Description

At the dawn of the new millennium, immigration means a new beginning for many Cabo Verdean youth who arrive in Boston, Massachusetts. This new generation of Cabo Verdeans, however, faces different sets of challenges--ranging from family separation and reunification, to emerging street violence, to "sweeps" that culminate in deportation. This book chronicles the journey of Cabo Verdean young men as they negotiate their feelings around family, school, and neighborhood contexts. Ambrizeth Helena Lima discusses in depth the factors within these contexts that compel some of the young men to thrive and succeed, and others to spiral into a cycle of violence and eventual deportation. Lima also shows the young men's vulnerability in their urban neighborhoods, as one of them declares that in this journey "you're on your own." The young men in her book discuss their dreams, love for their family and culture, and the struggle to become "American." As with other racialized immigrant youth from places as diverse as the Caribbean and South Asia, these young men face racial, ethnic, and gender stereotypes that are grounded in America's white/black racial rationalization process. Their journey is marked with emotional and psychological upheaval as they strive to find a path that leads to the better life that America promised them.