Essay Blacks and Latinos in America

It's difficult growing up in America as a person of color. It's especially hard for caucasians to truly understand the struggles that people of color must face in their everyday lives. But Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street teaches us just that. The House on Mango Street is the story of a young Latina girl named Esperanza, living in Chicago during the 1960's with her poor family. It's Esperanza's daily struggles that shape her into the person she is.

David G Gutiérrez’s Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the Politics of Ethnicity discuss the deep and complex understudied relationship between Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants. This relationship was a natural consequence of the mass illegal immigration from Mexico to the United States that had constantly been increasing the population of “ethnic Mexicans” and along with it brought tensions between those who were Americans of Mexican descent and had been living here for generations and those who had freshly arrived to the United States and as such did whatever they had to do to make a living.

The formation of segregated barrios and the development of a wealth of community-provided services showed that Mexican-Americans were not content to be marginalized by the United States. Instead, they were embracing an empowering new sense of self-determination and referring to themselves as “Mexicanos or as members of a larger, pan-Hispanic community of La Raza.” At this time La Raza referenced individuals of the Mexican “race”, whether they were in Mexico or in the United States, and was particularly important in the United States, where race was more important than citizenship. In the late 19th and early 20th century United States, race was determined by purity of blood, and there were only two races—white and black. White meant the individual had “pure blood” (European blood); black meant that the individual’s blood included indigenous or African influences. Being white meant being able to exercise one’s constitutional rights and being treated as a normal member of society’s dominant group. Being black meant that, regardless of whether he or she was a citizen, the individual would face discrimination similar to that which I described earlier. When the Spanish conquerors mixed with the people of Latin America, forming the mestizo, or mixed race, population that now composes most of the region, they removed themselves from a “white” classification in the United States. Thus, by engaging with the concept of La Raza, which connotes a mestizo race and population, Mexican-Americans rejected the binary nature of race in the United States and embraced what made them different—their indigenous-mixed blood and the cultural heritage that accompanied it. While the abuse directed towards Mexican-Americans may have

Yes I do feel that the efforts to gain equal rights and right for traditionally excluded people are still incomplete. Society is still suffering from the after effects of slavery. Although, we as a society are looked at as all human beings with the same life value, it is not that simple. The efforts for everyone to be equal has made a tremendous improvement it still has not made enough to say that we are all equal in society. The African American community and Hispanic community are very inferior to the Caucasian community. Society has made it very clear about how they feel about the African American and Hispanic community. The media, television, education are very stereotypical on the “inferior” communities. The media has depicted African Americans as ghetto, uneducated, Drug lords, crack victims and classless.

The personal essay titled “The Space In-Between” by Santiago Quintana details the struggles he dealt with while trying to figure out his identity as a member of both the Mexican and American cultures. Even though Santiago was born and raised in Mexico, he was often questioned about his ethnicity because his physical appearance did not align with that of a “true Mexican.” Instead of having brown skin, black hair, and brown eyes, he has white skin, light brown hair, and blue eyes. Since Santiago looked so different, he was singled out, bullied, and treated as if he were a foreigner in his own country. The difficulties he faced clearly had numerous negative effects on him emotionally, however, there was an unexpected and overwhelmingly positive

Although she does not use written Spanish in The house on Mango Street, her characters are Mexican and represent the culture in their lifestyles, views, and upbringing. The story depicts the coming of age of a girl named Esperanza, who is searching for stability and a place for herself in the world. Cisneros explores the life of a Mexican girl and the things that shaped her morality and sense of

Mexican immigration has been a controversy in the United States since before 1980. According to Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova, Mexican immigration can be divided in three waves: the first one, before World War two, the second one started with the Bracero program, and the last one after it. Nevertheless, Mexican immigration can be seen as something threat, as many Americans argue, or as the opposite, a benefit to the nation culture throughout the years. This essay will explain some of the difficulties of the Mexicans’ history in the United States’ history. Even though their history in the country is not explicit and well detail, they, as well as blacks, suffer from social segregation. Mexican American were and are a big part of United States population; by being either a good influence or a bad influence, their problems had a big impact on the American history, thanks to the issues brought, for example by the Proposition 187 from 1994, the proposition 63 created in 1986, as well as the Immigration and Control Act, and the creation United Farm Workers Union. Mexicans were excluded from any social service as education, or health, which are human rights, and for instance essential. These restrictions were brutal for the Mexican American community, who violated their rights as habitants of the United States.

