Mexican Americans have been looked down upon for a long
time. Americans oppressed this group because they believed that the Mexican
immigrants that were coming in were going to take away their job opportunities
and change the demographics of the area, thus changing the political nature of
the city and maybe even the country. They have had difficulty finding good
employment and we made it hard for them to gain citizenship because once they
did, it would mean that they could vote. It was direct discrimination and racism against the Mexicans so that we would not have to worry about what they might do to our country. They seemed to have access to
healthcare for the most part, although some did not because of the nature of
their jobs. Many were oppressed and continue to be so because they do not speak
English fluently. For a long time, and still lingering today, there was a very
Anti-Mexican feeling in the country.
According to 2015 statistics found on the Migration Policy Institute's website,
Mexican immigrants are the largest immigrant group in the
US.
There were approximately 11.3 million Mexican immigrants in 2015, which is 27% of
all US immigrants.
They are concentrated mostly in the West and Southwest of the country, with more than half living in California or Texas.
55% of immigrants had private health insurance, while 22% were uninsured.
The immigrant population made up 17% of civilian labor force in 2015.
26% of children under age 18 had one immigrant parent in
2015.
32% of children living in poor families were children of
immigrants.
This picture shows were the immigrants are located in the US, with California being the most populated by immigrants.
Mexican Americans are a large group of people, a strong culture within our country. Yet, we as a collective society have oppressed them.
In a study on the Racial Identity and Racial Treatment of Mexican Americans, Vilma Ortiz and Edward Telles found that Mexican Americans experienced discrimination in several different aspects of life. It was especially severe in the workplace, where most reported incidents occurred, with either a denial of employment or promotion. This was probably a form of passive racism much of the time, because although many people felt Anti-Mexican sentiments, many others did not know how to react and may have reacted with passive racism simply by finding other people to fit a job who they thought were "more qualified." They also said that Mexican Americans have been treated as second-class citizens. They said, "Within
a few short decades after their conquest in the mid-nineteenth century, Mexican
Americans, although officially granted United States citizenship with full
rights, lost much of their property and status and were relegated to low-status
positions as laborers. Since then, Mexican immigration has continued to be of
predominately low status. Throughout the twentieth century, Mexicans with low
levels of education and from poor backgrounds immigrated to the United States
to fill the lowest paid jobs (agriculture, domestic work, construction) with
peaks during the Mexican Revolution in 1910 to 1929, during the agricultural
guest worker program for Mexicans (Bracero program) from 1942 to 1964, and post
the Immigration Act of 1965 which liberalized immigration from the Americas." Yet many of these immigrants came illegally, and the group of undocumented immigrants steadily grew.
Mexican Americans have been treated poorly, suffering from economic and political hardship, and facing challenges in education over the years. Since they began immigrating in large groups it has only gotten worse.
Many Americans were very frustrated with the influx of
Mexican immigrants for a long time, however these Americans forgot that they
were also descendants of immigrants and that their own ancestors had gone
through the same thing. These Americans were feeling a large sense of white American privilege and because of their inheritance did not have to worry about being in hard circumstances. Yet, as a country, we were trying to make things more
difficult for these immigrants although we have the same things written into
our pasts. Because of our privilege, we seem to forget the hardships we may be causing others to face.
Mexican Americans suffer from a number of stereotypes, including but not limited to: inability to speak English, love of tacos, love of soccer and Spanish music, a group who doesn't do well in school, involved with drugs, they are trying to sneak into the US, etc. Below are just a few memes and cartoons of different reactions to and opinions of Mexican Americans.
Some of these memes may have been created based on the Fundamental Attribution Error because of an artist's experience with a Mexican American or two. However, many of these ideas have become stereotypes over time because of how often we see them, yet most of us do not have much or any experience with Mexicans trying to cross the border or talking about tacos.
Media portrays Mexican Americans in a light that probably does not identify who they truly are. We don't know the stories of these people, nor can we pretend to.
Oppression is causing racism and hardship for many. Mexican Americans are living under a large amount of racial stereotypes and it is causing difficulty for them as they look for jobs or promotions. It is causing difficulty for students who want to do well in schools and be challenged, but whose teachers don't expect much out of them. It is causing difficulty for them in finding homes to buy or houses to rent, simply because of the color of their skin.
It is so important that as teachers we understand the oppression that Mexican Americans are facing so that we do not take part in it. It is especially important that we give our students the same opportunities, so that whites, blacks, Mexican Americans, students with disabilities, and other students in our classroom may all have an equal chance at succeeding rather than being left behind because of a racial stereotype. It is also important to understand things that may be going on at home, rather than assuming that all Mexican American students' parents work in the fields or in construction, etc. We need to learn to be aware of a student's actual needs rather than what society thinks that they need. We cannot succumb to deficit thinking and blame a child's problems in the classroom on their circumstances and surroundings. We must allow students the benefit of the doubt in these circumstances and think more about what we can do to help the child, what we can personally change about ourselves and our classrooms, rather than trying to blaming everything bad on the child.
Educators can support the anti-opposition movement by learning about and treating students as individuals rather than just a member of their racial community. Neither group is benefitted in these stereotypes-Mexican Americans have hurt self-esteem and a more difficult time with doing every-day things and the rest of society is also losing out on an opportunity to learn more about a different culture.
Racial prejudice and stereotyping needs to be stopped and it begins with a group outside of the oppressed standing up for those being oppressed. We can start that change as educators, within our schools.
References:
Ortiz, V., & Telles, E. (2012, April 4). Racial Identity and Racial Treatment of Mexican Americans. Retrieved October 14, 2017, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3846170/
Zong, J., & Batalova, J. (2017, March 08). Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States. Retrieved October 14, 2017, from https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-and-immigration-united-states#Mexican
Links to pictures used:
http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/f1/f1b240b810b42422a5cc015a4d02d7ebfbdfdc76cd51e454f86646d7119afc73.jpg
http://www.latina.com/sites/default/files/slide/2015-09-16/mexican-problems-meme.jpg
http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/28/28254bb6ae90422e4599aea26a91762399a63620af5192a5f113c9a00d38f54d.jpg
https://pics.me.me/turns-out-an-emre-wall-wasnt-needed-another-mexican-american-13034736.png
