Home / Quotes / Quote by Luis Alberto Urrea

Quote by Luis Alberto Urrea

“Of course, the illegals have always been called names other than human--wetback, taco-bender. (A Mexican worker said: "If I am a wetback because I crossed a river to get here, what are you, who crossed an entire ocean?') In politically correct times, "illegal alien" was deemed gauche, so "undocumented worker" came into favor. Now, however, the term preferred by the Arizona press is "undocumented entrant." As if the United States were a militarized beauty pageant. Maye it is.”

Book:The Devil's Highway: A True Story

Work

The Devil's Highway: A True Story

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Luis Alberto Urrea

Luis Alberto Urrea, born in 1955, is a renowned Mexican-American poet. His works blend Mexican and American cultures and explore themes such as identity, family, and social justice. Urrea's poetry is known for its profound emotion and rich imagination, winning the hearts of readers. more

“Adjunct teachers are the professorial equivalent of the migrant Mexican farm laborers hired during harvest. If you can get a good contract at the same farm every year, where the farmer pays you on time and doesn't cheat or abuse you, then it's in your best interest to show up consistently from year to year.”

Teaching Academia Mexicans Migrant Laborers

Book:All Over Creation

Source: All Over Creation

“El problema con los criollos, y hasta en mayor grado con las criollas, es que están convencidos de que merecen una mejor vida de la que tienen. La mente criolla está convencida de que bajo la corteza del cráneo porta un diamante que alguien tendría que descubrir, pulir y poner en un cojín rojo, para que los demás se admiren, se pasmen, se den cuenta de lo que siempre se habían perdido.”

Mexico Mexicans Criollos

Book:Los ingrávidos

Source: Los ingrávidos

“If the North American continent was broad ("high, wide, and lonesome"), then Mexico was tall. High, narrow, and lonesome. Europeans conquering North America hustled west, where the open land lay. And the Europeans settling Mexico hustled north. Where the open land was. Immigration, the drive northward, is a white phenomenon. White Europeans conceived of and launched El Norte mania, just as white Europeans inhabiting the United States today bemoan it.”

United States Immigration Mexico Whites North Europeans Mexicans European Settlers

Book:The Devil's Highway: A True Story

Source: The Devil's Highway: A True Story