Mexican American Racism

During the 1970’s, Mexican Americans were involved in a large social movement called the "Chicano movement." Corresponding with the great development of the black civil rights movement, Mexican Americans began to take part in a series of different social protests in which they demanded equal rights for themselves. Composed mainly of Mexican American students and youth, these activists focused on maintaining a pride for their culture as well as their ethnicity to fuel their political campaign. Left out of this campaign initially though were Mexican immigrants.

More than a century of prejudice against one of the largest minority residing in the United States that continues today. To these days Hispanics are targets of discrimination and are not offer equal opportunities in jobs and education. The roots of discrimination go back to the end of the Mexican War when thousands of Mexicans became American citizens overnight. The sign of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo not only transfer land to the United States but also the people that live there before it became territory of the United States. These people began to suffer from discrimination in their owl land. Their sons and daughters did not have better luck because even thought they were born in the United States therefore they are American citizens

Although mistreatment caused considerable suffering for Mexican-Americans, it also forced them to overcome internal differences in order to form a secure community, and contributed to the eventual development of a sense of mexicanidad. Gutiérrez explains how the abuse faced by Mexican-Americans caused the formation of such ties, stating, “it is common for such newly created minority populations to develop a new sense of identity as a natural defense mechanism or as part of a larger ‘oppositional strategy’ against the prejudice and discrimination shown them by the majority or dominant group.” The Mexican-Americans developed barrios and colonias throughout the Southwest to act as such defense mechanisms. These were communities of Mexican-Americans

Students organized a peaceful walkout that lasted a couple days, they organized themselves so they could all walk out at the same time, some of this walkouts turned very brutal but even with the police attacking them they did not stop the walkouts, specially when Sal Castro and other leaders were arrested, students got together to raise their voices and make the government see they had rights. After that walkout the government had no more option than to listen to the students and make a fair educational system, by that time bi-lingual education increased 25% and students had more power over the educational

police and discrimination in the school system. Chicanos have been treaated as second class citizens in their own country. Their heritage was ignored in society, speacially at school, where they were denied to express their culture. States passed laws to prohibi the use of Spanish at schools. Students that suffer the most were those who did not speak English because they were punished physically, a practice that continue until

When Americans think of racism, they usually think of slavery, and that racism is no longer a problem in America. However, this is not the case. Racism is still obvious in America. Racism can be linked directly to stereotypical mindsets of certain groups of people.  Today’s racism is not restricted to whites and blacks, and it has come to define many different groups and races. Pigmentation as well as physical characteristics and features still are influential for classifying people. It is easy to overlook the racism that hides below the surface and is part of American life. Today, an estimate 54 million Latinos live in the U.S. and around 43 million people speak Spanish. Although Latinos are the country’s largest minority, anti-Latino prejudice is still common. Very few Americans recognize, acknowledge, and respect the contributions of one of America’s greatest ethnic groups – Hispanics. Americans are often confused as to who Hispanics really are and what they represent in America. Although the United States is known for having a melting pot of diverse cultures, recent studies have shown the rise of discrimination against Latinos and Hispanics immigrants. A person’s legal status should not be an excuse for mistreatment.

At that time there were a Chicano Movement which also called the Chicano Civil Rights Movement and that’s for Mexican American educational, social, and political equality rights in the United States, which also students originations played an important role in that movement and if we focused more in education we will find that many Mexican-American have no option but to accept the unfair rules at schools like Terry the little girl.

In American history, civil rights movements have played a major role for many ethnics in the United States and have shape American society to what it is today. The impact of civil rights movements is tremendous and to an extent, they accomplish the objectives that the groups of people set out to achieve. The Mexican-American Civil Rights Movement, more commonly known as the Chicano Movement or El Movimiento, was one of the many movements in the United States that set out to obtain equality for Mexican-Americans (Herrera). At first, the movement had a weak start but eventually the movement gained momentum around the 1960’s (Herrera). Mexican-Americans, also known as Chicanos, began to organize in order to eliminate the social barriers that

Several say that Hispanics are coming to America to take all the jobs, as well to take full advantage of all the benefits the United States offer like welfare and section 8 housing. It’s sad to see how Hispanics are treated differently since there a different ethnicity. This discrimination will keep happening due to that the government system is corrupt, and because they don’t assign stricter sentences when it comes to racism or hatred crimes towards Hispanics. Although, if it was the other way around for Hispanics or African Americans being racist towards the white people or do hateful crimes to them, then it would totally be a big deal.

By becoming actively involved in the community and in politics, Chicano activist began to achieve community self-determination. By starting to speak up and act for the Chicano community, Chicano activist broke free of the chains which have tied them down since the white man came to their homelands and drove them from out of Atzlan. A great example of Chicanos involving themselves in their community came from the walkouts staged by the Chicano youth in East L.A. In Ian Lopez’s Racism on Trial, Lopez states, “the student strikes symbolized the awakening of Mexican youth to a political consciousness of themselves and of their ability to fight for equal treatment.” (Lopez 23). By organizing the walkout the students began the Chicano communities search for self-determination and pursuit of equality. Then there are movements such as the farm workers movement which brought to the public’s attention the dehumanization of the Chicanos field workers. People such as Cesar Chavez took the political approach to win the Chicano community equality (Chicano!).

Discrimination was a very harsh case to all Mexican Americans and also for the African Americans. In the 1950’s it was a very difficult time for the Hispanics, they were considered people who weren’t intelligent and invisible. There was too much racism in everywhere and every place of Texas. There were also many signs out the restaurants, parks, and in public places that said, “No Mexicans,

The third thing I learned was that everyone went to boycott on behalf of the Chicano rights and the Farmers rights. With the help of Brown, blacks, and whites the Chicanos voices were heard from the School

The 2016 presidential election candidates; Hilary Clinton, Berney Sanders, and Donald Trump all seemed to have faithful supporters. Nevertheless, Donald Trump had the most attention with his famous phrases "make America great again" and "deport 'em all". Phrases which soon had him portrayed as a racist. Over 11 million of undocumented immigrants began to fear for their lives, here in the United States. (Park & Griggs) Along with undocumented immigrants, Muslims, people from the LGBT community, and others were attacked by presidential candidate, Donald Trump.

Zainichi Koreans are neither Japanese nor Korean. Having lived in Japan almost one century, most of Zainichi Koreans only speak Japanese and has never been to Korea. They use Japanese name and go to Japanese school. Koreans recognize them as Japanese since Zainichi culturally and spiritually are Japanese. However, they identify themselves as Korean because of their nationality. In this sense, Zainichi Koreans have the unique national identity. Their uniqueness is another name for their identity crisis and their lifelong obstacles.

If you had told me in 2002 that 15 years later Donald Trump would be president, Kid Rock would be running for Senate, and Eminem would be a celebrity spokesperson for human/civil rights, I would have laughed you out of the room. This sounds more like content for an SNL skit than reality. But, here we are; Truth really is stranger than fiction.