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Immigrant Interview: Josh 🇨🇲

“Josh” from Cameroon 🇨🇲

(using an alias name for anonymity)

I was a peer to Arthur, and I’m currently finishing my A.S. degree in Bioengineering, at Prince George’s Community College in Largo, Maryland. I speak Fang, French, English, and at least two other languages.

My grandfather died about three years ago, leaving a great deal of money for my parents. It remains a mystery how the money got in my grandfather’s possession. Two years ago, my imitate family and I used the money as a bridge to move to the United States with a life-long freind (fictive kin). My parents chose to come to the DMV Metropolitan Area because we believe being close to the White House and being geographically near D. C. will aid us in our political process, influence, and engagement. On top of that, we felt pushed out of our native land due to lacking of educational and medical resources, which we also use as a form of assimilation. An underlying barrier for us was how our extended family and friends discouraged us to leave because they would miss us, our traditional values of staying in the same geographical region, and more. As far as immigrant type, I refused to share the status of my parents and others, but I claimed to be a LPR.

My personal experience of integrating into American socially has been impressively easy. My sweet, humble, and courageous personality keeps a smile on my face, even when haters are doing their job. I live by a quote I enjoy referring to, “It’s not what people call you, it’s what you respond to”. Everything has fallen into place for me. I have an engineering internship, the rest of my family is employed, and I have a roof over my head. I’m eternally grateful for the opportunity to achieve my version of the “American Dream”.

Concept Map: Occupy Wall Street Movement

#conceptmap

At the Hands of Child Slaves: Biography of a Chocolate Bar

“Remember who you are, and what you represent” - David Simas

Nestlé Crunch Candy Bar

What are the working and living conditions of the people who produce the cocoa? How is it produced? Are child laborers involved?

Hundreds of thousands of workers are children, who are involuntarily working as slaves against their will. Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon farm 70% of the world’s cocoa beans. School is erased as an option for them, as their own family members send them to small modern-day slave plantations called “farming communities” where they carry 100-pound bags of cocoa beans and machetes. A single cocoa tree produces about thirty cocoa pods per year. Each pod has about 40 beans inside and 500 beans make only one pound of chocolate. In a BBC documentary, a young boy in Ivory Coast said, “They are enjoying something that I suffered to make,” the boy answered. “They are eating my flesh.” The boys accompanying him agreed to tell the filmmakers that, without pay, they were forced to work long hours without pay. The West African children working within this rough reality of slavery, trafficking, and child labor, who provide livings for about 40 to 50 million farmers, rural workers, and their families, are working at the benefit of international chocolate giants such as Hershey’s, Mars, and Nestlé.

Cocoa beans come from cocoa fruits called cocoa pods. The cocoa pods are cut open by manually hammering a machete into it and taking out the beans. The beans are then fermented, dried, cleaned and packed into cocoa sacks.

How do the producers get the cocoa to the market? How are prices set?

After the cocoa beans are produced, farmers sell the product to intermediaries that Ingrid Fromm, Ph.D. calls PCs (purchasing clerks). PCs then buy the unprocessed beans and sell them to exporters. Prices are set by the stakeholders that communicate with the PCs. Everything up to this point happens in the global South. The exporters send the beans to grinding companies in the global North, where the beans are crushed, shells are removed, roasted, and ground, creating “cocoa liquor” which is used to create chocolate, cocoa butter, and cocoa powder.

Which international corporations dominate the chocolate trade? Who regulates it?

The top ten corporations that dominate the chocolate trade are:

Company, Net Sales 2017 (US$ millions)

1. Mars Wrigley Confectionery, div of Mars Inc (USA), 18,000

2. Ferrero Group (Luxembourg / Italy), 12,000

3. Mondelēz International (USA), 11,560

4. Meiji Co Ltd (Japan), 9,652*

5. Nestlé SA (Switzerland), 8,818

6. Hershey Co (USA), 7,533

7. Chocoladenfabriken Lindt & Sprüngli AG (Switzerland), 4,106

8. Ezaki Glico Co Ltd (Japan), 3,242*

9. Arcor (Argentina), 3,100

10. Pladis (UK), 2,816

(Source: https://www.icco.org/about-cocoa/chocolate-industry.html)

In terms of regulation, The Trade Regulations Database says, “The National Administration of Medicine, Food, and Medical Technology of the Ministry of Health is the regulatory authority for food standards. The Argentine Food Code provides definitions and standards for confectionery products under Chapter 10 and cocoa and chocolate products under Chapter 15.

