This project was very interesting, and what I noticed, there is people from the same ethnicity who have different opinions about what an American is. When I was interviewed my coworker who is a Mexican American (person 2), a friend who is a Mexican American as well was there hearing the interview. I asked her what is her ethnicity and if she consider herself an American. She told me that she is a Mexican American because she was born here and her parents are from Mexico. Same thing with her ex-husband. However, she does not consider her son a Mexican American because both of his parents are born here. My coworker asked her, “Why did you say that if he is your parents’ grandson? He has Mexican blood”. And she said, “Because I am the first generation
It is logical that two-thirds of Mexican-American population in the United States live in Texas, California, and Arizona because these three states are the closest state to the Mexican border. They allow Mexicans to go back to their homeland and are attractive locations for the Mexican-American populations to make their
Richard Rodriguez’s essay “Blaxicans And Others Reinvented Americans”, states that using race as a basis for identifying Americans is not valid; culture should be what defines a person’s identity. For example, when Rodriguez states “For there is no such thing as a Hispanic race” (89). This demonstrates that people should not use race because when we use the term Hispanic, we group everyone in one category. It’s not fair to group everyone in one category because we are not all the same. Even though, the food that we eat, might be the same.
Every year on Christmas Eve and Christmas, the entire family crosses the border to Mexico for a family reunion at my grandmother’s. A few years ago, this was the norm and everyone would bring food and drinks and celebrate Christ’s birth. Then things started to change when my aunts and uncles. Little by little, my aunts and uncles, which started the quarrel, have overcome their ego with the arrival of my two nieces. They, as well as I, have realized that we cannot bring other people into our own problems simply because we are too prideful to be the first to apologize. I come from a Mexican Family Heritage’ we visit my grandfather’s grave once in a while on the Day of the Dead all the way to a small town name “Salinas” four hours away from Matamoros,
Defining what really is to be an American does not sound as easy as it seem. It will always be complex process. As immigration continues to fuel the growth of the population of our nation, racial and ethnic gap increase and evolve along with it. Racial and ethnic identities become more and more convoluted and difficult to understand. Race and ethnicity continue to intermingle and push a cultural shift in the US– a shift that plays a significant role in redefining America in a day-to-day basis.
Midterm Question #1 part 1: Race and ethnicity have played major roles in American social history. How do these constructs relate to an explanation of what it means to be an American?
Prior to the 1930s, there were no Mexican-American promotion associations hesitantly strategizing about the issue of Mexican American whiteness in court. In any case that does not imply that state authorities and even courts did not address the inquiry of whether Mexican Americans were white in the years going before. Rather, we can consider the time 1848-1930 in three stages: amid the nineteenth century, whether Mexican Americans were white or not was a matter of nearby practice; a Federal area court choice in 1898 proclaimed Mexican Americans to be white for the reasons of naturalization to citizenship; and in an arrangement of miscegenation cases chose in the first many years of the twentieth century, Mexican American personality was created
The current census questions concerning race and Hispanic origin questions are respectful in that it allows Hispanic individual to classify how they see themselves instead of just lumping every Hispanic person into one category. The depth in which the census goes into identifying Hispanics and say an American Indian or Alaska Native tribes shows that we as people now know that not every Hispanic or American Indian are the same, in that they have different cultures. The categories do make sense. I don’t think that the categories should expand or change because it also has an additional box that says other race if you feel as if you don’t identify with any of the races listed above. The government could be interested in race and ethnicity for
Every culture has their own unique and distinguishing characteristics. One’s cultural identity defines who they are as an individual, group, and community. Their cultural identity may be reflected in numerous ways such as: language, communication styles, religion, beliefs, values, clothing, or other types of aesthetic markers. Cultural identity is formed by many of these traits but is not limited to these specifically. This essay will provide detailed information on Mexican Americans, and their ancestry and heritage. I will also explain about this cultures central beliefs and values, while incorporating information on Mexican Americans, cultural patterns, cultural identity, and their cultures communication characteristics and styles.
Mexican Americans (Spanish: mexico-americanos or estadounidenses de origen mexicano) are Americans of full or partial Mexican descent. As of July 2013, Mexican Americans made up 10.9% of the United States' population, as 34.6 million U.S. residents identified as being of full or partial Mexican ancestry.[1] As of July 2013, Mexican Americans comprised 64.1% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States.[1]
An Analysis of the Ethnic Variability of the Latino/Hispanic Group in the United States Census
In like manner, this minority was underrepresented. The Anglos representing for Mexican-Americans were just representatives in name. The inequalities and unjust treatment were evident for these citizens in Texas. The unfairness resulted in emerging of some Mexican-American leaders who sought for reforms. These few among the many have seen the poverty, and inequality conditions of their own people. They understood that some measures must be done to improve the lives of Mexican-Americans. The early Mexican-American leaders began to form organizations. Also, the civil rights movements were instrumental for calling equal access to economic, social, and political aspects for Mexican-Americans. As a start, they used their number as a leverage for
During my visit to the department of foreign languages I found that. The Mexican American population is a standout amongst the most critical minority . bunches in the country, yet chroniclers and students of history have been careless in recording. its improvement. The Mexican American people group in Houston, Texas, has been creating for one hundred years and today may well number upwards of five hundred thousand individuals. These materials incorporate the papers of conspicuous Mexican American Houstonians, Mexican American families, and also nearby Chicano associations and foundations.
I never realized the difficulties of being both Mexican and American until I became older and more self-aware. As a kid you oversee a lot of experiences because you don’t necessarily understand what is happening and why. Even today some people do not understand my identity or agree with it. I am Chicana and it is something that is important to me.
Everyone has a background; a story that not only defines them but also a long line of family members that lived before them. By knowing our story it allows us to better understand ourselves and appreciate the history that we are apart of. We use terms like race, ethnicity, and nationality to define who we are and identify where we came from. Race is defined as a category of human beings based off of distinctive physical characteristics, for example: my race is caucasian. Ethnicity is defined as a group of humans distinguished primarily on the basis of cultural characteristics. My ethnicity is described as Irish and Scottish. Finally, nationality can be described as the country of which you hold citizenship. My nationality is American because
My model study is based on a study by Michael Walzer called What does it mean to be an “American”? This study looks at how the people see the word “American” and who they associate when they hear the label “Americans”(Walzer.2004:633). “American” has now become a label for many and the assimilation process “Americanization” has been a way to make a path towards the “American” future. (Walzer.2004:637) Citizenship is the “new order” and was not universally available to everyone even if they were born in the United States such as Black folk and Native Americans. Being “American” was not really tied to a specific national, linguistic, religious or ethnic background, all one had to do