Hispanic Heritage Month Analysis

When we are born, we are given characteristics that we cannot control which impact our social identity and how other people view and stereotype us in this world. As David Myers notes in his essay, Ingroup and Outgroup, “Once established, prejudice is maintained largely by its own social inertia. If prejudice is social... then people follow the path of least social resistance… conform to the social fashion… a need to be liked and accepted.” Prejudices influenced by a society heavily impacts a culture as it inhibits growth and progression. Suspicion and poor stereotypes are administered to social groups which are heavily ingrained and nearly impossible to release ourselves from that stereotype. That is the life a Hispanic must lead within the

For this Hispanic Heritage Month Paper I chose the Inventor Guillermo González Camarena who invented the first color TV screen. The life of Guillermo Gonzalez Camarena started in Guadalajara on February 17, 1917. When Guillermo was 2 years old he moved to Mexico City where as a young boy he made electrically propelled toys and at 12 he constructed his first amatuer radio. When Guillermo was young he established a laboratory in the basement of his house! In 1930 he was selected to go to the School of Mechanical and Electronic Engineers and after two years was given permit as a radio administrator. While he tested in his research facility, he worked at the radio station of the Ministry of Education. In 1934 he fabricated his own TV camera when

Much to my own embarrassment, my Hispanic heritage had been a thing I hardly thought of. My Father left my family when I was young, and with him went the hopeful wisps I had of learning about myself. It’s not to say that I wasn’t aware that I was Hispanic, but rather, growing up in a mainly white household I didn’t think I had any right to claim my ethnicity. However, the more I look around me and learn about the community Hispanics have grown accustomed to, the more I find that I understand where I came from. To me, being Hispanic isn’t about what you were told when you were younger, or the traditions you grew up with. Rather, being Hispanic is about learning where you come from, and learning about those who share your same heritage. ‘Hispanic’

In chapter seven of Racial Formation in the Twenty-First Century, the author Tomás Almaguer discusses how the Hispanic and Latino populations in the United States are identified in terms of race and ethnicity. Almaguer mentions how Latinos were initially identified as “white” in government documents mainly due to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. However, soon enough due to the increase of the Latino population in the United States from various Latin American or Hispanic countries, they began to be placed under an ethnicity.

Hispanic heritage is an important concept that surrounds my entire life. I have lived in Puerto Rico during my whole childhood. This culture has been important in my life because it helps define who I am and how I view the world. Both of my biological parents are Dominican, but I lived with my mother and step-dad in Puerto Rico. It was not until I moved to the United States that I began to become more aware of different ethnic groups. The United States has been called the “melting pot” society. Newcomers to this country were expected to adapt their “old world” values and culture to fit the values and lifestyles of the “new world” (An Overview of Diversity Awareness, n.d.).

Does it matter what we are called: Latino or Hispanic? Does it change who we are as people? To an extent, most people do not know the difference between either. Typically, people group both terms as one singular item. However, Hispanic and Latino racial classifications are more than a broad category for people from Spanish-speaking countries. The words connote and represent a history of colonial terminology that based its success on the failures of innocent, historically peaceful, cultural groups. Hispanic and Latino terminology are political and economic in every sense. This paper will show that colonial leanings to control and govern people’s lives have yet to culminate, even though the era of imperialism ended a century ago. The United States, although far from its heyday as the singular house of power, still manages to achieve control and influence over the imperialized minds of groups of people, specifically Hispanics and Latinos.

Within the Mexican community, competing notions of racial identity has long existed. Aware to gradations of color in race and their shading of white and non white identity, Haney Lopez introduces the

Approximately 1 in 6 individuals are Hispanic in the United States, and the population is expected to grow to 1 in 4 by 2035 (CDC, 2015). Given that, Hispanics are the biggest minority group in the US (CDC, 2015). The leading cause of death among the Hispanic population is heart disease and cancer responsible for around 2 out of 5 deaths (CDC, 2015). Hispanics have a 50% greater chance of death resulting from diabetes or liver disease than whites (CDC, 2015). Additionally, there are 3 times as more uninsured Hispanics than whites (CDC, 2015). According to the US average, whites are 15 years older than the Latino population, so prevention will greatly benefit the health of the Latino population (CDC, 2015).

