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By the end of the Mexican American war of 1848, the United States was able to gain possession of Mexican territory. Many whom were living in the new seized land of the U.S. were offered legal citizenship as an agreement to ending the war. However granted legal citizenship for the Mexican Americans would not mean that they gained equal treatment. The problem with the racial caste system was that Mexican American was mixed with Spanish and Indian ancestry and did not fit with the white and black racial categories. They were in fact to be considered white by law but their status, as citizens did not stop the unequal treatment. In the film “A Class Apart” and Juan Gonzalez’s Chapter five depicts the struggles that Mexican Americans had faced with discrimination.
Equal Rights
Separate and unequal treatment was usual. An attempt to stop the segregation was form assimilation and the acceptance of being equal citizens. To school, restaurants, courthouses and even funeral homes, discrimination followed Mexican Americans. They were to be kept further away from whites in all daily aspects of white. During World War II it is stated
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that 30,000 Mexican Americans served for their country suffering from many causalities. They returned home expecting that they have earned their full citizenship rights. The irony of it all was that they went to fight to give others liberty and to give them civil rights when instead the Mexican American Veterans returned to “much of the same discrimination and racism they had left behind, only this time they refused to accept it”. (book) Mexican Americans demanded change for civil rights for equality. Although the Mexican American lawyers had achieved some success for equality, they were to still treated as second-class citizens. They would need protection under the constitution in order to be fully protected and to be seen as equal with whites having to take their cases to the supreme courts. They were fully aware that Mexican Americans were denied the protection of the constitutions 14 amendment that had granted full citizenship and protected certain rights of individuals in which African Americans used for their own fights against discrimination as well. The situation was by law Mexican Americans were considered white and the amendment only meant that it prevented discrimination of whites against blacks. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo After the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, the whites began to see Mexicans as an obstacle for them to make any sort of progress. The incident of ‘Cheno’ Cortina who had assassinated a Brownsville marshal in the year of 1859 because he viewed that he was abusing a drunk Mexican was when Cortina decided to stand up to the whites for the cruel and unusual punishment. But by the 1900s segregation had become apparent. The whites had seemed to have more power even though they were the minority. In the 1920s organizations such as the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) were to assimilate Mexican Americans to the U.S. culture and to have them be accepted as equal citizens. Trial of Pete Hernandez This case brought a ruling from the higher courts that segregation and discrimination against Mexican Americans would then be legal.
For Gus Garcia however, it was not whether Pete Hernandez shot Joe Espinosa but that fact that he would receive a fair trial because his fate depended on and all white jury. Gus Garcia takes Hernandez case as an opportunity to prove the discrimination towards Mexican Americans, Garcia disputed over the fact that Hernandez himself was not given the right of having a jury of his peers mentioning that prohibiting Mexican American jurors and those of higher authority were not fair. The real issue was that if Mexican Americans were ale to serve on juries with whites it would have discontinued the caste system of Mexican Americans being seen as second-class citizens proving that were capable of doing the same as
whites. The lawyers were to prove discrimination in America towards Mexican Americans. They argued to be treated as if they were white and although the court knew that they were classified as white they did not see any form of discrimination with the fact that the juries were classified as white as well. Defending their argument they stated that they were white but “a class apart” meaning that they understood that they were perceived as whites but were treated as if they were not and in any means did not fit into the racial categories of white and blacks. Their appeal however was denied. They then decided to take their case to the United States Supreme Court knowing that if they won they would be able to gain equality for Mexican Americans but if the case lost they were to be recognized as second-class citizens. The United States Supreme Court announced its ruling in the case of Hernandez v. Texas declared that Pete Hernandez would receive a second trial for the killing of Joe Espinosa with a jury of his peers. The courts reasoning stated that Mexican Americans were protected under the constitutions 14th amendment with the theory that they were in fact “a class apart”. As a result of the Hernandez case Mexican Americans were to be no longer seen as second-class citizens under the law. Fight for Identity Juan Gonzalez, in chapter five Mexicans: Pioneers of a Different Type, states: “Mexican Americans … face a frustrating identity problem similar to that of Puerto Ricans. They are both native-born and immigrants, pioneers and aliens, patriots and rebels; no matter how far back some may trace their ancestry on our soil, they are still battling to emerge from the obscure margins of official U.S. history, still clamoring to be fully recognized and understood…” (p. 97). The status and treatment of Mexican Americans had changed over years. The film, A Class Apart, depicted the treatment Mexicans went through to be seen as neither white nor black but a “class apart”. Mexican Americans struggles to change their status as second-class citizens, which started a process of change towards being recognized as equal under the law.
