Mexican Irregular Relationships

“Nuestra América: Latino History as United States History” Journal of American History. 93.3 (2006): 655-672. Print.

David G Gutiérrez’s Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the Politics of Ethnicity discuss the deep and complex understudied relationship between Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants. This relationship was a natural consequence of the mass illegal immigration from Mexico to the United States that had constantly been increasing the population of “ethnic Mexicans” and along with it brought tensions between those who were Americans of Mexican descent and had been living here for generations and those who had freshly arrived to the United States and as such did whatever they had to do to make a living.

Many Mexican Americans have been able to accomplish their own versions of the American dream by attending a 4-year college, owning businesses, and taking on political and public service careers. However, Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants continue to face the hardships that their ancestors went through in the 20th century. The ethnic Mexican experience in the United States has been a difficult one for Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans of the first generation. Two key factors that continue to shape the lives of Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants are labor laws and the citizenship process. Focusing on the research, statistics, and information provided by Mai Ngai “The Architecture of Race in American Immigration”, Natalia Molina’s, “In a Race All Their Own": The Quest to Make Mexicans Ineligible for U.S. Citizenship”, and George J. Sanchez, “Becoming Mexican American” will provide the cause and effect of labor laws and citizenship laws that made an impact on the lives of Mexicans during the 20th century.

Hispanics will represent more than one-quarter of school-age children in the United States by 2025. These children are more likely than others to be educationally and economically disadvantaged.

When one thinks about Hispanics, all too often the image of a field full of migrant workers picking fruit or vegetables in the hot sun comes to mind. This has become the stereotypical picture of a people whose determination and character are as strong or stronger than that of the Polish, Jewish, Greek, or Italian who arrived in the United States in the early 1900's. Then, the center of the new beginning for each immigrant family was an education. An education was the "ladder by which the children of immigrants climbed out of poverty into the mainstream." (Calderon & Slavin, 2001, p. iv) That ideal has not changed, as the Hispanic population has grown in the United States to large numbers very quickly and with little fanfare. Now, the

A diverse minority group of Latino and Spanish-speaking peoples has played an important part of what it means to be American and what it means to be a citizen in the United States today. Moving into the future, in order to analyze the trajectory that this group is in, we must first understand the group’s history in the United States and in territories that would become the United States. In addition, we must look at the origins of the most recent wave of Latino immigration in order to understand their current effect on American society and the intersection between both minority and majority groups. Finally, we get to the apex of this investigation: what lies in the future for Latino Americans in the United States? Although Latino

Born on September 5, 1967 in Mexicali, Mexico Guadalupe Ramirez was the first born child of her parents. The state she was born in is a small border town that connects to the California border. She was born into a lower class family that was struggling to make ends meet and at the age of five she migrated to the United States with her mother. During this period of time there was a large influx of Mexican migration to the United States that began in the early 20th century. There was a large demand for labor in the United States and the Mexican economy was struggling due to the political chaos that was taking place in Mexico in the 1960’s. In the 1980’s Mexican immigrants are the largest immigrant population in the United States. According to (Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova) Mexicans accounted for 28 percent of the country’s 41.3 million foreign born. (citation)

There are many Hispanic people that are remembered today and that children learn about throughout their years at school because Hispanics are also a part of American culture. The person I chose to research and caught my attention was Salvador Castro who was a social studies teacher.Castro has the trait of being a risk taker because when he would be teaching in his school he would fight for the rights to demand bilingual and learn about Mexican American history. Salvador Castro began his teaching career in Belmont High School in Los Angeles where he saw a bunch of Hispanics being discriminated him and to protect them he would fight for prejudice. Many of the Hispanics he saw weren’t able to be elected as candidates

In his powerful address to Del Sol High School in Las Vegas, Nevada, then-President Barack Obama delivered a profound statement to his largely Latino audience, encouraging them that “What makes someone American isn’t just blood or birth but allegiance to our founding principles and faith in the idea that anyone-from anywhere-can write the next chapter of our story” (“Remarks”). This thought provokes listeners to reflect upon the definition of an “American”, encouraging them to expand beyond the confinements of citizenship. In an era marked by tumultuous racial relations and global ethnic conflicts, it is imperative that Americans recognize and revere the positive economic, political, and social contributions that Latinos have made to the

