cristina Henríquez’s “The Book of Unknown Americans,” a powerfully honest, unforgettable story of two families, brought together by love and tragedy, each struggling to find their place in a new country.
About the Book
Arturo and Alma Rivera have lived their whole lives in Mexico. One day, their beautiful fifteen-year-old daughter, Maribel, sustains a terrible injury, one that casts doubt on whether she’ll ever be the same. And so, leaving all they have behind, the Riveras come to America with a single dream: that in this country of great opportunity and resources, Maribel can get better. When Mayor Toro, whose family is from Panama, sees Maribel in a Dollar Tree store, it is love at first sight. It’s also the beginning of a friendship between the Rivera and Toro families, whose web of guilt and love and responsibility is at this novel’s core. Woven into their stories are the testimonials of men and women who have come to the United States from all over Latin America. Their journeys and their voices will inspire you, surprise you, and break your heart. Suspenseful, wry and immediate, rich in spirit and humanity, “The Book of Unknown Americans” is a work of rare force and originality that offers a resonant new definition of what it means to be an American.
About the Author
Cristina Henríquez is the author of the story collection “Come Together, Fall Apart,” which was a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection, and the novel “The World in Half.” Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The American Scholar, Glimmer Train, the Virginia Quarterly Review, Ploughshares, TriQuarterly, AGNI, and Oxford American, as well as in various anthologies. She lives in Illinois.
Discussion Questions
1. How does Alma’s perspective in the novel’s first chapter illustrate her and her family’s hopes for their new life in America? Take another look at her statement after the trip to the gas station: “The three of us started toward the road, doubling back in the direction from which we had come, heading toward home” (p.11). What are the meanings of “home” here, and how does this scene show how America meets and differs from the Riveras’ expectations of it? 2. Mayor describes how he’s bullied at school and his general feelings of not fitting in. How do you think this draws him to Maribel? What do they have in common that perhaps those around them, including their parents, cannot see on the surface? 3. How is the scene where the Riveras sit down for a dinner of oatmeal a turning point for the family and for the book? Discuss the role of food in the novel, especially how it evokes memories of home and establishes a sense of community. Are there any other cultural values or traditions that do the same thing? 4. What are some key differences in the way that the women in the novel respond to challenges of assimilation compared to the men? How does Alma’s point of view highlight these differences? 5. What brings Alma and Celia together as neighbors and friends, and how does their relationship change by the end of the book? 6. What are some of the signs throughout the novel that Maribel is getting better? Consider the scene in the pizza restaurant in particular, and her response to Alma’s joke. How does laughter here, and in other places in the book, evoke feelings of nostalgia and change? 7. How does Alma’s lingering guilt about Maribel’s accident affect her choices and interactions when she’s in America? Do you think that she still feels this way by the end of the book? What does she have to do, and realize within herself, to move beyond her feelings?
THE BOOK OF UNKNOWN AMERICANS 8. Do other characters besides Alma struggle with guilt? How does this emotion echo throughout the book, even among the varying narrators/voices? 9. How would you describe the atmosphere of the impromptu Christmas party in the Toros’ apartment (p. 137)? What brings the residents of the building together, as a group and in more intimate settings? Why do you think Cristina Henríquez brought all the characters together during this particular holiday? 10. Discuss Quisqueya’s role in what happens to Mayor and Maribel. Without her intervention, how might have their relationship, and ultimately the novel, ended differently? 11. How does Garrett cast a threatening shadow over several characters’ thoughts and actions? Did your opinion of him change after you learned about his home environment? How much blame can, or did, you ascribe to him for what happens to Arturo? 12. How does the Toros’ buying a car influence the course of events in the novel? What does the car mean for Rafael and Mayor individually and for their father-son relationship? 13. Was Alma’s decision to return to Mexico with Maribel the best one? Were there alternatives, or did their departure seem inevitable to you? 14. Alma and Mayor are the primary narrators of the book, yet they have very different voices and perspectives. How does pairing these points of view affect the telling of this story, even as they are punctuated by the voices of the neighbors in Redwood Apartments? And how does the chorus of voices affect this main story and pose larger questions of immigration and the Latino experience in the United States? 15. Were you surprised that the book takes place in Newark, Delaware, rather than in the larger Latin American communities of Florida, New York, Texas, or California? What does this setting suggest about immigrant families like the Riveras and the Toros across the country? Do you feel differently about the immigration debate now raging in the United States after reading this book? 16. Do you, the members of your family, or your friends have stories of moving to another country to start a new life? Did any of the stories in the novel resonate with those you know? 17. How does the final chapter, told in Arturo’s voice, influence your understanding of what he felt about America? What do you make of how he ends his narrative, “I loved this country,” and that it is the last line of the book (286)?