(Source: https://www.candyusa.com/trade-regulations-database/)

How is chocolate marketed?

In Sarah Schmidt of MarketReasearch.com’s article 6 Key Facts About the Chocolate Industry, she highlights the fact that 98% of the dollar sales for chocolate shared by the top four marketers of seasonal Halloween chocolate. Chocolate blogger Sharon Terenzi exposes that chocolate marketers put 5-10-15% discounts on chocolate in attempts to lure people into buying chocolate thinking it’s a food deal. Marketers have sent excessive emails to folk who sign up for memberships and randomly sent emails to people to remind them of their product.

Where did you buy it?

Chocolate can be bought in almost any store in America. From chocolate specialty stores in bourgeoisie neighborhoods to liquor stores on street corners in food deserts, you can find chocolate that was originally grown from a cocoa tree that produced cocoa pods that were manually cut open with the hands of child slaves. I used to buy chocolate from vending machines in various buildings on Morgan State University’s campus.

How much profit does a store owner make on a bar of chocolate?

The exact amount obviously varies. Large chocolate manufacturers like Hershey’s, Kraft, and Nestlé have a three-year net profit margin of around 8 percent. For small-business retailers, gross profit margins can climb up to 48.23 percent and as low as 35.49 percent. Boutique Chocolatiers have gross profit margins of between 58 and 72 percent.

(Source: https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/profit-margin-expected-chocolate-24385.html)

Sources:

Inside Big Chocolate’s Child Labor Problem: http://fortune.com/big-chocolate-child-labor/

Child Labor and Slavery in the Chocolate Industry: http://www.foodispower.org/slavery-chocolate/

Does Your Chocolate Come From Slaves?: https://ethicalunicorn.com/2018/02/24/does-your-chocolate-come-from-slaves/

The dark truth about chocolate: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/mar/25/chocolate-the-dark-truth-is-it-good-for-you-health-wellbeing-blood-pressure-flavanols

Child Labour: the true cost of chocolate production: https://www.raconteur.net/business-innovation/child-labour-cocoa-production

Cocoa has a poverty problem. You can help by eating more dark chocolate: https://newfoodeconomy.org/chocolate-farmers-ivory-coast-ghana/

Fromm, Ingrid. (2014). From Production to Export Markets: The Case of the Cocoa Value Chain in Ghana. Journal of African Development. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265736313_From_Production_to_Export_Markets_The_Case_of_the_Cocoa_Value_Chain_in_Ghana

Cocoa production in a nutshell: https://makechocolatefair.org/issues/cocoa-production-nutshell

The Chocolate Industry: https://www.icco.org/about-cocoa/chocolate-industry.html

What requirements should cocoa meet to be allowed on the European market?: https://www.cbi.eu/market-information/cocoa/buyer-requirements/

International Trade Regulation Database: https://www.candyusa.com/trade-regulations-database/

6 Key Facts About the Chocolate Industry: https://blog.marketresearch.com/chocolate-industry

4 Marketing Strategies That Turn Off Chocolate Consumers: https://thechocolatejournalist.com/4-marketing-strategies-that-turn-off-chocolate-consumers/

What Is the Profit Margin Expected on Chocolate?: https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/profit-margin-expected-chocolate-24385.html

https://www.walgreens.com/q/nestle+candy+bars

#fieldwork

andrewjhill99

Amazon workers described working conditions in the company's warehouses across the world. One US worker said there were "awful smells" comin

This article shows that amazon does not treat their factory employees with respect. They work them long hours and don’t get them many breaks. This article shows Karl Marx theory of social class because amazon is the bourgeoisie and the workers are the proletariats.

#eyeopener

Three Fair Trade Cocoa Organizations

1. eatingEVOLVED

https://eatingevolved.com

“IT'S FOOD, NOT CANDY.

All of our products are certified organic, dairy free, gluten free, paleo, and vegan. No additives. Nothing unnatural. We like simplicity: that's why our products don't contain anything unnecessary.”

2. Endangered Species Chocolate

http://www.chocolatebar.com

“The first American-made chocolate using fully traceable Fairtrade beans from West Africa.”

