Dissimilation Of Mexican Immigrants

Mexican people living in Texas, which until 1830 was part of Mexico, had a peaceful life. As any other city, the society was divided into rich and poor classes. Spanish descendants were the rich and mixed-blood people were the poor. Even with these marked social distinctions, the Mexicans had no major problem with each other. BY 1920, the Mexican government in its effort to increase the economy, invited Americans to move to the vast expanse of land. Taking advantage of the rich soil in Texas, in a while, there was more Anglos than Tejanos living in this part of Mexico. Although the Mexicans copied the lifestyle of the White Americans, “No dramatic historical modifications disturbed the cultural structure of the Mexican-Tejano community” (p.168).

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

Throughout our history as a nation, we have earned a reputation of undermining the relationships we have had with minorities and of largely neglecting their needs. Our almost hostile nature towards minorities in the United States can largely be seen in the treatment of Mexicans and Mexican American citizens in the times surrounding World War Two. Such hostilities are reflected in our treatment of Mexican Americans in the late 19th after the Civil War and early 20th centuries, the Sleepy Lagoon murder responses, and the Zoot Suit riots. My primary source reveals a feeling of inferiority in the United States by the Mexican American youth due discrimination that they faced, which can be better understood by analyzing the cultural contexts.

Michael Innis Jimenez’s Steel Barrio examines the way Mexicans and Mexican Americans lived in south Chicago during the 1920’s and onward. The book provides a general idea on the lifestyle of people coming from Mexican descent; from the struggle they tried to overcome, to the ideas they developed. It seems like survival was a key part of the Mexican life during that time, especially being surrounded by their white counterparts and hate. The appropriate word for their survival in Chapter 6 of the book is resistance. After reading the chapter on Resistance, it dawned upon myself that most Mexicans living in America were prideful of where they came from even though Mexico was in poor economic shape at the time. The main point in the book is to draw an overall picture of Mexican life in south Chicago, but the main point in the chapter was to point out the will of the Mexican to resist American assimilation also referred to as “Americanization”.

According to Huntington, unlike previous immigrants, Hispanics wish to retain a dual culture. This presents them with the culture clash of two varying views on culture as well as education. There are several factors that have made this culture of immigrants assimilations’ so much different than the past immigrants that America has so fondly welcomed with open arms. These include contiguity, scale illegality regional concentration, persistence and historical presence.

As an immigrant child that was brought here to the United States when I was a child, I definetly had culture shocks from both sides. Growing up, Ive had seen people telling Mexican immigrants “Go back go Mexico, where you belong”. As a child that was born in Mexico but that grew up in the United States, I felt like I did not know where I belong. At the moment, I experienced three cultures; Mexican, American, and Japanase Culture. When I was about fifeteen years old I had encounterd culture shocks from my mexican and american cultures. It allowed me to change my way of thinking, that has benefited me since. Also, the affects of culture shock has lead to a positive change in my culture attitude.

modules gives many examples how strong cultural pasts lead to identity problems in a new society. Also, the module shows us that many Mexicans were not happy with the stereotype formed about their identity. In Between the Lines, we see how Mexicans in America suffer through harsh discrimination, while trying to stay close to their relatives and culture. The letters talk about how Whites did not have concerns with family values or cultural beliefs. Whites based many of their values off succeeding in the economy. Whites in general had no regard for Mexicans as people.

Subpoint or supporting material: Conservatives are fueled by a "save America" rhetoric that labels immigrants a threat and a parasite, an example of this occurred in the mid 90's when prop 187 was passed in here in California, along with denying services it ignited a racist backlash against all Latinos the National Catholic Reporter recorded instances of blatant racism throughout California, in one case two U.S. born Chicanas were stopped at a school and told "we don't have to let you (expletive) Mexicans in here no more."

Immigration has diversified the United States economy. Immigration has also changed the attitudes of many American citizens. A 2008 poll designed to see how baby boomers viewed immigrant resulted in this conclusion: fifty to thirty percent of baby boomers viewed immigrants as a burden to the economy. However fifty-eight to thirty-two of the millennials viewed immigrants as strengtheners to the economy. The influx of immigrants have led to the dramatic change of American Demographics. The large influx of Mexicans, allowed for the population of Mexicans to outgrow the African American population. The changing demographics of the country have diversified the American culture. Mexican, along with other immigrants have found different ways to reach people outside of their culture. These immigrants have established restaurants, hosted

Latino immigrants have always had many obstacles when coming into the United States, the difference between the American and the Latin cultures is what has caused a huge hurdle that immigrants have found hard to overpass. This obstacle has caused many generations to go through cultural assimilation. Mize et al. (2012) explain that cultural assimilation is the adaptation of immigrants to unfamiliar cultural patterns, which include language and the value systems of other cultures. In order for immigrants to be successful in another country, which is not of their origin; they need to learn how to assimilate to their new homes. Immigrants have learned that they need to adapt in order to get to experience new opportunities and also to learn from new cultures that are not theirs (Mize et al., 2012). Immigrants have learned that they are not leaving behind their own believes and norms, but mixing their norms, this gives them the opportunity to create and mix their culture with the new. Cultural assimilation can be hard to achieve because in one hand it is important to change in order to live within a different culture, but on the other hand it is important for a person to maintain their identity regardless of where they live. At times immigrants find it difficult to achieve a balance and for many families it is a struggle over generations. There are different levels of assimilation, some immigrants come to the

Knowing that the U.S. has a large percent of the world’s immigrants it seems the most efficient thing to do is address the undocumented population. It is important to first acknowledge the break down of immigrants in the U.S. according to the Migration Policy Institute, “In 2013, close to 47 percent of immigrants (19.3 million) were naturalized U.S. citizens. The remaining 53 percent (22.1 million) included lawful permanent residents, unauthorized immigrants, and legal residents on temporary visas, such as students and temporary workers” (2). The immigrant community is a lot more than just undocumented people. As shown in the statistics above 47 percent of them are U.S. citizens and of those who aren’t have other types of approval of entrance

In light of the current situation having to do with the degradation of immigrants, legal or not in this country, I have chosen an unwritten text that is close to my heart, the Mexican and American flags combined to create a new one. It takes pieces of the Mexican flag like the eagle emblem and pieces of the American flag like the stars and stripes to create a new vision of solidarity. I have seen this symbol more often in the last year due to the current administration’s policies and the many ways it seeks to change the status of the immigrant population. This representation of unity was created for those who feel a strong tie to both America and Mexico, for those who are proud to be a part of both countries and who believe that the two nations

During the early 1900’s, The United States government was ruled by white men that have captivated the American patriotism. The patriotism of the American society was greatly enchanted by the white superiors wanting to establish a strong American values and culture. The era of the time gave little hopes and dreams of living in a land that its purpose was to give the opportunities to all newcomers. However it was a different scenario among the Mexican American community. The Mexican communities within the United States are force to adapt to a new tradition due to the defeat of Mexican-American War. The Mexican government efforts to persuade its people to leave the United States were no effect because of their disloyalties to its government. From here on the Mexican-American community in the United States will decide its own self recognition of identity.

The authors approach to this topic is to elucidate the reader and inform them about the many beliefs of indian assimilation into spanish culture. He is successful in this due to his word choice and evidence that assimilation resulted in an unorderly system when attempting to converge two cultures into one.