The First-generation Immigrant in America Essay -- Minorities Equality

My grandmother has a certain look in her eyes when something is troubling her she stares off in a random direction with a wistful, slightly bemused expression on her face, as if she ascertains something the rest of us stinkert see, knows something that we dont know. It is in these moments, and these moments alone, that she seems distant from us, like a quiet observer watching from afar, her body present exactly her mind and heart in a dwelling house only she can visit. She never says it, but I know, and deep inside, I think they do as well. She wants to be a part of our world. She wants us to be a part of hers. But we dont belong. Not anymore. Not my brothersI dont think they ever did. Maybe I didonce, a long time ago, but I cant remember anymore. I love my grandmother. She knows that. I know she does, even if Im never able to convey it adequately to her in words.The scene is always the same the three of us sitting in a room together, talking. I see her from the corner of my eye, glancing for only a second or two, but always long enough to notice the look on her face, the expression Ive travel so painfully familiar with over the years. I am forced to turn away the conversation resumes. She is a few feet from us. She hears everything, and understands nothing except what she can gather from the expressions on our faces, the tone of our voices. She pretends not to be bothered, smiling at us and interjecting random questions or comments in Chinesea language I was raised to speak, a language Ive slowly forgotten over the years, a language that is now mine only by blood. It is an earnest but usually futile attempt to break through the invisible barrier that separates her from us, and in spite of all her efforts to hide it, that sad, contem... ...weak, when their echoes fade, and in that moment, I will come alive to a dark, empty silence. And the silence will be deafening.* La Gringa Derogatory epithet used to ridicule a Puerto Rican girl who wants to look like a blonde North American.Works CitedAndalza, Gloria. How to Tame a Wild Tongue. Encounters Essays for Exploration and Inquiry. second ed. Ed. Pat C. Hoy II and Robert DiYanni. modern York McGraw-Hill, 2000. 93-101.Cofer, Judith Ortiz. Silent Dancing. Encounters Essays for Exploration and Inquiry. 2nd ed. Ed. Pat C. Hoy II and Robert DiYanni. New York McGraw-Hill, 2000. 145-51.History. The Latino/a Education Network Service.14 Oct. 2002..Tan, Amy. Mother Tongue. Encounters Essays for Exploration and Inquiry. 2nd ed. Ed. Pat C. Hoy II and Robert DiYanni. New York McGraw-Hill, 2000. 603-07.