During that time many facts of data were detected of the many of Mexicans population in the California, Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico area. In Mexico, there was many violence that drove many people to move to American. Above all many of the companies of farmers gave jobs to them. Despite the poor wages, housing, and uncontrollable weather they pull through to send money to mothers and other family members money that needed it the most. In August of the 1930s, a Secretary of State from Mexico went undercover to see the daily lives of this workers. The report explains how there were happy because of their faith and hard work to help themselves plus family members move forward. The education process explains how the parents were to blame for not helping their child to succeed in school. Since of them knowing that due to their poor living state many went to work in order to help the family. On top of that, they were criticized by the American people since hate was upon them. The two cultures tried to mix in together but never worked. When the deported started and Mexican- American moved back to Mexico the American people saw the amounted that affected them. A few stayed in American but lived a tough lifestyle. Now there are many stories that are express in everyday life in music or told by elders who explain their parent's point of view on the

The first two chapters of the book set the foundation for the reader to understand the project that was conducted by Telles and Ortiz. Chapter one provided a brief overview of the entire book and provided an explanation of how the research idea began and why it was carried out. Chapter two continues to review important theories regarding race, assimilation, and ethnicity. In this chapter assimilation is defined in a scholarly manner and the authors shares with the reader the different factors that many argue affects how Mexican Americans assimilate. Some of the major factors are believed to be structural assimilation, contact with other groups, ethnic identity, and political attitudes.

Through the racial caste system of the Spanish Colonial Era, it is known that the people of mixed race and dark skin of the time were viewed as inferior by the Spaniards. This inferiority complex was mainly due to one group of people oppressing another. The irony behind this instance is that it was the minority oppressing the majority. Another factor behind the success of the caste system was internalized oppression, or, in other words, one group of people oppressing themselves. Through accepting this perspective of thinking and contributing to the society that surrounded them, these mixed-race people ended up adding fuel to the fire of their oppression. According to Martha Menchaca, author of Recovering History, Reconstructing Race, self-oppression came because of the vacancy of leadership positions in New Spain. At the core, this vacancy gave those who were not “pure” Spaniards the opportunity to achieve a greater sense of social acceptance. In her book, Menchaca states that while these people of color did, to an extent, succeed in improving their quality of life, the tyrannical narrative was never really changed. Furthermore, it was this search for a better life that created the foundation for what is now Mexico today.

This articles discusses the difference between assimilation and “dissimilation” of Mexican immigrants over time and where they are located, and sub sequentially prove that assimilation does occur with in the Mexican group. The authors are able to support this through their gathering educational data from Mexican- origin individuals and later generation immigrants. Their findings showed that as the generations went on, the Mexican individuals proceeded to mimic white members. The authors sub-claim that some immigrants pull away from the norm by reverse assimilating, known as “dissimilation.” The author supports this idea with the work from Yinger (1981), that covered the resurgence of Native American pride after years of assimilation. The authors

and Mexico. In particular, you recall how past Americans were “locked into the fiction of white superiority” to the point that they felt justified in stealing Mexican land and how Mexicans reacted to this injustice with violence (Anzaldua, 7). Gloria, how are you able to bridge the gap between two societies that are hostile towards each other and towards you, someone who exists within the limits of both cultures? Do your experiences within the boundaries of both cultures give you a special understanding of them that a person who exists in just one culture or the other

In the book, Sanchez, (1995) focuses on ethnic studies and how prior to World War II, Mexican Americans had formed a unique identity that was not oriented toward Mexico but America, their new home. Despite facing unequal opportunity in social and economic spheres, immigrants nevertheless proceeded to build cohesive communities and strove to adapt their cultural identity to the American way. Mexican immigrants were beset by pressures from America to assimilate to the American way while facing more pressure from Mexico to remain loyal. In response, however, Mexican immigrants found the middle ground where they remained Mexican while being American citizens. In the analysis, the book alludes to cultural identity as stipulated by Stuart Hall where cultural identity is regarded as becoming and being.

Collectively, the Mexican immigrants in this novel align their behaviors and their ambitions to those of American status. An example of this is when the young women attend school and excel and academically, and when their parents sustain well paying employment opportunities; hence, assimilation (Thorpe 2009). Assimilation allows society to sustain its symmetry as long as all societal members, despite the consequences of deviating from their ethnicity and racial identities, mutually embrace one dominant culture, the American culture (Leon-Guerrero 2016). Case in point, collectively, the characters in this novel avoid the anomie that surrounds them and instead fosters modalities that intrinsically motivate them to adapt to their captivity

Gloria Anzaldúa’s The Homeland, Aztlán / El Otro México, explores the political and social impact of creating borders between places and their residents. Through use of her unique and diverse writing style, Anzaldúa is able to capture the struggle faced by displaced Mexicans and their posterity. Not only is she able to accurately portray their hardships, but she is also able to alienate her white audience by using both English and Spanish. This is done in a way that provides some insight into the cultural barriers that Mexican-Americans encounter. Her use of historical context illuminates the injustice that these people were subject to, while her incorporation of firsthand experiences and family history give