Throughout paragraphs 2 and 5 Forbes used analogy by showing a similarity between different races of ethnic groups. In paragraph 4, Forbes informs us on why the term "Hispanic" is useless, which is because since 1978 it has been used to identify any person eith a cultural connection to the Spanish Empire being that they aren't even Spanish. Furthermore, paragraph 5 also explains why the term "Latino" is useless and that is the same reason why the term Spanish is useless. He used these examples of analogy in order to…
In Leif Jensen’s article, “Ethnic Identities, Language, and Economic Outcomes among Dominicans in a New Destination,” Jensen observes Dominican immigrants, who migrated to Reading, Pennsylvania from the Dominican Republic, and how they identify themselves in America. He and his fellow researchers start their observations by giving some of the Dominicans, in Reading, surveys about their homes, health, stress, migration history, and other things. They find that 7.6 percent of Reading’s population is Hispanic, which is double Harrisburg’s percentage (Harrisburg is the community with the next closest percentage of Hispanics). They also used open-ended questions concerning race to give the respondents the opportunity to indicate how they classify…
It was upsetting when I read the article because even though the information was limited about Judge Sotomayor, I knew since her nomination, she had Latino roots and we Latinos, are too discriminated. It is disappointing when people with limited resources in the past, who reach a higher social status or “power”, try to degrade others.…
One of the most obvious untrue assumptions surrounding immigrants is that Latinos are more prone to crime than their American counterparts. Rivera confronts the question of whether immigrants are committing crimes at higher rates than U.S. citizens. The debate started with a story about a drunk driver in Virginia Beach who killed two teenage girls in a terrible accident. The driver was an “illegal” Mexican. Rivera accusing Bill O’Reilly of making this same “cheap political point,” Rivera said, “[He] could have been a Jewish drunk, an Italian drunk, or an Irish drunk, would you still care?” (p. 5). I believe this is the perfect example to showcase the constant double standard that exists when it comes to use Latinos as ‘scapegoats’ to take the blame for high rates of crimes or other issues. Statistics show that immigrants are no more prone to committing crimes than are the native-born.…
Chavez attempts to clear the misconceptions of intent. “We are better served by attempting to clarify the social and historical context of such pronouncements” (Chavez 2008, pg. 22). In The Latino Threat, Leo R. Chavez critically investigates the media stories about and recent experiences of immigrants to show how prejudices and stereotypes have been used to malign an entire immigrant population—and to define what it means to be an American. He directs his attention to media at large that nurture and perpetuate the notion that Latinos, particularly Mexicans, are an invading force bent on reconquering land once considered their own. Through a perceived refusal to learn English and an "out of control" birthrate, many say that Latinos are destroying the American way of life. But Chavez questions these assumptions and offers facts to counter the myth that Latinos are a threat to the security and prosperity of our…
Although Puerto Ricans are made up of three peoples: Spanish, African, and Taíno, the black history of Puerto Rico is often made light of. Afro-Latino is a term coined to identify people from Latin America who have traceable African ancestry. To many, the term is oxymoronic and often problematic in the United States, where the need for racial and social classification needs to be refined to; Black, White, Hispanic, Native-American, Asian. “Afro-” as a prefix for something Latin is usually associated with sociological elements such as Afro-Brazilian, Afro-Cuban All Stars, or Afro-Latin studies, but what does it really mean to be Afro-Latino? Outside of cultural concepts and sociological studies, Afro-Latino is a term not often used for self-identification.…
While people in the United States may see Mestizo as synonymous with biracial, many Mestizos do not see it this way. When forced to classify their race as such, they have limited options that truly fit their identity. In Mexico, about 30% of citizens identify themselves as “Unclassified” on official forms, another 47% calling themselves “White” and an additional 21.5% identifying as indigenous. These statistics change…
Juenke, Eric Gonzalez. "Ignorance Is Bias: The Effect Of Latino Losers On Models Of Latino…
In my opinion there cannot be a unique or singular Hispanic/Latino identity. I feel that there may be several factors that play into whether or not someone considers themselves to be Hispanic or Latino such as where they were born, where their ancestors were born, what language they speak, race, religion and culture. There is so much diversity in the world that it is hard to pin point a person to one specific racial identity. I do believe that people can feel a strong sense of belonging to the Hispanic or Latino identity based on a combination of some of these things but that does not mean that everyone who identifies with some of the categories will identify them self as Hispanic or Latino. The term Latino is usually used in reference to people who are originally from Latin America or who trace their heritage back to Latin America. The term Latin America itself refers to many nations collectively who speak some romance of the language of “Latin” such as Spanish, portuges and even French. As far as the term Hispanic, it usually refers to all Spanish speakers although that is not always appropriate since it implies a direct heritage to Spain. I do agree with the positions expressed because I feel that it is difficult to put people into one box due to the amount of diversity a migration we have. These issues are important to me as I am married to a Dominican and my daughter would be consider in part of Hispanic descent. They are also relevant in society because race plays a huge hand in almost every aspect we deal with.…
