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