Misrepresented In The Film Bread And Roses

In the United States, there has always been blatant racial discrimination against Mexican American people, but it wasn’t until the 1980’s and 90’s where actions were taken to give the proper rights to the Mexican citizens. In the movie Bread and Roses by Ken Loach and Paul Laverty, two sisters Maya and Rosa are reunited after Maya successfully crosses the Mexican-American border. Maya joins her sister in the house cleaning business as a janitor. Maya took this janitor job after facing sexual harassment at her first job as a barmaid. Maya’s boss, Perez, at her new job demands her first month’s salary as commission, which makes her realize that she is being treated unfairly. Maya then meets Sam Shapiro, who is a lawyer for an organization called

Maya comes to the United States with hope and promise of a free and prosperous land of opportunity, and instead is met with the harsh reality of Corporate America. In the history of California, Latinos, African Americans, and other non-Caucasian people have been exploited under the industrial boom that was currently taking place in the country, and have been throughout time left with jobs unwanted by white men and wages far below the living standard. This film does a great job of putting the viewer in the shoes of these unfairly treated people and opening our eyes to the injustices done to them, and what inequalities still remain today. The company Maya and Rosa work for, Angel, cleans the many floors and offices of a building in downtown Los Angeles, all while being paid under the minimum wage set by the Fair Labour Standards Act. They have no defense against these unfair conditions, and salaries because they are illegal immigrants, and will be deported if they argue or complain to their employer, just like the old lady Teresa who was fired for arriving late, which typically wouldn’t have been to someone of Caucasian background. Maya and Rosa have differing opinions about unionizing and argue about whether its worth risking their job, and

The inequality between races, more specifically the difference in treatment between white citizens and non-white citizens, has always been present in California history and the United States as a whole. A lot of this is skipped over in general history education because a majority of the primary sources are written by wealthy, well educated white men, who in history have never faced nearly the same amount of discrimination as any other non-white race. Primary sources from the lower class is very rare since they usually didn’t have the power or voices to record history from their perspective, and they typically didn’t keep diaries or write about their personal lives on paper. Most information about the lives of the poor is lost and what remains is passed down through family letters or stories. Chicanos were discriminated in California and faced lots of violence, and hatred from whites. The fight for civil rights in California was not just among the Mexican and Latino communities, but also the African American and native California Indians. A lot of the Mexican and Latino protest was along the lines of higher wages, unionization, and better working conditions. People and groups like Cesar Chavez,