As previously mentioned, many of the opponents of Mexican-American Heritage were Democrats, and they argued that the textbook was a “threat to society.” Furthermore, it was considered highly insulting because it called Mexicans “lazy” compared to people from other nations; it stated how “it was traditional to skip work on Mondays, and [how] drinking on the job could be a problem” for Mexicans. These crude comments horrified and greatly offended Hispanics. This is significant for the Democrats because, as their current political standing in Texas requires them to be constantly trying to gain voters, they have the opportunity to defend the Latinos and gain their support. Therefore, the Democrats' critical backlash toward Mexican-American Heritage may be a result of their need to keep the Latino population on their side. This relationship between politics and education is clearly a significant and influential aspect of how the events in these articles played

The issue of providing an education for undocumented children in public schools in the United States is one that has been debated over several decades. The roots of this debate can be found in Texas and can be traced to the Tyler Independent School District. In 1977 the landmark case, Plyer v. Doe, was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. This case was a result of the Texas Legislature’s 1975 revision of education law which allowed school districts to deny enrollment to undocumented children (Noll, 2013). Although this issue dates back to 1975, it is still a contentious topic today due to the lack of action taken by the United States Congress to address this complex issue. It is estimated that there are millions of undocumented individuals in the United States today (Noll, 2013). In fact, it is estimated that over 200,000 undocumented immigrants enter the United States annually (Espenshade, 1993). The issue of how to deal with undocumented immigrants has been one that politicians are still debating today. There are arguments ranging from deportation to amnesty for these undocumented immigrants. However, this is such a complex issue that can’t be solved with a vote in Congress. The issue of illegal immigration into the United States is not a

Currently, more than half of the public schools are Hispanic so teachers and activists are now demanding schools to teach Mexican American studies. The controversial issue over the newly proposed Mexican American textbook being used in Texas public schools brings up multiple issues in the educational system. Critics call it inaccurate, racist, and ignorant and it should be not released. "There's no way this textbook can be corrected. The errors are so extensive," says Trinidad Gonzales, a history professor at South Texas College (Isensee). The authors of the book can’t even depict the difference between a Mexican and a Chilean. If the State Board of Education has Mexican American studies as a course of study in all Texas public schools, publishers

than Americans do. In addition, the authors found cultural differences and cultural similarities among the U.S. Residents, Russians, and Lithuanians. For instance, for the U.S. interviewees friendship and comfort love are important features of romantic love. According to the authors, one of the main purpose of this journal article is to answer the question that romantic love is cultural universal or not based on the data collected from the participants (De Munck, Korotayev, De Munck, & Khaltourina, 2011, p. 27). Indeed, everyone has a different meaning of the term romantic love. Certainly, it is important for couples to talk to each other of ways to overcome any conflicts that may arise in a relationship. People who avoid conflicts by avoiding

The Latinos in my class differed in the way that they were proud to say they were Puerto Rican, Mexican, and Dominican. Thus, I pursued a relationship with these classmates and I began to feel differently about Latinos. I realized that I was taking part in the prejudice thoughts my previous classmates had toward Latinos by concealing my identity. I also recognized that Latinos were struggling to pursue a better life and that we are looked down upon. As a result of discrimination, it is difficult for us to accomplish our goals in life. Presently, every opportunity I get, I talk about my culture. I discuss the hardships Latinos face and I describe my experience growing up Puerto Rican. Although I am Puerto Rican, I don't know as much about my culture as I should. Reading Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America by Juan Gonzalez has brought new insights to my knowledge of Puerto Ricans and Latinos in general. Gonzalez focuses on language and writes that speaking Spanish is treated as a handicap instead of as an asset.

“Hispanics are the largest and fastest-growing minority group, and will represent 60% of our nation’s population growth between 2005 and 2050.” A path to legal citizenship starts with three strategies: education, job training, and integration. A major issue that has been occurring in this nation is that with the large number of Hispanics who have migrated to the United States, the vast majority of them are illegal immigrants. Many lack the education needed to survive and integrate themselves into the American society. They are also unqualified to perform many of the available jobs the United States has to offer. Due to them migrating here illegally they do not receive the education