Racial Empowerment : Black And Latino People

Social workers have been historically involved in allocating resources within Latino communities. As a social service worker that forms part of the Latino community, I feel compromised with advocating for social justice on behalf of my people. To me, social justice goes beyond the desire of helping and serving unprivileged populations; it encompasses a high degree of effort and commitment towards a community that one identifies with. Dolores Huerta, a young schoolteacher in central California in the 1970s, was also compromised with bringing equality and social justice to her Latino community. After witnessing all the injustice, displacement, and hunger that children in central California were facing, Dolores Huerta abandoned her profession

Though social problems affect a wide variety of people from all races, classes, and cultures; minorities, specifically African Americans, encounter social problems on a multi-dimensional basis. Poverty, employment rates, discrimination, and other social problems strike African Americans in such a way that it is nearly impossible to separate them; each individual has different background, socially and physically, that would determine in which order his or her social problems need to be solved. Impoverished blacks in the inner city may have difficulty finding or keeping jobs, while others may have jobs, but face troubles with work discrimination that prevent them from moving upward .Underemployment, workplace inequalities, and unbalanced

“Oppression, you seek population control, Oppression, to divide and conquer is your goal, Oppression, I swear hatred is your home, Oppression, you mean me only harm.” (Harper). Oppression is a serious issue in our society today. Although it may be less serious than the past it is still a matter of importance, having to deal with sexism, religion and most importantly racial issues. Throughout the decades we have seen various ethnicities deal with racial oppressions. Many of the problems of the past still exist, and they may push the victims of the oppression beyond the emotional point of no return. A Hispanic male such as myself, can be the victim of several types of oppressions, including racial oppression.

America is most known for its diversity, with immigrants from almost everywhere on Earth. The American Dream has lured many minorities to the land of the free and home of the brave, in search of opportunity. Though the U.S. is known for its “American Dream,” America does not have equal opportunity for all of its people. Women and Latinos, specifically, have been denied social and legal equality, with both movements starting in the 1960`s. Latinos had the Chicano movement while women had the second wave of a feminist movement, with similarities and differences in their goals, means, and results. Although Latinos focused on reforming education and work conditions and women wanted to reform their image in society, both educated the public through organizations and used protests to gain limited success of better job opportunity though are still viewed as inferior to white men.

Mexican American empowerment was the goal of The Chicano Movement of the 1960s, it was a civil rights movement extending the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. During this movement there were three goals that were achieved, which was land was restored, education reforms were gained and the rights for farm workers. . Latinos lacked influence in the national political arena prior to the 1960’s but that changed when the Mexican American Political Association (MAPA) were diligent in working to get John F. Kennedy elected president in 1960, which in turn established Latinos as a significant voting bloc. Once in office Kennedy had shown his gratitude towards the Latino community by addressing their concerns of the Hispanic community

The truth about American society is not pretty, and the facts prove it. According to the United States census Bureau, blacks are twice as likely to be poor compared to other races, and eight times as likely to be imprisoned. Blacks are also three times more likely to be convicted of drug violations than whites. Only 75 percent of blacks have received post-high school education, compared to 85 percent of whites. Not surprisingly, blacks on average also make less money than whites. As of yet, black people have not been proven to possess any kind of genetic deficiency therefore, racially speaking, there must be something wrong with our society which makes it complicated and mostly unrealistic today for people with different ethnicities, race, or color to achieve the American Dream.

Society has structured us to believe that people of color do not prosper in life. I know it happens to many people when you are walking down the street you cannot help to feel intimidated by the colored man that walked passed you. It is because we are so adjusted to knowing they are the first to be convicted for assaults. Tim Wise (2012) states, “Yet despite all this we continue to believe, at least most of us, that people of color are taking advantage of “welfare” and that this is what explains everything from their own economic condition to the nation’s current budgetary woes” (p.47). Our tendency to believe that people of color or Hispanics live off welfare has not changed. I think this has a great deal to do with our sensing of people of color. We blame them for living off welfare and assume that the majority of them do since they are the ones that struggle in succeeding. This is due to the limitations that are placed on them when trying to better themselves. We have seen numerous people of color become professionals. Our President is a very intelligent black male that has made it this far despite the difficulties that people of color faced in our country.

