Essay About Mexican Americans And Hispanic Americans

Hispanic Diversity
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Hispanic diversity
When identifying the linguistic, political, social, economic, religious,
and familial conventions and/or statuses of four Hispanic groups living
in the United States; the following four groups I have chosen,
Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and El Salvadorians. Each
group has a wealthy cultural identity. Yet, has been placed in the same
category, Hispanic Americans, based on language. All these
groups share Spanish speech, though each has a different
dialect. Some words spelled and pronounced the same also have
different meanings. For example, sopa means soup in some countries,
but in other countries it means soap.
Mexican Americans
The Mexican American language is made up of a mix of their national
languages Spanish and English, some people refer to it as “Spanglish”.
In the political sense Mexican Americans were very involved in the Mexican American
Civil Rights movement. It was run mainly by Mendoza, V. “…Reies LДÑ-pez
Tijerina. The land grant movement, adopted by Rodolfo “Corky”
Gonzales in Denver who defines the meaning of Chicano through his
epic poem “I am Joaquin” It embraces CД©sar ChДЎvez and the farm
workersвЂ¦Ð²Ð‚Ñœ(2000). The movement was made by Mendoza. “The
Mexican American Civil Rights MovementвЂ¦Ð²Ð‚Ñœ “…encompassed a broad
cross section of issues—from restoration of land grants, to farm
workers rights, to enhanced education, to voting and political rightsвЂ¦Ð²Ð‚Ñœ
Socially Mexican Americans appear to want what all immigrants want; the American Dream. (Alba, R. 2006).
Education wise, Mexican Americans (no matter what generation) really don’t move
past High School; according to the reading, Alba, R. “Huntington. Alba
presents data that appear to show very low levels of Mexican-
American educational advancement beyond high school, regardless of
generation.” He stated;
“Thus, he cites numbers reported from the National
Latino Political Survey, conducted at the end of the
1980s, to show that no more than 10 percent of
Mexican Americans of any generation earn a
credential beyond high school and only 4 percent of
the fourth generation attains the baccalaureate; 40
percent of this generation fails to obtain the high
school diploma.” (2006)
During immigration of Mexicans to America it seems that
little progress is made for Mexican Americans to move up from
immigrant status to even common social status. This can be blamed on the
amount of discrimination and poor educational system they were given. Mexican Americans have not fully assimilated
themselves into the American mainstream culture totally yet. (Alba, R. 2006)
Economically, Mexican Americans are pushing for fair wages. This
plays out most in the Mexican American Civil Rights
movement as with Cesar Chavez. (Mendoza, V.
2000). Fair pay, benefits, equal rights,adequate wages,and more are still an issue for
most Mexican Americans.
Mexican American Family seems to focus on the Grandparents better so than the US,
The Grandmother especially appears to be the head idol of the
family says GonzДЎlez-Clements, A. in Mexican American
traditions in Nebraska, “Grandmothers, those special women who held
them and fed them and healed them, grandmothers who knew the
remedies, the stories, the crafts, the foods, and the language that
some of us have forgotten.” American Christmas celebrations were
adoptedrather than their traditions such as Gonzalez-Clements, A.
“The traditional Mexican posada, a house-to-house celebration of song
and food that replicates Joseph and Marys search for shelter on
Christmas EveвЂ¦Ð²Ð‚Ñœ