3. UnReal

http://getunreal.com

“non-gmo verified, fair trade ingredients, sustainable ingredients, organic ingredients, nothing artificial, certified gluten free*, vegan*, unreal taste”

The best chocolate snacks ever. Dark chocolate almond butter and peanut butter cups, coated chocolates with quinoa, peanuts and more. Non-GM

The Primal Dark Chocolate Company

Social Class & Inequality

Dr. James Davison Hunter's article How America's culture wars have evolved into a class war provides a deep perspective supported by insight from various cultures in America, our suffering political climate, and the realities of the lower, middle, and upper classes. Like other contemporary sociologists, Hunter recognizes the division of white-collar and blue-collar, both being within the proletariat. He suggests that rather than a strict Marxian view of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, the gap has widened and become much more complex, announcing the current culture wars are "far different from the one Karl Marx might have predicted".

With the injection of "social deplorability" into the hearts of the lower-middle-class and the comfortability of the upper-middle-class, Marx's idea of class consciousness has become even harder to reach. Through Hunter's eyes, cultural divisions have grown from just "sexuality, religion and family" to being accompanied by "globalization, immigration, and the changing boundaries of legitimate pluralism." As it's mentioned in our textbook, Hunter sees how jobs in the manufacturing industry have vanished due to technological advances and outsourcing. He referenced Wage Stagnation in Nine Charts, an article from the Economic Policy Institute, that exposes how middle and low wage workers suffer from stagnating wages. He used U.S. inequality keeps getting uglier, an article by Economics Correspondent Heather Long from CNN Business, that details how income inequality is increasing rapidly. He also mentioned Decline of unions has hurt all workers: study by USA Today economics reporter Paul Davidson, in which Davison explores how union membership has led to fewer and smaller wage increases for nonunion workers, as most nonunion workers aren't union members because of dues being unaffordable.

Although the fight against inequality within the realm of class seems like a kamikaze mission, it is a battle we must recognize and be a part of. It's a war that will exceed our lifetimes, but rather than complying with the status quo, relying on others, or doing nothing because of our comfortability, we can, we will, and we must create steps toward progress.

A member of the March to Confront White Supremacy holds a sign during a brief rally in September. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/09/12/how-americas-culture-wars-have-evolved-into-a-class-war/?utm_term=.0fdc174777d6

The haves and the have-nots are doing battle, but not in the terms Karl Marx would have predicted

#fieldwork #social class #inequality #Chaper 11 Class and Inequality

Kinship & Family Diagram

My diagram is missing three of my father’s brothers. Yes, he has 7 siblings.

The most striking observation is my immediate and extended family struggles with commitment.

My parents filed for divorce when I was in third grade and was split physically before we went school shopping for the fourth grade. I’ve questioned many things from my behaviors, values, and beliefs to meaning of marriage to religion, practices, and speech. The idea of “divorce being okay” has been and continues to be taught to me by my family. My father was divorced when he met my mother, and has not even dated since divorcing my mother. My mother had not been married before meeting my father. Ten years later, she got married again to a person who was also divorced, and they are married today.

My father’s brother, and brothers that I couldn’t fit on the graph, were in separate relationships that involved cohabitating with multiple women. I have an uncle that had so many children, even my father isn’t sure how many he had. My father has a brother who had multiple children with multiple women due to co-inhabiting relationships. All of my father’s brother’s children are my parallel cousins.

My father has only one sister. She filed for divorce after being severely mistreated by her husband, who practiced a religion deviant from the family’s ol’ school Christian religion. Her children would be cross-cousins.

My mother only has two siblings: a big brother and big sister. Her brother (my “favorite uncle”) has been married to his wife for over twenty years and had one son together. Their son is my cross-cousin. My mother’s sister coinhabitated to form my parallel cousin.

Being silenced and forced to watch everything play out, my values for my relationship changed. I am a Christian that wants to be in a healthy Christian relationship that does not contain any forms of malicious acts (i.e. the experiences of my father’s sister). I don’t want to have multiple children with multiple women because I see the negative experiences of uncles and their children, and it’s expensive emotionally and monetarily. Notwithstanding, a different significant part of me sees my future marriage I wish to be in as a union of a woman and me to be together for the rest of our lives on earth.

#fieldwork

Concept #5: Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism is a pattern of ethnic relations in which new immigrants and their children enculturate into the dominant national culture and yet retain an ethnic culture.

