Overview:

"Death in L.A. brings pain to Guatemala"

Re
porting from Guatemala, reporter Esmeralda Bermudez covers the story behind the death of 37-
year-old Guatemalan Manual Jamines. According to the article, Jamines was threatening two
women with a knife in his hand while drunk on the streets, causing the police to shoot him to try to
disarm him. Bermudez later explains that his behavior is due to the stress caused by the increase in
debt he owed from taking out loans to survive in America. She also explains that this is not an
uncommon event amongst illegal Latino American immigrants but rather a common event.
Esmeralda explains that the opportunities and unfamiliarity with the United States spark hope and a
curiosity that generally leads to people’s downfall.

About the Author:

 Esmeralda Bermudez immigrated to the United States from El Salvador when she was 5 years old. 
El Salvador is a country neighboring Guatemala, which influenced Bermudez to study about
immigration and journalism to spread her knowledge to readers. Bermudez specializes in writing
about illegal immigration, and in 2007, she won the Livingston Award for her article on a woman and
her two children who were deported to Guatemala.

The Article's Message:

Bermudez's purpose was to inform her readers about this incident and the victim's story. She manages to bring
awareness to her audience about the victim's life and what caused him to turn to alcohol through diction.
Bermudez also brings other illegal immigrants into the story as it happens to them as well. She develops the
illegal immigrants' point of view about America being the land of the rich that could help them provide for
their families through interviews with the victim's close friends and relatives.

Audience:
The audience that this article is directed at is the people of Los Angeles and people who have
families.The text is directed toward people of Los Angeles because this incident occured in Los
Angeles and people who have families because this article is centered around the loss of a family
member.The secondary audience is the readers of the Los Angeles Times. Readers of the L.A.
Times will come across this article because it is a non-fiction feature story most likely on the first
three pages.

Within the text, Bermudez does not insert her own opinion or criticisms. She grabs the readers'
attention with her diction and the audience empathizes with the Guatemalans.
Cultural Background:

Though more than 10 million illegal immigrants are thought to live in the US, the majority are Hispanic with
most from Mexico. Most of these illegal immigrants have families in which the parents are undocumented, but
the children are US-born citizens. A steady trend since the 1990s, illegal immigrants continue to outpace the
number of legal immigrants. These immigrants come from more diverse occupations and are beginning to
settle in areas of the US that previously had little such immigrants. With high hopes for higher wages and
better opportunities in the US to help better provide for their families, illegal immigrants often find themselves
struggling even more to pull through.

Historical Background:
2007 MacArthur Park Rallies–
 The MacArthur Park rallies
were two pro-illegal immigration rallies that took place on May 1, 2007 and on May 17, 2007 at
MacArthur Park. The May 1, 2007 rally strived to make a political statement of the issues regarding
the population of illegal immigrants in Los Angeles and the US as a whole. The rallies became rough
and harder to control as numerous participants blocked up the streets in protest. In attempt to clear
up the streets the police made numerous vocal requests, only to be ignored for the orders were
given in English and the crowd consisted of mostly Spanish speaking demonstrators. The estimated
600 LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) officers resulted to firing 146 foam-rubber-projectiles to
get the protesters to react to commands they didn’t understand. 27 marchers, 9 members of the
media, and seven to 15 police officers were injured, 5 people were arrested,and at least 50 civilians
filed complaints with the LAPD regarding mistreatment by officers. On a Sunday morning mass on
May 6, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, acknowledged the mistreatment of civilians during the event. The
May 17, 2007 rally was in protest of the events that occurred on May 1. Approximately 2,000 to
3,000 people, along with Mayor Villaraigosa, Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, and Police Chief
William Bratton, attended the peaceful 10-block march to MacArthur Park. Finally, on July 8, 2008,
almost a year after the incident, the LAPD announced that 17 officers and two sergeants from the
department’s Metropolitan Division.

