Latino Literature Essay

This brings me to the certain unfairness, stereotypes, and myths about Hispanic/Latino culture. While growing up we experience some of these types of situations. When we think about a Hispanic/Latino person we think about tamales, tacos, rice and beans which is a stereotype. However, Susie Jans-Thomas wrote Beyond Tamales, Tacos, and Our Southern Neighbors: Exploring Latino Culture in Child and Young Adult Literature to show that there is more to them then just those expressions. I believe we have…

acceptance of Latino culture stems largely from similar experiences of prejudice and shared African roots. In addition, black hip-hop has included various Latino elements, illustrating growing acceptance and integrations between both parties. Various elements present in black hip-hop include Spanglish lyrics, rumba rhythms (Morales 300-301), and the celebration and desire for a Latina woman, who shares similar physique to African-American women (Rivera 131-132). In examining Latino Hip-Hop history…

These racist groups take advantage especially of the illegal Latino population in doing these things, because they believe they have no rights due to their illegal status here in the United States. Also these groups know that many of these Hispanics will not go to police to report these incidents of discrimination and abuse, because they are fearful that in doing so they might get deported. They also discriminate the legal Latinos, because in their eyes they are the same as the illegal ones. The…

Unfortunately much of the Latino history has been ignored or not written in conventional textbooks, but the reality is that Latinos experienced similar experiences to the ones of African Americans. According to Richard Delgado, “Recent research by reputable historians shows that Latinos, particularly Mexican Americans in the southwest, were lynched in large numbers during roughly the same period when lynching of blacks ran rampart” (583). Moreover, Latinos have also been heavily discriminated within…

race. Personally when it comes to Mexican immigrants, I feel like they have it rough as far as being called worthless basically implying that they have no intelligence. According to Murillo and Villenas the New Latino Diapora are “areas without traditional Latino presence to which Latinos have increasing moved over the past 15 years (Wortham, 3).” For a better understanding there are areas that are not set to a specific race or ethnicity. According to the reading it is normally located in Pennsylvania…

important bridge for Latinos to cross, because on the other side is the homeland ancestry and tradition, the elders of the community, yourself." Later she said, "It's really difficult for Latinos who don't speak Spanish to feel whole ( Rysavy )." If a Latino cannot speak Spanish it can make them question their identity even more so, and people may question their validity as a Latino. Recently a Latino-American comedian appeared on television who made a very good point about Latino culture. The comedian…

eventually gives in to her strong Anglo man against her original beliefs opposing sex before marriage. Fort Apache displays the widespread view that Anglos had more power in a hierarchical society, while Latinos were left weak and without control over their actions and values. Scarface portrays the Latino immigrant from a different perspective, as we can see in the character of Tony Montana, played by Al Pacino. He is a Cuban refugee willing to hurt anyone and do anything to gain power and wealth…

From there on movies shifted from their portrayals of Latino males as "Latin lovers" to "urban banditos". Films changed from problems involving women, sex, and love to delinquency, drugs, and gang fights. Movies such as West Side Story, Scarface, and Fort Apache, the Bronx, all use Latinos as "scapegoats" to focus the problems of society to the immigration of Puerto Ricans to the U.S. West Side Story shows Latinos as invaders of Anglo-American territory, which is the U.S. They use metaphors…

Many workers work in jobs that pay them under the table or in horrible conditions. “Latino households can expect to earn 70 cents to a dollar less than the average white person makes. Hispanic households make 12 cents to a dollar less than white non-Hispanic people” (Schaefer, 2012, P. 224). With Latinos and Hispanics working under the table, they are not making as much as they would make if they were earning a paycheck legally. Since they are also sending money home to their families they have…

which influences people to conceptualize that immigrants are bad for America. This is also the case for many Latino/a immigrants because there are people who believe that Latino/a immigrants to the U.S. should be restricted. The experience of racialization by the Latino/a population is similar to that of blacks and Asians. Some Latino/as are racially ambiguous, leading some people to place Latino/as in different racial categories. For example, Mexicans in Chicago have been denied jobs because they were…