The Latino Migration Experience in North Carolina: New Roots in the Old North State

Conclusion

Conclusion On an early December morning in 2007 at Dillard Middle School in Caswell County, the bell rang and students poured into their seventh grade civics class for fourth period. It was hunting season in Caswell County, evident by the occasional rifle crack in the woods around the school and by the camouflage vests and John Deere hats in the classroom . Dillard’s students, many of whom live in farming families that still harvest tobacco and slaughter pigs in the fall, grow up in one of the poorest economies in the state, where the average weekly wage is $417. With few economic opportunities, Caswell’s Latino population earns less than the state average. Nevertheless, there are immigrants in Caswell working in agriculture, and in civics class that day, a native-­ Spanish-­ speaking girl with long black braids sat in the second row from the back. “Today’s class is about immigration,” the teacher said. Students were learning about North Carolina’s history of Highland Scots, Scots Irish, German, African, and Moravian immigrants. A boy with cowlicks and muddy Timberland boots yelled out, “Is this going to be boring?” Ignoring him, the teacher posed the question, “Does anyone have immigrant family members or ancestors?” Students who had been fidgeting in their desks, opening book bags, and talking to each other quieted as they considered the question. Several of the students turned around to look at the girl with the long black braids. They appeared to be waiting for her to speak. “Anyone? Do we have immigrant ancestors?” the teacher asked. Hands began to pop up. “My dad says we are Irish,” said the boy with the cowlicks in his hair. “My grandfather came from Trinidad,” a girl with a horse sweatshirt said. conclusion 176 “My family is from Scotland,” yelled a boy from the back row. Other students chimed in. “England.” “Africa?” “Scotland.” “Danville!” The class laughed. The girl with the black braids in the back spoke. In perfect English, she said, “My family is from Mexico, but I am not sure where. But I am not an immigrant. I am from North Carolina.” Latinos in North Carolina are not merely visitors to the state but part of the inevitably changing demographic of its people. In the South, new immigrant groups have redefined identities of people and places for centuries, and that process, often marked by struggle over land rights, political boundaries, and local autonomy, continues today with Latino migration. Every generation perceives a change in values, traditions, and landscapes as new and protests with the refrain, “It’s always been this way.” Reviving collective memories, as the students at Dillard Middle School did, enables people to understand the inevitability of change, demographic and otherwise. Given North Carolina’s history of settlement by diverse peoples, citizens of the state should make space for its newest immigrants, who enrich and contribute to its cultural institutions and embrace the opportunity to be fully integrated North Carolinians. Immigration accompanies and is precipitated by other equally transformative processes affecting a place’s identity, such as urbanization, technological advancements, policy reform, climatic events, and geopolitical relationships. In a state like North Carolina where the identities of communities are closely tied to agricultural roots, immigrant labor can be perceived as the engine by which the work of urbanization and development— ​ destructive processes in rural places— ​ is carried out. These perceptions are further influenced by recession and war, current and past stressors that shape discourses about difference and diversity. Immigration produces change at the ground level in local communities, and the agents of change are humans we come into contact with every day and may hold accountable. Yet demographic change is about much more than individual human decisions; it is a process influenced by many factors. For this reason, 177  conclusion the solutions to the challenges of undocumented immigration lie not in enforcement of policies targeted only at individual migrants but in reforming the larger social and political frameworks that shape or force their decisions. Comprehensive immigration reform is a critical step in alleviating the challenges of undocumented immigration. Strategies implemented in the last reform of 1986 made it illegal for the first time in U.S. history for employers to knowingly hire illegal workers and offered legal permanent resident status to 2.7 million undocumented workers. However, these strategies, combined with billions of dollars spent on border enforcement initiatives in the past twenty years, did...