Regions such as the Northeast and southeast were social focal points to Latinos from central and south America, including island nations such as Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. "Latinos settled in areas that had a elevated population of their country men. The idea of communal living was key to where most Latino immigrants felt that they had the best odds to obtain employment, housing, and social welfare". However, over the decades following the early 1900's, Latinos and Mexican Americans in particular began to loose their national identity and were classed according to which contry or region they were from. In and example given by author Guadalupe San Miguel Jr., " It depended on where one lived in the United States, in the west they would label all brown skinned persons as Mexican, when on could be from Spain. In the northeast, you are categorized as a Puerto Rican, even if you were from Argentina. In the south, mainly in Florida, the large populace of Cuban exiles and political refugees has branded all Latinos wherever their country of origin into the classification of Cuban". Another example of race classification, was recognition and stereotyping people with the physical traits of Latino or Mexican. Dark hair, brown eyes,…
The term Chicano was a word used as a derogatory remark to identify Mexican- Americans of low social class. It wasn’t until the 1960’s when the term Chicano became popular during the Chicano Movement. Chicano was mainly popular among students who performed walkouts, teachers, and farm workers. It was until then that Mexican- Americans took pride of the term that was once a negative remark. Till this day, Mexican- Americans have many alternative identification terms they could adopt like; Hispanic, Chicano, Latino, among others. But the real question is what Chicano means in a cultural, economic, and educational perspective. More importantly, what the term Chicano means to me. Which is what I will be analyzing today with the help of various…
“The categorical option to choose more than one racial group is often not officially available when registering for school or healthcare or applying for admission or employment. Instead, mixed-race individuals are often forced to “choose one” racial or ethnic identity (Hall, 1992).”Basically what is being stated here is that for a substantial amount of years the mixed race identity has gone unknown on the U.S. census only allowing multiracial individuals to represent themselves as a mono racial category or other therefore confusing the multiracial individual as to why there is no checkbox to fully represent his/herself. Mixed race Hispanics have even bigger struggles to take into consideration due to the fact that one part of them is considered an ethnicity and the other a race . When it all comes down to it there is no proper classification for the person, they have to subject themselves to one category or the other. Even with the 2010 census that allowed multiracial individuals the chance of identifying themselves as two or more racial categories , it still posed the challenge of including the Latino ethnicity in there as well, which obviously wasn’t possible. “In the last decennial census where many additional racial and ethnic categories were allowed, almost 10 million people of Hispanic origin classified themselves as "Other" race.(Hall,1992).” The confusing structure of how the census is written out makes…
Heidy Lopez Lu Ann Thompson English 113, Section 207 September 15, 2016 Undocumented Workers Being an undocumented immigrant in the United States is hard, without the proper identification and legal status, undocumented immigrants have to work harder at being self-sufficient while maintaining a low profile. By being an illegal immigrant their opportunities are limited, work occupations are scarce depending on their location, and their biggest challenge is learning a whole, new language which is English. With the challenges faced ahead of being an undocumented immigrant, it would be reasonable for Hispanics and others to steer away from United States but just like Americans, Hispanics also want the American dream and will risk it all and…
Puerto Rican/American don’t know wither to identify myself has Hispanic or Latino. Why? Because I was born on US Soil even if being born in Puerto Rico itself, you’re considered a US Citizen. What I catch myself doing is asking myself “How do I know which term to use”? Especially when it comes out to filling out any documentation. I have to check off Hispanic on any documentation that is asking to my ethicality, only option there is are: White, Black, Asian, Native American and Hispanic. So the only option I have is Hispanic. For the race I check off White if I have more options. Is it ok, to say Hispanic is a word the government invented for us? Or is that too harsh to say? If you were to look into the History of Puerto Ricans and where we…
This classification allows for the media’s continuous negative imaging of the Latino population. Surely, with the cause of the media reinforcing a ‘social norm’ of the Latino population, there is the effect of governmental regulation. For instance, Chavez documents “President Ronald Reagan signed into law, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA). The major provisions were sanctions for employers who hired undocumented immigrants and an amnesty program for over a million undocumented immigrants” (p.8). It is clear, the purpose of passing such a law is to limit the number of undocumented immigrants who come to the US. However, the underlying motive behind this law is control. It is the supervision of the number of bodies that go in and out of the United States, the very definition of biopower. Another example is during the Clinton administration. President Clinton passed the PRWORA 1996 and IIRIRA 1996. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA 1996) requires all states to have a program that provides information about the newly hired, so that child support can be effectively enforced (Office of Child Support Enforcement). This law up front seems harmless. Though, it has some serious implications involved. That is to say, the requirement of providing information of the newly hired to the federal government is another form of biopolitics. To be clear, the federal…