Second Generation Immigrants
hello
my name is niv ranch and i am going to
be talking to you
about second generation immigrants
i am a second generation immigrant my
mother came from the u.s
to germany where i was born and raised
i firmly believe that having an
immigrant parent
and being a second generation immigrant
can not only change
your lives but the lives of people
around you as well
however this can only be done in a
society
that is not only open and accepting for
its all
but also makes them feel like they are
actually wanted
in this photo you can see my family and
me when we were younger
while we were happy in germany and we
still are
i often felt like my mother was treated
differently
because she was an immigrant she would
call up real estate agents
and try and rent an apartment and they
would
hear 10 seconds of her broken german and
they would immediately
say sorry the apartment has already been
reserved
and then my father would call only
minutes later in his
perfect german and they would
immediately
make an appointment i chose this topic
not only because of this but also
because i think
that having an immigrant background and
being a second generation immigrant
is mutually beneficial to all
but before i continue i would like to
explain some terminology to you guys
first
what is a second generation immigrant
well as you may have guessed a second
generation
immigrant is the child of one or more
immigrants
and who was born and raised in the
country immigrated to
my mother was the direct immigrant and
she came to germany where i was born and
raised this makes me a second generation
immigrant
a first generation immigrant is a direct
immigrant like my mother
and a third generation immigrant is
where
one or more grandparents is a direct
immigrant
now over the years more newer terms have
been coined
such as a one and a half generation
immigrant
where a person immigrated to another
country as a young
toddler child
so many of us in germany are immigrants
in 2018 multiple studies were taken to
show
our immigrant statistics here in germany
where one out of every four germans was
shown to be a first or second
generation immigrant that means 20.8
million of us or more were had migrant
backgrounds or were
immigrants as you can see in this graph
the people with migrant backgrounds are
increasing rapidly
while the people without migrant
backgrounds are slowly decreasing
and the trend is only growing in the
last five
years we have seen the largest surge of
immigrants
since world war ii in light of this
germany needs to best consider how to
help these people
and thus the german federal office for
migration and refugees also known as
bamf
came up with a few integration
indicators these include
an increase of tolerated foreigners from
other countries
an increase in the number of voters with
migrant backgrounds
a decrease in the people who finish
school without school finishing
qualifications
a decrease in the unemployment rate and
also a decrease in the homelessness rate
there are so many advantages to being a
second generation immigrant
some include that we may have more
cultures to celebrate
both our parents and so on we may have
more festivals
holidays and traditions like the
american tradition of carving halloween
pumpkins
and most importantly we may have more
tolerance and acceptance
towards other people because we know
what it’s like to be in their shoes
but how does having an immigrant parent
and being a second generation immigrant
affect my life and my future well i am
bilingual which means that i will
probably
obtain more job opportunities and study
opportunities abroad
i have two passports which helps with
this as well
and having two passports it means that i
can acclaim diplomatic assistance
in the u.s and in any eu member state if
i’m ever in trouble
i am also very fortunate to go to the
european school reinmind as this helps
me feel like i fit in more
because i’m surrounded by generation
immigrants both first second
and third daily which helps me not only
fit in more
but also helps me gain knowledge
acceptance and tolerance towards other
people in their cultures
despite the numerous advantages there
are also
some disadvantages many immigrants feel
like they don’t truly fit in anywhere
they are also facing discriminations
on how they dress their accents their
language
their ethnicity their nationality their
religions
and so many more factors but
is discrimination actually rising in
germany
well in 2017 the ifd the alternative
deutschland
a political party based off of an
anti-immigrant and anti-refugee
platform won 12.6
of the votes 94 seats in the german
parliament a staggering increase from
the last election
not only in politics have we seen that
xenophobia and racism may be on the rise
here in germany
also catastrophic events have been
happening
such as the shooting in hanau just this
year in february
30 minutes away from here where we
witnessed a horrific shooting
of two turkish-owned bars the shooter
killed 11 people
including german civilians who were
first and second generation immigrants
and foreigners
not only in germany have we seen events
such as this happen either
in the u.s the black lives matter
movement
only brought to light how systemic
racism and xenophobia are
and how important it is and vital that
we implement change and reform
not only in the us or in germany but
globally and that we do this
immediately even in the absence of
xenophobia and racism
many immigrants still feel different
when i go to the u.s
i say oh i’m german to explain why i
don’t know the newest hit songs or have
the newest clothes that are trending
and when i come back to germany i say oh
i’m american
to explain my accent and my mannerisms
in general
even my german family members some of
them
criticize my german and say that i’m too
american
and even my irish name spelled n-i-a-m-h
pronounced neve when mispronounced can
make me feel not only strange
but estranged from others in a negative
way
however i am fortunate enough to have
seen
second generation immigrants in other
places before coronavirus my
sister and i taught refugees english at
the local refugee center
and this was truly inspiring because it
was amazing to see
how determined they were to become
fluent in german when they were already
fluent in four or five languages most of
them
and it was also incredible to see how
hardworking they were at their german
and how important and joyful it was for
them
to be given the chance at having a
permanent home here in germany
so when the borders open up again and
the restrictions are lifted
i truly hope with all of my heart that
we can not only integrate more refugees
and more immigrants into our society
but that we can make them feel like they
are truly wanted here
thank you for listening