Rodriguez fails to adapt to the intercultural landscape of Los Angeles
Rodriguez fails to adapt to the intercultural landscape of Los Angeles because of his defensive ethnocentric positions. According to the course readings, developing intercultural sensitivity first entails defense and minimization prior to fostering acceptance and integration (Martin & Nakayama, 2014). Rodriguez is defensive in that he sometimes declines to attend school. While in class, the young boy is equally not as participative. The character minimizes his social circle to only include Jamie and Earl. The three boys create a school club titled ‘Thee Mystics’, where members learn to use drugs and to be sexually active. However, the defensive trait is also evident from the dominant culture. In the narrative, there is a scene where Rodrigues witnesses the LAPD going after his peer, Tino, while shouting the term ‘greaser.’ The offensive term is applied to stereotype the Chicanos as low life criminals. The experience prompts Rodrigues to seek some form of protection from the LAPD, which is only provided by local street gangs. At the age of thirteen, Rodrigues enrolls as a member of ‘The Tribe.’
Each immigrant has to struggle with the dynamics of intercultural communication, especially power. Rodrigues and his family have to consider the popular culture (American) in the determination of whether to resist or accept it. The family has to determine whether to consume popular culture with respect to how it represents and treats specific social groups. Los Angeles is highly discriminative of the Chicanos. The bias plays a critical role in why many of the Chicano immigrants resist the American culture in favor of criminal street gang lifestyles. For instance, Luis witnesses a woman being harassed by the police and opts to intervene (Rodriguez, 2005). Instead, the character is arrested for attacking the police resulting in him spending a few months in jail. Following his discharge, the character unites with Chente, with whom he continues his fight for social justice. Rodriguez opts to resist the dominant culture because of how it treats members of his race. Chava is another character who represents resistance to popular culture. The middle-aged man is full of hate and anger towards the LAPD. Together with the Black community, Chicanos protest against Rodney King’s beating in the promotion of cultural acceptance and integration.
All young men from different classes, races, countries, or political systems wish to prove themselves. The young immigrants are denied by their native countries a chance to succeed through poverty, systemic neglect, race, and government failure. However, when faced with the opportunity to progress, intercultural dynamics force young immigrants to be isolative and resentful of the dominant culture. The characters tend to be more drawn to amoral forces. It is one of America’s most explicit historical facts that gang life is made up of energetic youth who are active in social activism. The characters are also deeply concerned about the well-being of their new neighborhoods. Luis Rodrigues effectively expounds on the relationship between the immigrant experience and American gang life as fashioned by uncontrollable social forces. ‘Always running’ is a faltering and progressive narration of the journey towards the American dream as experienced by foreigners