Mexican American Racial Discrimination

Back in the 1950s, Mexican Americans did not have the courage to stand up and fight for their rights because they were afraid of the outcome and the problems this could have caused. They had to live with the burden of discrimination every day, mainly in the Southwest. Mexican Americans were considered invisible and uneducated. However, when the case Hernandez v. Texas occurred, a very courageous lawyer, Gustavo ‘Gus’ Garcia, along with other lawyers, took this opportunity to stand up for their civil rights.

198). The case Hernandez v. Texas provides an example for why the promotion of a unique Chicano identity was essential to enact change. Pedro Hernandez had murdered his white employer after an argument at a cantina. When Gus Garcia was asked to represent Hernandez, Garcia’s main concern was whether Hernandez would receive a fair trial in front of an all-White jury (A Class Apart, Sandoval and Miller). His concern about receiving just the minimum civic liberty shows that racism toward Mexicans had continued to be extremely severe despite earlier efforts to combat discrimination with assimilation.

Hernandez V. Texas is based in the 6th amendment, “guarantees a defendant a right to counsel in all criminal prosecutions”. This case is a very well-known because there was too much of discrimination towards Hispanics. Pedro Hernandez is a resident at Edna, Texas, a Mexican guy who was accused of convicting the murder of Joe Espinosa who was also a resident of the same area. Hernandez was found guilty by an all-white jury going all the way to Supreme Court. Their lawyers argue that it wasn’t fair for them not having a Mexican American as a jury and there was only Americans, because in that way they would take advantage of a Mexican American to do whatever they wanted to do with him. In the 1950’s was when this case occurred and also there was a harsh discrimination to Mexican Americans from the white people at the United States. Mexicans and African Americans were just a “waste of time” for the white people, that’s how the white people thought about them. History, discrimination and how did this issue impact police, court, and corrections are essential things that will be cover.

The 1950s was probably the most important decade for Mexican-American citizens in Texas. Discrimination has always been a big issue for Mexican-Americans because they have always been treated as invisible white people in Texas. Supposedly they are citizens of our country, but somehow they were not given equal rights. There were occasions in Texas where a white citizen, for no good cause, shot a Mexican-American unexpectedly. Texas restaurants wouldn’t serve Mexican-Americans. They had separate restrooms and schools between white and Mexican-American. In this essay we will be discussing the case Hernandez v. Texas, 1953; the details and the outcome.

The PBS documentary “A class apart” is about the discrimination that Mexican Americans faced among the Anglo “white” community. In the Hernandez v. Texas case, Gus Garcia and Carlos Cadena were determined to prove that Mexican Americans were treated as second class citizens. Despite that they were considered “white” they were not treated with same equality as Anglos, hence they were a “class apart”. This case was very important for the Latin community, because it would actually change things for them, and it would give them the equality that they deserved. They would no longer be treated like second class citizens, and entitle them the rights that they deserve.

In addition to African Americans, Texans had used a system of racial profiling to convicted Hispanics as criminals between the 1920s and 1950s. Historian Oscar Jaquez Martinez states that “many European Americans sustained the racist premise that since Indian blood ran through Mexicans vines, this made them naturally, irrational, confrontationally, prune to committing to crimes.” This proves that many American states including Texas believed that Hispanics like Mexicans caused trouble. As a result, the texas justice system along with many other states had persecuted many Hispanics through their justice system. According to Oscar Jaquez Martinez, “Mexican immigrants were more likely to face flag flagrant violations of civil rights, trumped-up

No child is born with values of being a racist or discriminating against another human being. As a child grows, he has two options: one, continue in societies footsteps or two be better than society. All humans develop morals as they mature, people are born with the ability to distinguish right from wrong. Nevertheless some humans still follow the crowd to blend in, and to not be different from the rest of the world. All through the world we are faced with situations that put our morals to the test. One of this morals, is the act of being racist or discriminating against another race. Immigrants are one of the many groups of people who have faced discrimination on this country for centuries. Especially hispanics/latinos

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. By the 1970s, the south became the nations most integrated region. In 1976, 45.1% of the souths African American students were going to majority all white schools, compared to 27.5% in the Northeast and 29.7% in the Midwest. School integration have increased since the 1980s. Several court cases helped enforce the Civil Right Act.

Mexican Americans in the education system have been treated unfair. From the Mendez v. Westminster to the low number of students graduating from high school and moving to a higher institution shows that the system has done nothing to help these students. By the help of the community wealth theory many of the few numbers of scholars who have been able to reach these higher institutions have been able to put families, schools, peers, and other influences for their benefit and for helping them enter these systems which are not welcoming to them. Various aspects of these systems need to be change from the diversity of teachers and desegregation in and within schools around the US which would influence the communication and thoughts that Mexican

According Almanza, a Latino man working in the helping profession chosen to be interviewed, believes that family and church are the two places that man Latinos turn to when seeking to find assistance or help that might be facing

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

Racial discrimination commonly refers to unfair or unequal behavior upon on individuals due to their race or ethnicity. Racism has been practiced for decades. Exerting superiority or supremacy over a race of individuals is the attempt of racial dominance. Despite the increasing population in the United States, Hispanic Americans find racial discrimination a reality in their lives. Migration rates have been on a dramatic climb over the past several decades resulting in a significant growth in diversity being experienced. The migration of the various cultural groups, including the Hispanic cultures,

Does it matter what we are called: Latino or Hispanic? Does it change who we are as people? To an extent, most people do not know the difference between either. Typically, people group both terms as one singular item. However, Hispanic and Latino racial classifications are more than a broad category for people from Spanish-speaking countries. The words connote and represent a history of colonial terminology that based its success on the failures of innocent, historically peaceful, cultural groups. Hispanic and Latino terminology are political and economic in every sense. This paper will show that colonial leanings to control and govern people’s lives have yet to culminate, even though the era of imperialism ended a century ago. The United States, although far from its heyday as the singular house of power, still manages to achieve control and influence over the imperialized minds of groups of people, specifically Hispanics and Latinos.

Since the start of American history, immigrants came here and brought their traditions and cultures with them. The United States is a country of immigrants. It is a place where people from all over the world come to build a better life. Some immigrants bring their families. Others come alone with nothing but determination. Racial discrimination against minorities and immigrants is an underlying problem here in America today. Racism is seen in our daily lives when people are discriminated against because of their race and ethnicity. Racism attacks the right to a person’s well-being on the basis of something they have no control over. They cannot change nor should want to change who they are. Racial discrimination is not as bad as it was fifty years ago, but it still a problem here in our country today. Our country has advanced tremendously as far as modernization and technology, but has not improved on the way we treat minorities and immigrants. From African-Americans, Asians, Hispanics, and Arabs there is a form of discrimination against these group of minorities.

We are a country built by immigrants. The original settlers of this nation came from countries all across Europe, and America later became a beacon of hope for millions of immigrants throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. That being said, the discrimination against immigrants today might be could be seen as ironic because of how many immigrants were welcomed with open arms in the past. However, it has become clear recently that the discrimination is a little bit more complicated, as mainstream examples of prejudice all involve people of color, like Trump’s muslim ban for example. White immigrants from places in Europe as usually seen as exotic in a positive light, and their accented non-perfect english is endearing and even attractive to some. On the other hand,