Many white Americans are living with the fear that they didn't really deserve their success, and that maybe luck and privilege had more to do with it, than brains and hard work. There are numerous reasons for the widespread discrimination at all levels, but the main reason for the existence of discrimination is a privilege to certain groups of people, and widespread social prejudice towards certain groups of people. Differences between people have always existed, but they gain in importance only when are different importance given to certain differences, so it creates privileges. People who are privileged in one society are often not aware of their privilege. It is very easy to be oblivious to the privilege. The problem of discrimination

African Americans and Latinos hold it against themselves that they cannot achieve the same thing that Anglos can achieve. It is based on the communities they live on.

The stereotype of Hispanics aren’t good enough to succeed has impacted me to realize that we need to stand up and be heard by others and break barriers such as having a way to spread the mentality that I have is to create and develop programs which will generate Hispanic Leaders in the community so we as a whole ethnicity can be looked at by others as a hard working, right-doing, and more importantly making our community strong by reducing them confronts with our own will and to represent ourselves with pride and by proving people wrong that there is talented Hispanics in our

There is a model minority group called “Combating the stereotype,” which is based on ethnicity, race, or religion whose members are to achieve a higher degree on socioeconomic success than the population average. There is a myth that other races should not counted for and the Asian Americans are successful in life. Asian Americans are usually denied assistance if they need help in some ways. When Asian Americans are discriminated their society and their achievements are undstandable and ignored. Asian Americans are percepted of high income level and

The history of the African Americans, Latino Americans, Native Americans, and Asian Americans contains an infinite variety of experiences. To the Native Americans who founded these lands, slavery, and the waves of migration. What all minority groups have experienced is the

I believe that recently there has been an increase to rectify issues for minorities as a group which I would argue includes a large variety of smaller groups of people. Relating it to the metaphor, I believe that as a Latina my priority should be to empower the Latino community to achieve social justice not because I do not believe minorities should help each other in achieving equality and empower one another, but because of the same idea that you should help yourself before you help others. Not that it is wrong to think big and attempt to make radical change immediately, but I argue that it more effective to make changes where you have a personal investment. As a means of empowering the Latino community, I advocate primarily for education whether it be a formal education, awareness of available resources, and consciousness of how the rest of the world views the Latino community. As I previously noted, I believe that the best people to educate the Latino community are other Latinos themselves because they have overcome challenges that they could surpass or at least learned from the experience, which they can now pass on that knowledge to other Latinos going through similar situations. After empowering the Latino community through education, then I believe it is possible to assist others search for social justice, who are the children of the

Race relations are an ever prominent issue in American society. Controversies focusing around race are a commonly seen smeared across the front page of the newspaper or headlining on the evening news. The opposition is usually between a minority group and "The Man," a colloquialism used by many Blacks to refer to the overwhelming power stemming from white racist tendencies. This racial tension can sometimes can cause the oppressed to band together against the oppressor. Many times, the most prevalent link is between the African American community and the Latino community. Here we find two groups of people with very similar lifestyles who find camaraderie between themselves when dealing

That being said, their economic gap, compared to the dominant group is too wide, leading the false assumption that the leading group is better than others. Simply, when there is a lack of economic opportunities it is common that the level of delinquency and poverty goes up. For example, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center study, in 2010, all black men were six times as likely as all white men to be incarcerated in federal, state and local jails. Statistically, the study already mentioned, support the misconception that Afro-American people are delinquents. On the other hand, Brent Staples in his essay “Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space” relates his experience as Afro-American when he was confused several times by a burglar and another journalist who by mistake was incarcerated letting us know how harmful can be an idea. When we establish these fixed stereotypes, we are categorizing a whole group of people based on the behavior of some and negating them the opportunity of changing these false beliefs. For example, not all Mexicans are corrupted or drug dealers and not all Spanish native speakers are Mexicans. That is why, these inherit ideas from society influence our relationship with others, and in order to be assertive we must abandon these preconceived and