Class Matters: 15 Years on the Bottom Rung.
Anthony DePalma.
- New York Times, 2005.
- SIRS Enduring Issues 2006. Article 17, Environment, 1522-3205; .
Articles Contained in SIRS Enduring Issues 2006. Originally Published: Class Matters: 15 Years on the Bottom Rung, May 26, 2005; pp. A1+.
The author examines class division in the United States, reasoning that "illegal Mexican immigrants...risk becoming stuck in a permanent underclass of the poor, the unskilled and the uneducated" (NEW YORK TIME) as the American dream of upward mobility is proving to be much more elusive for Mexican immigrants than it has been for previous "generations of hard-working immigrants." The author illustrates his assertion by presenting two vastly diverse tales about immigration. In one story John Zannikos, who came to the United States as an illiterate Greek immigrant, prospers to become co-owner of a very successful New York restaurant. In the other story Juan Manuel Peralta, an illegal Mexican immigrant who has worked for 15 years in the United States at menial jobs, continues to remain in the poverty class with no opportunities for economic advancement in sight.
1522-3205;
Alien labor Greeks Illegal aliens Immigrants Immigrants--Education Mexicans--United States. Poverty Race relations in the workplace Working poor