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Mexican Immigration Stereotypes

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The United States of America is known to be the “melting pot” of the world. With a plethora of different nationalities, religions, and cultures, the country has been an immigrant’s place of refuge and economic advancement for over hundreds of years. During the colonial era, from the end of the eighteenth century to around 1920, the United States experienced an immense rush of immigration. The migration that occurred during this time created animosity between American nativists and immigrants. With U.S. citizens feeling threatened by their new neighbors, many stereotypes were formed about these people. Immigrants from Ireland, China, and Mexico were ostracized and treated unfairly for many reasons, but they all shared one common stereotype: …show more content…

Mexican people were “forced to become tenant farmers and sharecroppers” and because of this, “the peasants had become especially vulnerable to exploitation” (Takaki 293). Similar to the rest of the immigrants during this time, Mexicans traveled to the United States in order to find a safe place to live and financial opportunity. Most immigrants worked low-paying, physically demanding jobs, and Mexican immigrants were no exception. These people took on most of the construction work throughout the country, representing about seventy-five percent of the labor in 1928 (Takaki 296). The Mexican immigrants were seen solely as labor workers, unimportant for any other reason. The stereotype of a Mexican’s work ethic is described in A Different Mirror as “unambitious, physically not strong, and somewhat [indigent] and irregular… His strongest point with the employers is his willingness to work for low wage” (Takaki 297). A specific instance of the overall stereotype of the white man being superior compared to Mexican immigrants is illustrated on page 297 of Takaki’s novel. The quote states “whites were “physically unable to adapt” and “white man will not do the work.” These statements show how white men were held to a higher standard, and would not even consider working on the same level as immigrants. The blatant evidence that the white people believed they were superior to the Mexican immigrants ties every group together. Different than the Irish and Chinese immigrants though, was that Mexican immigrants were deliberately segregated from the “Anglos,” or white nativists. “In the morning, Mexican parents sent their children to segregated schools,” Takaki writes. “In the segregated schools, Mexican children were trained to become obedient workers… Anglo farmers wanted the schools to help reproduce the

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