Blog #16

"The End of White America" talks about similar points that "Deconstructing America" discussed, that the white race is soon going to be a minority.  I think for some white people this freaks them out because they are used to being the majority or "superior" to other races.  Throughout the United States history, whites were the ones in charge and there were always more of them than any other race.  Today, the U.S. is much more diverse and your 'status' as a U.S. citizen has to do with your social class and nothing to do with your race.  And in a country that aspires to be post-racial, it is interesting that people are scared or worried about the racial percentages in the U.S. changing so that almost everyone could be considered a "minority".  "We can talk about defining ourselves by lifestyle rather than skin color, but our lifestyle choices are still racially coded" (Hsu 510).  However, we are going into a more diverse world where culture is something we are creating in our own image, and many races can be apart of one culture.
I found that "The Crossing" relates to "The End of White America" because both of them deal with metaphoric lines.  "The End of White America" deals with "the color line" and "The Crossing" deals with the "border line".  For Martinez and many other Mexican Americans, or Mexicans trying to get into the U.S., the line means a lot of things.  Abiding by the line means abiding by the law, but that may not be the morally right decision depending on the person.  Martinez struggled to help a man with diabetes; he couldn't drive him over the line because he would get arrested, but at the same time he wanted to be able to help him cross so he could have a better life.  And Martinez didn't want the man to walk in fear of him not making it due to his medical condition.  So he notified Border Patrol and the hoped the man would be okay and would be able to cross the border eventually on his own. The quote from this passage that really stuck out in my mind was "I tell myself I did the right thing. I tell myself I did the wrong thing. I tell myself that every decision on the line is like that, somewhere in between" (482).