Latinos in America

The United States has been ignorant and oppressive over the Latino people and communities. David Gutierrez and Renato Rosaldo address the problems of how Latinos are shaped and view within the American society, but the authors also demonstrate how this perspective of ignorance towards Hispanics has affected the American society. These authors are motivated to dissect and look into these problems from different viewpoints, and how this image of the “Latino” person has been shaped through the relationships of Latin America and the United States. Before we began to dig in and examine the readings, I assumed these articles would give the reader more historic knowledge of how the USA has been involved with in Lain America, but Rosaldo author of “Latinos Cultural Citizenship” and Gutierrez author of “Demography and The Shifting Boundaries of “community” explore and analyze the meaning citizenship, and how the demographic changes that have occurred through the years has affected the Latino experience and the United States itself.
The Pew Research Center conducted a report that examines the geographic distribution and demographic characteristics of the U.S. Hispanic population in the United States. Its very interesting to see how large of a shift in Latino demographics has change over the past decade or so. Today you can find Latinos almost everywhere, but most of this mass migration has been towards the southeast, which I believe is due to more job opportunities and less strict laws. The U.S. Census Bureau Latinos are the largest growing minority group in the United States (2013) but why are we still being so misrepresented within the American society? Gutierrez states that from “the creation of the United States, the general attitude of government officials and much of the American republic toward Latin America has been…ignorance…and, at worst, one of disdain…”(Gutierrez, pg. 10). As we studied in class much of this ignorance and misrepresentation of Latinos stems from the United States government policies and involvement with in Latin America. Gutierrez specifically uses the example of Puerto Rico. This American empire colonized Puerto Rico for its natural resources and labor as time went on the U.S. Government was confronted with the issue of how to run or mange a extraterritorial colony whose population is significantly different in culture, language, politics etc. then the American lifestyle. History tends to repeat itself, so the united States once again open its borders to the Puerto Ricans, they could legally travel back and forth to the United States. Although the United States granted Puerto Rico “citizenship”, many would considered it a to be a “second class citizenship” (Gutierrez pg. 12). The sole purpose of this policy was to maintain that control or power over the political and economical system of Puerto Rico but congress believes they have the power to decide the extent of rights they receive and to this day Puerto Rico is no even represented with in the U.S. Government. Rosaldo addresses a issue that I find myself having an emotional connection with, Rosaldo digs into the question of whether Latinos have been assimilated into American culture or is it a culture that is separate from the American one but is accepted for various reasons. As I reflect upon my past experiences I relate to Rosaldo when he brings up the idea of its fine to “orgulloso” which means to be proud of ones culture or country. But only in a specific environment usually at home or with in a community that is majority based, but when one is in public they must retain from their original heritage/culture and in a way become this so called “American.” If the U.S government, business owners, and society in general continue to overlook this growing number of Latinos in the United States and their contributions we possibly see a social revolution and potentially political!