Hernandez V. Texas

In an article written by a Senior student they discuss a monumental moment in Mexican American history concerning equality in the South. The student’s paper revolves around the Pete Hernandez V. Texas case in which Hernandez receives a life in prison sentence by an all white jury. The essay further discusses how Mexican Americans are technically “white” americans because they do not fall into the Indian (Native American), or black categories and because of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848. The student’s paper proceeds to discuss the goals connecting the Hernandez V. Texas case which was to secure Mexican American’s right within the fourteenth amendment [1].
The essay compares the Mexican American struggle to the African American struggle and even points out how some Mexican Americans did not want to join in the fight the get legal protection for the fear of being on the same level as an African American 12[12]. The student’s essay recognizes that although Hernandez was clearly guilty his lawyer Gus Garcia was fighting for the over all civil rights of Mexican American people when it came to trial by jury. The article further

discusses how many Mexican Americans are unaware of their history and the case as a whole. The Hernandez V. Texas case was so grandous because it was the first Mexican American case to make it to the Supreme court.
As an African American student who is accustom to facing racial prejudice in America especially the South I not surprised by injustices Mexican Americans face.

I did not know that Mexican Americans were considered to be “white” however, I am not shocked to discover they were treated as second rate citizens. Although, the essay discusses how the Mexican Americans were afraid of being reduced to the standards of an African American they in many ways were treated the very same. For example, the essay discusses segregation of White bathrooms from blacks and hispanics the racial separation seemed to surprise the essay writer were I was not even roused. I am however, taken aback by how distant Mexican Americans seem to want to be from African Americans yet even in this essay the history of black people was referenced to several

times.
When discussing American history it seems as though black history is a critical aspect in all other cultures and the movements that happen within them. The essay seemed to solely focus on the rights of Mexican/Hispanic Americans without considering the rights of other human beings as a whole yet it references to the other injustices such as Jim Crow. I found the idea offensive to even want to weigh which race had a harder time that although law outrightly prohibited blacks from basic right Mexican Americans also struggled because Southern whites wouldn’t not grant them their “white” privilege.
I did find it difficult to make a case for equal rights and being respected as a Mexican American citizen while using a guilty man's trial of murder. The ideas alone seem contradictory to desire to be treated as a human being while being charged of committing an inhuman crime. I personally feel the author of the essay also spent quite a bit of time repeating themselves instead of really breaking down and analyzing the Hernandez V. Texas case. I found it difficult to grasp what the case was actually for and sometime even forgot that the case was the focal point of the paper. The author ends their paper with educating their family on the mistreat of Mexican Americans and the Hernandez V. Texas case and the further research they will conduct in the process.