Latino Community In San Diego: Community Analysis

Throughout this first chapter of Latino Americans the key points in my opinion were the following. Starting with the origin story of the Americas, the book mentions there might not be a definitive starting point because there “500 nations in North America before a European ship ever dropped anchor off the Eastern Seaboard” (Suarez 3). The book from this point on chronologically starts narrating, first about 55 years before Protestant refugees from Mayflower ever stepped on American soil, a Spanish sailor Pedro Menendez de Aviles forced French protestants from their Florida coast settlement to then stablish St. Augustine. From this point the book continues to tell the stories of Juan de Oñate, from witnessing the founding of Santa Fe, the oldest capital of North America, to exploring more than half a dozen of American states, he is one of the most fundamental conquistadors who is the least

My Hispanic identity and heritage is an important part of my identity because it has shaped my journey as student and guided me in discovering my passion in life. I strongly believe being the daughter of immigrant parents has pushed me to work harder as a student and has motivated me to search for ways to help my Hispanic community. Since my parents and the majority of my family are immigrants from Mexico, this unique position has exposed me to the reality of thousands of people who come to the country looking for the American Dream, but also the difficult obstacles they face in their daily lives. As a child, I witnessed how my Hispanic community lived in the shadows and were afraid to speak up when injustices occurred because of the inability to speak English and the lack of knowledge

According to “Immigrants in California,” by Marisol Cuellar Mejia and Hans P. Johnson, California has the most immigration than any other state, where “more than 30% of the population of seven California counties” are foreign born. A large contributor to these statistics are Hispanic immigrants that migrate to the United States in hope of achieving the “American Dream.” Los Angeles has become the most popular destination for these immigrants as this city alone contains 4.9 million Hispanics, making it 9% of the nation’s Hispanic population (Brown and Hugo). Although Hispanic immigrants have settled in Los Angeles, they encounter many urban struggles as they try to adjust to this new life style.

Latinos currently make up the largest and fasting growing minority group in the United States. In 2010 the Latino populations reached 18.8 million (Krogstad & Lopez, 2014). Since than the Latino population has continued to grow at a faster rate than the immigrant population. Yet with the increase in this minority group there still continues to be a lack of research when it comes to child abuse, especially child sexual abuse (CSA). Research has shown that Latino children have a higher rate of referrals to child welfare services (CWS) verses other ethnicities/backgrounds. Yet despite the high rate of referrals, Latino children have a lower rate of substantiation made by child protective services. Much research done on the racial

Underrepresented Minorities is a big topic that I felt covering in this class was necessary, especially on the leadership viewpoint. Being part of the Latino community, we have struggles of being misrepresented, especially lately in the social media concerning Donald Trump. His comments hit home with many of us and drew many Latinos to attention that we are underrepresented as a community within the minority category.

According to Lily Galanis-Olaez (494), she examines Latinos involvements in their Children school have difficult of involving themselves in their children’s education process because the schools do not help them in effective way. She writes that “parents of Latina/o children, who have different cultural linguistic background, find it difficult of involve themselves in the child’s schooling when vehicles do not exist to encourage their participation” (Lily, 2015, p.494).

The Latino community is ironic at Viana’s college because it was unforgiving if you do not make your Latindad known. For example Viana stated, “Knowing how hard it could sometimes be to accept the group and have the group accept you in return” (Garrod, 2012, p. 113). Rather than being a group to bond with each other and embrace their ethnicity, the group gossips or rejects members. This fact about the group was surprising to me. I am in a club known as National students speech hearing language association (NSSHLA), where everyone in the group is close with each other. Each member tries the help each other especially when we all take the same course, we help each other with homework. I visualized that all groups/clubs members for any organization

The mental health disparities for Latino families who are among the largest and fastest growing ethnic minority group in the United States ( Ennis, Rios-Vargas, & Albert, 2011), reinforces the importance in understanding risk factors that contribute to the high risk of mental health issues for this population (Lawton, Gerdes, 2014). Most research has focused on the relationship between acculturation and its impact on mental health status for Latinos’ living in the U.S, but findings continue to be controversial. A synthesis of current research demonstrates that limitations in attempting to explain vulnerability issues for Latinos’ incudes lack of consistency with measurement of acculturation, limited use

Being part of a minority community is beautiful. Although, the burdens that come with it are truly unjust. I constantly grow more aware of the inequality between the people of my Hispanic community and those that have been redlined. I was born into a home where my mother could not find a job after my father left due to personal reasons, leaving my brother to bear the burden of taking care of eight children. It was as though poor people could not have nice things. I realized that for some strange reason, segregation is ever present in our society. A society that claims to have done away with that practice. It is not only the Hispanic coming, but also Latinos and African Americans that are being redlined. We battle with rampant racism along with

citizens in order to create a mutually beneficial economic partnership for both parties involved. Specifically, Hispanic women are the ones making great strides in small business ownership: “Latina entrepreneurs start businesses in the United States at a rate six times the national average and are the fastest-growing segment among women-owned businesses” (Cárdenas and Kerby). With these Latina entrepreneurs leading the way, the Hispanic-American community continues to benefit our growing economy.

A group that I believe has its own culture and the group I identify with is the Latino group. Latin countries include Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, México, Nicaragua, and many more. The reason why we all fit into that group is that we share common values, practices, and of course, we speak a common language.

Culture is according to Zimmermann (2015), “the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts”. One culture that I am not affiliated with and did not grow up in is the Hispanic/Latino culture. Today, this culture is one of the fastest-growing cultures in the United States of America (“Understanding the Hispanic/Latino,” n.d.).

Latin-American Communities are growing larger and larger across the U.S. There are about 55 Million Hispanics in the United States; about 17% of the population. Even as Natural born citizen, or a Naturalized Citizens, Hispanics still face many troubles when living in America, such as; Racism, Immigration, Learning English, Etc.

From being around this group for a long time I know they do not like doctors, and I did not push the issue, my client still is stuffy and coughing and again I am not pushing her I tried my motivational skills and that did not work. They are convinced their concoctions will work for them.

Being part of the hispanic community while living in an area where hispanics are underrepresented, is difficult. That is why it is important for me to stay as involved in the hispanic community as possible. I get involved with the hispanic community by going to festivities around the Chicago area and recruiting friends who are not part of the community, to come and see what the hispanic community is about. I take the values that being part of the community gives me, and incorporate them into my daily life. It is important for me to properly represent those values.