At the end of article they describe the pain Joaquín Murieta endured for being a honest and innocent man: “His soul swelled beyond its former boundaries, and the barriers of honor, rocked into atoms by the strong passion which shook his heart like an earthquake, crumbled and fell” (1). At the current time it didn 't matter if you were honest or not with law. If you weren 't white in 1850, you were considered an outsider. Since Joaquín Murieta was Mexican, he was not persecuted because of his transgression but because he was Mexican. The writer wanted to give you an idea of what it felt to be a Mexican and the mistreatment they got from the white
Although Americans vary widely in ethnicity and race and minorities are far from sparse, racism has never been in short supply. This has led to many large scale issues from Irish immigrants not begin seen as Americans during the Irish famine, to Mexican-American citizens having their citizenship no longer recognized during the Mexican Cession, all the way to Japanese internment camps during World War II. Both Dwight Okita and Sandra Cisneros Both give accounts of the issue from the perspective of the victims of such prejudice. Rather than return the injustice, both Okita and Cisneros use it to strengthen their identity as an American, withstanding the opinion of others.
Harvest of the Empire is a valuable tool to gaining a better understanding of Latinos. This book helps people understand how varied Latino’s in the United States are. The author also helped give insight as to how Americans reacts to differences within itself. It does this by giving a description of the struggles that every Latino immigrant faced entering the United States. These points of emphasis of the book were explained thoroughly in the identification of the key points, the explanation of the intersection of race, ethnicity, and class, in addition to the overall evaluation of the book.
In Pocho, Rubio could not identify with any group because he didn’t want to be categorized. In fact, Rubio didn’t have a hard time fitting in with the Pachucos or queers. Although, Rubio seemed understanding about other peoples chooses he ultimately decided to identify as American. This was seen when Rubio joined the Army, as a means to escape his reality. Another theme presented was in regards to fighting social inequalities. This ultimately led to Chicano protest, which became essential to the Civil Rights Movements. The strong will of these Chicano/a activists were similar to Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzalez and his “Crusade for Justice”. The film “Quest for Homeland” acknowledged Gonzalez as an important figure for the Chicano Movement because he inspired people to demand for equality. Even though the Chicano Movement had a tragic ending with the death of Ruben Salazar, Chicanos made their voices heard. Similarly, the Chicano walkouts were the beginning of “consciousness”. For instance Castro mentions, “Chicano’s have long been sleeping giants” he continues by stating looks like we woke up”. This shows that students living in these areas were oblivious to their ability of obtaining a higher
American minorities made up a significant amount of America’s population in the 1920s and 1930s, estimated to be around 11.9 million people, according to . However, even with all those people, there still was harsh segregation going on. Caucasians made African-Americans work for them as slaves, farmers, babysitters, and many other things in that line. Then when World War II came, “World War II required the reunification and mobilization of Americans as never before” (Module2). They needed to cooperate on many things, even if they didn’t want to. These minorities mainly refer to African, Asian, and Mexican-Americans. They all suffered much pain as they were treated as if they weren’t even human beings. They were separated, looked down upon, and wasn’t given much respect because they had a different culture or their skin color was different. However, the lives of American minorities changed forever as World War 2 impacted them significantly with segregation problems, socially, and in their working lives, both at that time and for generations after.
As the numbers of Chinese laborers increased, so did the strength of anti-Chinese sentiment among other workers in the American economy. This finally resulted in legislation that aimed to limit future immigration of Chinese workers to the United States, and threatened to sour diplomatic relations between the United States and China.
Imagine seeing 10,000 of your classmates walking out of your school because they wanted a better education - a better way of life. In the 1960s’ Chicano students were being “pushed out”(Esparza) of school or being pushed towards vocational programs. East L.A was home to schools were “one out of every four Chicano’s completed high school”(Esparza). Instructors and the school board alike did not have an interest in helping Chicanos finish school to become someone other than a laborer and was expected of them to keep being a laborer. In “Taking Back the Schools”, Sal Castro a high school counselor claims, “I think the bottom line is the lack of concern of the teachers towards the kids and whether the kids were really getting an education or not...the reality set in that the teachers weren’t really concern for the kids.”(Esparza).
