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88 Tul. L. Rev. 559 (2013-2014)

handle is hein.journals/tulr88 and id is 607 raw text is: Contemporary First-Generation
European Americans:
The Unbearable Whiteness of Being
Dagmar Rita Myslinskat
ContemporyEurrpean inmgants face unique sociocultunal and legal concerns that go
beyond issues ofrace, class, national-onwi, and accent discrimination. These concerns are not
adequately addessed by laws protecting groups based on thek national ongins or ancestries.
Scholarsnp and public discussions are silent on this topic. As a result, European-bom
Amencans fall thrugh the cracks in citical legal theory not fitting into any of the traditional
analytical framenns. No labels apply to them. Like their predecessons a centuiy ago, they are
expected to assh7iate easily At the same time, people assurne that European-born Amencans
always and uniformly benefit fror access to wute privilege  In mality European-born
Amencans oscillate between being visible as formigners and fading into the invisible white
*     © 2014 Dagmar Rita Myslinska. I use the term first-generation to include all
foreign-born immigrants who (1) emigrated after completing their education in their
countries of origin or (2) were raised and educated in the United States. The latter are
sometimes called the 1.5 generation. See, eg., Rub6n G. Rumbaut, Assinilation and ts
Discontents: honies and Paradoxes, in THE HANDBOOK OF INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION: THE
AMERICAN EXPERIENCE 172, 180 (Charles Hirschman et al. eds., 1999) (using the term 1.5
generation to describe foreign-born youths who complete their secondary education in the
United States).
Immigrants who are the focus of this Article are permanent, that is, they immigrated
with the intention of making the United States their home-as evidenced by their obtaining
permanent resident status (green cards) and/or naturalizing. Other categories of immigrants
(including temporary visitors, students, and the undocumented) have different attributes, face
different challenges, and are treated differently by the legal system and by the public.
Although their foreignness shares some characteristics with the subjects of this Article, a
thorough analysis of their experience is beyond the scope of this Article. Moreover, as a
country, we have an obligation to understand more fully the experiences of those immigrants
who arrive in the United States with the intention of making this their home.
I also do not account for the role of factors such as gender, specific national origin,
class, or geographic location of residence, which need to be addressed in the future to arrive
at a more nuanced understanding of the contemporary European immigrant experience.
t     Visiting Professor, Temple University Beasley School of Law, Japan Campus.
J.D., Columbia University School of Law; B.A., Yale University. For their official and
unofficial mentorship throughout this whole process, I am especially grateful to Camille
Davidson and Megan Annitto. I thank all of my interviewees for sharing so many of their
personal experiences with me. A draft of this Article was presented at the 2013 Albany Law
School's Sharing Scholarship, Building Teachers Workshop, and I am indebted to all
participants who provided me with feedback. It was also presented at Georgetown University
Law Center, and I am grateful to all who provided me with comments, particularly Sherman
Cohn. Finally, this Article was presented at Osgoode Hall Law School's 2013 Law, Culture,
Critique Conference. I am also very appreciative of my wonderfully supportive friends,
Jessica Caolo and Marianne Koh and of the professional and insightful editorial staff of the
TulaneLawReview. Jestem wdziqczna moim rodzicom i dumna te jestem ich c6rk4.
559

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