In 1876, Martin Dibobe was born in Cameroon as Quane a Dibobe. Migrating to Germany at 20 years old, he worked as a contract worker for the first German colonial show as part of the trade fair in Berlin, and transferred to work for the BVG (Berlin public transportation system) ten years later. In 1919, he co-authored a 32-point petition to the national general assembly in Weimar, advocating for legal and social justice. Though Dibobe left his homeland, he kept a traditional key element of advocacy for his people.

#fieldwork

Concept #4: Ethnic Cleansing

Ethnic cleansing: Efforts by representatives of one ethnic or religious group to remove or destroy another group in a particular geographic area

Starting in 1937, the “Central European Colonial Empire” planned a “tropical extension” of national socialist Europe. This initiated a secret sterilization of over 500 Rhineland children and other Black people (Europeans tried to exterminate them from the area). Also during this time, it’s important to understand that it was illegal for Black children to attend school and that Black people were regularly forced into concentration camps to participate in forced labour.

#fieldwork

Concept #3: Genocide

Genocide is the deliberate and systemic destruction of an ethnic or religious group. From 1905 to 1908, rebellions in German-East African (Maji-Maji War), a genocide of around 200,000 people in the combat areas. White Germans killed hundreds of children, women, and men over 10,000 square miles.

Read more about the Maji Maji Uprising here: https://blackpast.org/gah/maji-maji-uprising-1905-1907

#feedback #fieldwork

Chapter 9: Concept Map 10/25/2018

Race and Sexuality for Black Gay Women

[please let me know if you can’t read something, I did my best!]

Concept #2: Ethnic Boundary Marker

An ethnic boundary marker is a practice or belief, such as food, clothing, language, shared name, or religion, used to signify who is in a group and who is not.

Formerly named Pielina Wanjiru Schindler, she named herself after her grandmother, Onejiru meaning “Mother of Black People”. After moving with her mother and four siblings to Germany, she felt like she had to assimilate into German culture. She was born in Kenya, but raised in Germany. So, as she studied in German university and became an artist, she kept certain markers that label her as a Kenyan. The way she speaks, her name, jewelry and the clothes she occasionally wears are Kenyan markers.

Check out her song ASEGIS (together as one) featuring Rasta Demen, Air Jay, Lord Boy, Big Ben, G-wills here: https://youtu.be/rqymMls07lk

#fieldwork

The black experience in postwar Germany

Concept #1: Institutional Racism

In the first paragraph of African-American Scholar W.E.B. du Bois’s book The Souls of Black Folk, he asks himself and the reader: “How does it feel to be a problem?” (http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/dubois/ch01.html)

From 1946 to 1955, Black US American soldiers began having children in West Germany. They had over 5,000 children who were treated as a “race problem”. This lead to not only public discourse between this group and others, but how authorities practiced policy.

#fieldwork

Blacks in Germany Fun Fact - 10/18/2018

I didn’t know that from 1905 to 1908, around 200,000 people were killed in combat areas during the Maji Maji War in German-East Africa. That’s only three years y’all. That’s around 5,556 people a month, which is around 185 people per day.

The rise of World War I in 1914 came with an execution of 200 resisters in Cameroon, which included Rudolf Manga Bell, Ludwig Mpundo Akwa and Martin-Paul Samba.

Rudolf Douala Manga Bell was a Cameroonian hero. Not only was he the first son of King Manga Ndumbe Bell of the Douala people, and a scholar that excelled through primary school, secondary school, and law studies at university, he was a husband to the beautiful Emily Engome Dayas. He bridged the gap between the Douala people and Bali, Balong, Dschang, Foumban, Ngaoundéré, Yabassi, and Yaoundé by simply reaching out th their leaders. Read more about him at: https://wp.me/pCOKF-1oI

Today, I would like to talk about one of the heroes of Cameroonian history, Rudolf Douala Manga Bell, who stood against the Germans in the 1

#fieldwork

Concept #6: Nativism Nativism: The favoring of certain long-term inhabitants, namely whites, over new immigrants This is a sign that does not welcome immigration for Spanish-speaking peoples. They are creating a message demeaning their livelihood. American whites have been in North America longer than new immigrants, and in this cartoon, they feel a sense of whiteness over spanish-speakers. Chapter 6: Race and Racism

#fieldwork

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