3.

According to Yosso, "Vincent Tinto's Stages of Passage" model argues that students engage in three processes early on in college: separation, transition and incorporation. However, in the Esmeralda section of Yosso's book, where Esmeralda narrates the story, one discovers that this is really just a specific formulation of stages geared to focus on the experiences of white students and doesn't at all encapsulate the very unique and very distinct experience of minority students. Esmeralda's first stage refers to the imminent culture shock that Chicana/o students are met with when they experience life on a college campus (Yosso, 125). The culture, lifestyle, and expectations turn out to be drastically, different from what they are used to. The second stage devised refers to the act of building up a sense of community among the Chicana/o and other ethnic minority students to help them combat the sense of racism they experience on college campuses (Yosso, 120). The final stage refers to the process of critical navigation (Yosso, 125). This is the process where as a collective, Hispanic and Latino students need to figure out how to best survive and succeed in this foreign environment which is somewhat inhospitable to them.

Thus, when one compares Tinto's stages vs. Esmeralda's, one sees clearly that the experience of higher learning is drastically different for Hispanics vs. Caucasians. While white students might have a brief period of separation, they then receive the smooth transition of becoming eventually incorporated into the institution. With Chicana/o students there is a much more pronounced struggle.

4.

The Farmingville conflict is rife with racism and using that word to characterize elements of the issue is simply unavoidable. According to the official website of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, "Crimes of hatred and prejudice -- from lynchings to cross burnings to vandalism of synagogues --...

As this quote reflects, hate crimes by definition are linked to racism. Just as the hate crime in the Farmingville film was undeniably connected to racism. To deny that there was a race-related motivation with the attempted murder of the two day laborers is an exercise in denial and naivete. Furthermore, the film goes to great pains to paint a picture of how the town of Farmingville was truly alienated by the presence of this influx of immigrants. As much as the local economy was able to benefit from the influx of cheap labor, the shock to the small town's nearly all white culture put a strain on community relations.
Furthermore, the film blatantly reflects how the violent incident of attempted murder exposes the deep-ceded racism and strained race relations of the town in that in the aftermath, the town becomes even more profoundly divided. In other scenarios, the town may have become united over an incident like this, with the community brought more strongly together. Rather, the attempted murder brought to light the hate groups that the attackers had allegiance to and the burning resentment other members of the town still fostered over the influx of immigrants. Thus, one should not hesitate to label the events in Farmingville as laced with racism, as they definitely were in fact racially charged.

Works Cited

Calfeti, Jessica. Arizona Bans Ethnic Studies. 12 May 2010. Website. 16 May 2012.

FBI.gov. Hate Crimes. 2012. Website. 16 May 2012.

Haney-Lopez, Ian. Racism on Trial: The Chicano Fight for Justice. Boston: Harvard University Press, 2003. Print.

Yosso, Tara. Critical race counterstories along the Chicana/Chicano educational pipeline. New York: Routledge Publishers, 2006.…