ADDITIONAL READING FICTION Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Ayad Akhtar Julia Alvarez Sandra Cisneros Junot Díaz Teju Cole Nell Freudenberger Cristina García Chang-rae Lee Jean Kwok Amada Eyre Ward Dinaw Mengestu Oscar Hijuelos Edwidge Danticat
Americanah American Dervish How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents The House on Mango Street The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Open City The Newlyweds Dreaming in Cuban Native Speaker Girl in Translation The Same Sky The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love Breath Eyes Memory
MEMOIR Elena Gorokhova Jane Ziegelman Frank McCourt Tracy Kidder Anthony Shadid Reyna Grande
Russian Tattoo 97 Orchard Angela’s Ashes Strength in What Remains House of Stone The Distance Between Us
NONFICTION Saundra Amrhein Carol M. Swain Ian Goldin Mary C. Waters Jacqueline Bhabha Bob Blaisdell Pete Hamill (editor) Jeb Bush Ann Bausam Aviva Chomsky Michael Barone Jorge Ramos
Green Card Stories Debating Immigration Exceptional People Inheriting the City Child Migration and Human Rights in a Global Age Essays on Immigration Becoming Americans Immigration Wars Denied Detained Deported Undocumented Shaping our Nation Dying to Cross
EVENTS
Details at princetonlibrary.org/events
Hugo Navarro exhibition
“Documented”
Author Cristina Henríquez
Through March 31
Art Exhibition: Armando Sosa and Hugo Navarro
Jan. 21, 7 p.m.
Film: “The Visitor”
Jan. 28, 7 p.m.
Film and Discussion: “Romantico”
Feb. 4, 7 p.m.
Film and Discussion: “Documented”
Feb. 18, 6 p.m.
Immigration Reform Updates and Info Session
Feb. 25, 7 p.m.
Local Immigration Panel
Feb. 25, 7 p.m.
Book Discussion: “The Book of Unknown Americans”
March 1, 3 p.m.
Immigration Reform Updates and Info Session
March 2, 7 p.m.
A Conversation wiht Pia de Jong
March 5, 7 p.m.
Art Talk: Armando Sosa/Hugo Navarro
March 5, 10 a.m.
Book Discussion: “The Book of Unknown Americans”
March 8, 1 p.m.
Book Discussion: “The Book of Unknown Americans”
March 10, 7 p.m.
Author Visit and Book Signing: Cristina Henríquez
March 11, 7 p.m.
Author Visit and Book Signing: Jacquelyn Bhabha
March 13, 7 p.m.
Film and Discussion: ”Purgatorio”
April 8, 6 p.m.
Immigration Reform Updates and Info Session
PEOPLE OF PRINCETON
Ariola Family
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n partnership with the Princeton Photo Workshop and the Princeton Human Services Department, the library is capturing local immigration stories for submission to the Unknown Americans Tumblr, unknownamericans.tumblr.com. These photos and stories will be displayed in the library.
Tamar Shalaberidze
Photos by Alan Kesselhaut
Shambi Family
Princeton Public Library
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Sands Library Building
609.924.9529
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65 Witherspoon St.
www.princetonlibrary.org