Arizona State Immigration Laws–

Signed on April 23, 2010 and effective by August, Governor of Arizona Jan Brewer passed a new
immigration law which criminalizes illegal immigration by defining it as trespassing, allowing local law
enforcement agencies to question people they suspect of being undocumented. This law, targeting
those who hire illegal immigrant laborers or knowingly transport them, orders immigrants to carry
their alien registration documents at all times. This law left Arizona with unhappy residents,
especially Hispanics. They railed against the law as pawn for racial and ethnic profiling. Four
demonstrators were arrested overnight on misdemeanor charges of inciting a riot. Two officers were
also injured after protesters threw bottles at them – one was hit with a rock. President Obama also
criticized the law, saying that it “threatened to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as
Americans, as well as the trust between police and our communities that is so crucial to keeping us
safe.”
Genre and Medium:

“Death in L.A. brings

pain to Guatemala” is a non-fiction newspaper article from the L.A. Times.  This piece of journalism
takes the form of a feature story about a Guatemalan immigrant by the name of Manuel Jaminez
Xum, who was shot and killed by LAPD.  The rhetorical distinctions and standard conventions that
this text follows are its “human-interest” angle, “behind the scenes” information, and vivid language.
Its human-interest angle gives a “face” to the day laborer shot by Los Angeles police, as it was very
descriptive about the people (his wife and family, and the people of Xexac), places (his village and
his home in L.A.), and events (the burial). The rhetor discusses Jaminez’s debt with his lender
tripling to $20,000, and his difficulties with finding a job, which led him to turn to alcohol. The
information provided on his journey to America and his troubles here give us an inside look at the
man whose death is at the center of much controversy. The use of descriptive and colorful language
to paint the emotion of his wife at the scene of his funeral is illustrated as she describes her piercing
wails that “traveled down the dirt paths of the village, which grew ever more crowded with mourners.”
The rhetor also talks about the Mayan community in Xexac and depicts the clothes they wear and
their isolation from the outside world. The vivid words used to describe his home in Guatemala as “a
dark, cinder-block room with a dirt floor and no bathroom…” really enables the audience to see what
she is portraying.
Rhetorical Devices:
-Pathos

The rhetor uses the communication technique of pathos to appeal to the reader’s emotions. The use
of vivid and emotional language along with the writer’s focus on the victim works together to engage
our emotions. For example, beginning the story with the scene of his wife wailing at his funeral, and
translating her cries made it more emotional and heart wrenching. By only writing about Jaminez’s
life and background, and the hardships he encountered in both countries, we empathize for him and
his family. Talking about the foreign “crowded concrete” world he had entered and his living
conditions consisting of a “small studio apartment shared by 11 men” also tugged on our
heartstrings. This article discussed his troubles and his downward spiral, leaving the readers to feel
sorry for and to understand Manuel Jaminez’s life. Including interviews with his family and depicting
their suffering and tears, such as when his uncle “ bowed his head on the casket and screamed
‘Why did you leave us?’” is another example of pathos. Taking the audience to the scene of his
funeral where hundreds of villagers threw themselves on his coffin, and the emotion-filled picture of
his wife “hunched over a chair, her bare feet still muddy…still prepared to fight” all contribute to the
empathy we are led to feel.  

Works Cited:
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Bermudez, Esmeralda. "Death in L.A. Brings Pain to Guatemala." Los Angeles Times 26 Sept. 2010.
Print.

Google Image Result for Http://mhpbooks.com/mobylives/wp-

content/uploads/2009/10/newspaper.gif. Photograph. Google. Web. 26 Oct. 2010.

Google Image Result for Http://www.11visions.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/pathos-

superhero.png. Photograph. Google. Web. 26 Oct. 2010.

Lauter, David. "Esmeralda Bermudez joins Times on California desk." LA Times (2010): n. pag.
Web. 19 Jun 2008. .

"Methods for Reading." The Anteater's Guide to Writing and Rhetoric. Ed. Lynda Haas. 2nd ed.
Hayden-McNeil. 38. Print.