The only racial group that the United States Census calculates and measured as in individual group is the Latino/Hispanic culture. According to the U.S. Census, a Latino/Hispanic individual can be of several nationalities. When we talk about cultural class, we must realize there are a lot of variables that may contribute to the racial group that can stump some individuals on what is deemed to be a Hispanic individual or something distinctive. Around the time period of the twentieth century the census gave the authorization to classify the Hispanic culture within the United States Census. The terminology of Latino/Hispanic has produced a lot of misunderstanding throughout society. In the Forties, our current President Theodore Roosevelt made a contract in which we had made agreements with Mexico. In spite of this, when three migrants were not permitted residency because they were not Caucasian, the president avoided the bylaw and calculated Hispanics and Mexicans as Caucasians, in so doing permitting access and residency to the United States. In the year 2000, Hispanic was thought to be several races. Some of the Hispanic cultures or Subcultures that fall into this category are the Cuban's, Puerto Rican's, central and South American's, Dominican,

Imagine someone is lost, standing in a checkout line at a corner drugstore. They need directions to get back on the road. The couple in front of them is having a very engaging conversation, fluently, in Spanish. Most would not even give an effort to talk or ask where to go, but why not? Too often the assumption is made that people who speak Spanish are immigrants, and do not speak English well. Hispanics are, persons of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American descent, other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race. Too often the assumption is made that Spanish-speakers are unamerican, lazy, receive low income, or are uneducated in any way. Hispanics are also demonized in the media as people who are stealing American jobs. That is the belief that some Americans associate with Hispanics.

The United States is known as the melting pot because of the many different cultures that live here. Hispanics make up 35.3 million according to the 2000 census. Many people don’t realize that within the Hispanic culture there are many different groups. The different groups have different linguistic, political, social, economic, religion, and statues. Most Hispanics see themselves in terms of their individual ethnic identity, as Mexican American, Puerto Rican, Cuban, etc. instead of members of the larger, more ambiguous term Hispanic or Latino (U.S. Diplomatic Mission to Germany, 2009).

This past Wednesday, October 12th, I had the opportunity to visit a photo exhibit that was being displayed at Plaza de la Raza. The photo exhibit was dedicated to those actors and actresses that have put the Latino talent in Hollywood. The photo exhibit is part of the Hispanic Month, and from September 1st to October 15th we have forty-five glorious days to celebrate it. In Los Angeles, the Hispanic Month is also being addressed as Latino Heritage Month LA. This is a month where the people from Los Angeles get together to celebrate their traditions and culture with other Angelenos along with the people around the world who come to LA during this time as well.

At some point in time in your life you have heard the terms Latino or Hispanic. What was the first thing that came to your mind? There are many different types of Latinos and/or Hispanics in the United States today. In 2003, 37.4 million Latinos reside in the U.S., outnumbering 34.7 million African Americans (Ramirez and de la Cruz 2003 Racial and Ethnic Groups Chapter 9). Each of these types has similar cultures and customs, but is uniquely different. No one person can be so sure of which of these ethnicities one belongs to, unless you already know the person.

In the Hispanic culture colors are defined by the basic colors of red, blue, green, black, yellow, orange, purple, and white. Instead of having other color names you would refer to them as dark, light or object name. An example of naming the color royal blue would be dark blue. If you would like the color sky blue then you can have two options in asking for it. You can say light blue or the object name sky blue. “Like beauty, color is in the eye of the beholder. Many animals see only shades of gray, even when they look at ta rainbow, but for humans, color is an important feature of vision.” (Bernstein, 2013, p. 89)

The misconception among American’s is that all Hispanics are alike. They have the same cultural backgrounds and speak the same language. This could not be further from the truth. In actuality there is great diversity among different Latin ethnic groups. Hispanic Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Columbians all have different cultural and historic back grounds that identify them as separate ethnic groups.