The Chicano Movement, like many other civil rights movements, gained motivation from the everyday struggles that the people had to endure in the United States due to society. Mexican-Americans, like many other ethnicities, were viewed as an inferior group compared to white Americans. Mexican-Americans sought to make a change with the Chicano Movement and “the energy generated by the movement focused national attention on the needs of Mexican-Americans” (Bloom 65). The Mexican-American Movement had four main issues that it aimed to resolve and they ranged from “restoration of la...
During this course, this author has been taught about various social issues in today’s society as a whole. Some of these issues include perception of race and culture, poverty, social inequality, urbanization, and more. After exploring all these issues and more, this author has chosen to finish his last assignment on racial discrimination and Hispanic Americans. This author decided upon this specific issue because he has observed this in almost every town or city he has visited as a truck driver. This author thinks it is unfortunate that minorities are still treated unfairly. As citizens of the United States of America, it is useful to become educated on what racial discrimination is and see how it is applied in everyday life. This author decided to investigate this issue and determined the genuineness and voluminous of it.
What would it be like to wake up everyday knowing you would get bullied, mistreated, and/or abused just because of where you were born? Discrimination still exists! “Discrimination remains and there is an increase in hate crimes against Hispanics, Latinos and Mexican-Americans, as one of the perceived symbols of that discrimination, the U.S.-Mexico Border Fence, nears completion. Instead of pulling together in these difficult times, we may see a greater polarization of attitudes” (Gibson). But why are hate crimes increasing towards Latin and Hispanic aliens and what types of discrimination are occurring against them? Understanding violence towards the Hispanic and Latin alien is divided into three main classes; the difference between legal and illegal aliens, the attacks and effects, and the point of view of different people towards aliens.
In “Manifesto of the Communist Party,” Karl Marx argues that there is only two social classes and the one who will be in the lead are the wealthy individuals. Like, in “The Social Contract,” Jean-Jacques Rousseau says that in order for things to not remain the same, there has to be changes on the state. Unlike, in “Workers,” Richard Rodriguez explains about his experience in working and about the choices he had to take in life. While, in “Roberto Acuna, Migrant Farm Worker,” Studs Terkel mentions about is life experience when he worked in the fields. On the other hand, in “Does Race Matter in Latin America?” Deborah J. Yashar talks about the discrimination and the history about race in Latin America. In order to help reduce the injustice between
“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
The English immigrants are given a brief introduction as the first ethnic group to settle in America. The group has defined the culture and society throughout centuries of American history. The African Americans are viewed as a minority group that were introduced into the country as slaves. The author depicts the struggle endured by African Americans with special emphasis on the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement. The entry of Asian Americans evoked suspicion from other ethnic groups that started with the settlement of the Chinese. The Asian community faced several challenges such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, and the mistreatment of Americans of Japanese origin during World War II. The Chicanos were the largest group of Hispanic peoples to settle in the United States. They were perceived as a minority group. Initially they were inhabitants of Mexico, but after the Westward expansion found themselves being foreigners in their native land (...
America has had discrimination against minorities for a long time and it will continue to have it until people treat minorities with respect. Discrimination is when people treat minorities bad because of their skin color, ethnicity and the place they were born. For immigrants, the problems they had to arrive in America were not a good experience only by the struggle to gain acceptance among the population. Most immigrants came to the U.S. to have a better life and give education to their children. Almost all immigrants have experienced discrimination at some point in their life and even some are still experiencing it today. Most Latinos don’t have a choice but to deal with it when they get discriminated because they know they are illegal.
The ethnic- Mexican experience has changed over the years as American has progressed through certain period of times, e.g., the modernity and transformation of the southwest in the late 19th and early 20th century, the labor demands and shifting of U.S. immigration policy in the 20th century, and the Chicano Civil Rights Movement. Through these events Mexican Americans have established and shaped their culture, in order, to negotiate these precarious social and historical circumstances. Throughout the ethnic Mexicans cultural history in the United States, conflict and contradiction has played a key role in shaping their modalities of life. Beginning in the late 20th century and early 21st century ethnic Mexicans have come under distress from the force of globalization. Globalization has followed the trends of conflict and contradiction forcing ethnic Mexicans to adjust their culture and combat this force. While Mexican Americans are in the struggle against globalization and the impact it has had on their lives, e.g., unemployment more common, wages below the poverty line, globalization has had a larger impact on their motherland having devastating affects unlike anything in history.