Mexican American Whiteness

In this article Mexicans: Pioneers of a Different Type Gonzalez gives us an outlook different from what we generally read when taught about American History. His effort is to explain how each of the different Latino groups came. What was happening in their home towns that caused them to leave. If people want to accept it, eventually they will have to. That this country is bound to go through an enormous Latino population explosion. Gonzalez writes “Mexican Americans meanwhile, face a frustrating identity problem like that of Puerto Ricans” (pg97). Being a Mexican American myself I could agree that it is at times frustrating identifying. We are either too American to be Mexican. Or too Mexican, to be American. In 1749 because of what was called the promise

Beyond the Alamo: Forging Mexican Ethnicity in San Antonio, is an analysis of the Anglo-Mexican

Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the Politics of Ethnicity. By David G Gutiérrez. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995).

First, lets discuss Pubols main argument about California Mexicans having agency and playing a large role in society. Pubols did a great job of using the de la Guerra family as her main case. By examining the sources used by Pubols this family was well known and their records were well kept. In fact, when examining the notes there are two completed volumes translated of the de la Guerra’s family records. I found the research done by Pubols to be extensive and well presented. One of my critiques of Pubols main argument would be this was one family in one city in California. I would have liked to see Pubols expand her argument pass the one family to include several.

No one is you and that is your power. In the novel, Mexican Whiteboy by Matt De La Peña, the main character, Danny, fails to realize this fact. He alway feels the need to change who he is. He wants to feel welcomed by his father’s Mexican family during the summer when he moves to San Diego County. However, he finds this complicating to do since he is Half-Mexican and Half-White. In this novel, we view a variety of ways Danny struggles with his identity and one way he comes to terms with his struggles.

The 1940’s inevitably signaled the beginning of the Mexican American civil rights era in the west as Mexican Americans rose to immeasurable heights in an attempt to terminate the de jure segregation they were unwillingly victims of. Their notable attempts to prove that they were worthy of the natural rights granted by the founding fathers brought light to the intense hatred shown towards Mexican Americans that was centralized in Los Angeles, California as

Race and ethnicity is another important aspect in the nationalism of a nation. In the United States, racial differences are usually based on one’s skin color and physical characteristics as well as one’s origin, and they do not change due to varying classes or cultures (Marger 212). Before the twenty first century, the racial minority were highly discriminated, both socially and economically. But currently, there exist several races in America like the Asians, African Americans, Native Americans and the European Americans. On the other hand, Hispanics are racially assorted and are therefore an ethnic group rather than a race (Marger 133). Language is argued as the sole binder of the Hispanics other than skin color or other physical characteristics. They are in fact of mixed racial ancestry (Arreola 19).

In Pearsall, Texas, the Anglo and Mexican communities were divided to contribute to Elva’s confusion and frustrations of being alone. The immigrant society was lumped together as their own “class” of people:

Haney Lopez describes the racialization of Mexicans in terms of ancestry and skin color. Although granted de facto White racial status with the United States conquest of much of Mexico in 1848 and having sometimes been deemed as White by the courts and censuses, Mexican Americans were rarely treated as White (5). Historically and legally, Mexicans have been treated as second-class citizens. Mexicans suffered the degradation accorded members of an inferior race, treatment nearly equivalent to the coinciding conquest of blacks and Native Americans (64). In 1857, for instance, Anglo mobs lynched eleven Mexicans in Los Angeles (67). The demographic and geographic custom of segregation in Los Angeles contributed to the growing cultural isolation and socioeconomic vulnerability of the Mexican community.

Even by the 1930s, this was particularly among young people who, “born and educated in the United States, demanded to be included in the city’s future … ” (Sanchez 226). At a crucial meeting of Mexican-Americans in 1927, facing an Anglo led municipal incorporation move that would have raised taxes and driven them out, many Mexican-American leaders opposed applying for U.S. citizenship. Even though it would have given them more of a target, specifically, the right to vote on a subsequent ballot measure. The affront to Mexico and their heritage was, for them, a crime that outweighed the benefits (Sanchez 4).

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

As stated in the film The House We Live In: Race—The Power of an Illusion “Whiteness was key to citizenship.”, in the United States. Being white was subjectively understood, it did not necessarily indicate your ancestry. The Court would make decisions about who was considered white or black under the law. Congress had passed an act in 1790 declaring that only "free white" immigrants could become naturalized citizens. Naturalization was extended to “persons of African descent” after the Civil War. Even still white citizens were the only ones who had the right to vote and participate in government duties as well as having access to better jobs. You could only gain the full benefits of being an American citizen if you were white. As stated by Giddens, Duneier, Appelbaum and Carr (2015), “In modern societies, most people living within the borders of the political system are citizens having common rights and duties and knowing themselves to be members of a national community.” (p.396). The definition of citizenship changed over time because at first in order to be a naturalized citizen in the United States you had to be characterized as white or black. But with so many immigrants coming into the country of all different races, being defined as either white or black presented as a problem. In 1857 (Dred Scott) African Americans were not considered citizens and were not granted citizenship

This scenario would appear to be working out smashingly for both sides from 1824 to 1831. However, the snowball’s origin that would lead to the decline of Mexican-American relations can be traced back to this point surrounding this time period. In 1830, the Mexican government passed a series of laws to halt American

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1948 would have lasting negative effects on Mexican Americans. The Treaty was signed after America had won the Mexican American war. America gained possession of the southwest states that had been part of Mexico for the price of around eighteen million dollars. In Article IX of the Treaty, it states that the Mexicans "shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty and property, and secured in the free exercise of their religion without restriction"(Vargas 139). And as Rachel Rivera points out Article VII promised the Mexicans the right to keep their land which previously belonged to Mexico. However, the Treaty would not grant the

U.S. in 1922 is the court case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Takao Ozawa, a Japanese immigrant, was rejected from getting citizenship due to not being racially categorized as Caucasian. Ozawa argued that he and his family were fully assimilated into American culture and his skin was very light to the point that he looked Caucasian (Lee, 124). However, the court ruled that skin color wasn’t the main factor in whether a person could become a citizen; being of Caucasian descent was the most important criterion (Lee, 124). A year later, Bhagat Singh Thind, an Indian immigrant, was prevented from naturalizing because although he was racially categorized as Caucasian, the “common man[‘s] view Indians [as] not white” (Lee, 124). The U.S. Supreme Court in both cases manipulated the rules to prevent people of Asian descent form naturalizing, which showed that “race as a category can be manipulated to include or exclude certain groups” (Sasaki, 3/15/16). The U.S. perceived foreign people as being threats to society and therefore, didn’t feel safe to have them become citizens and receive