Samuel Huntington’s article The Hispanic Challenge argues that Hispanics, specifically Mexicans, are not true American citizens. According to Huntington, Americans are people who believe in the American creed. However, he believes this creed is being threatened. For some time now, large influxes of Hispanic immigrants have been coming to the US and have brought their own culture with them. The writer of Speaking in Tongues, Gloria Anzaldua, believes that Hispanics have the right to hold onto their culture in America. Both readings claim that Hispanics are here to stay, but with opposing views on how this affects society. One place where Hispanic presence is on the rise is in schools. However, some Hispanic students know more Spanish than English, and therefore struggle in school. This idea of exemplifies the stereotype that Hispanics are “dumb”. Yet for most Hispanics, speaking Spanish is a big part of their …show more content…
Because of this, she also believes there is a lack of respect for Hispanic culture. It is also unfair that Spanish is taught with little respect, yet English is usually a “pretentious” subject. She majored in English in college to show her teachers that she was capable of learning about the language, but still has her Hispanic identity. On top of being Hispanic alone, there are even more stereotypes about Hispanic women that both authors talk about. A common stereotype made about Hispanic women is that they all have high fertility rates, therefore having lots of kids. An important point Huntington makes about fertility rates is that they are high among immigrants. Hispanics have an especially high fertility rate. This is a main reason why there are so many Hispanics in the US. According to Huntington, the fertility rates among whites were around 1.8, and 3.0 for Hispanics in 2002. (Huntington) Since then, those numbers have most likely
Chavez examines the assumptions made by the media and the public by drawing in sources like magazine articles and illustrations to provide the audience with exactly how these accusations are made and shared with the public. Chavez questions what it means and what it takes to be considered an American citizen and how Latinos, particularly Mexicans, have many things stacked up against. There are no doubts that the number of undocumented immigrants has steadily increased each year. Leo R. Chavez argues that because of the rise in the numbers, it makes it easier for the media to assume that undocumented immigrants, particularly Mexicans, are a threat to our nation through an invasion. Chavez’s idea of a Mexican reconquest is developed through something he calls the Quebec model.
This then leads to the problem that in this public life being bilingual or not being able to speak English was still being discriminated against. In public life, people need to be more accepting of others who speak different languages and also not contribute to getting rid of their language in America. Espadas claims culture is important and people who are a part of the English-Only movement are causing so many people to abandon their culture. While speaking out about the cultural warfare in America, Espada declares, “There are too many in this country who would amputate the Spanish tongue. Given this cultural aggression, it is astonishing that more Latinos have not lost their Spanish altogether, that so many Latinos still speak as much Spanish as they do” (Espada 26-31).
Throughout “The Mexican in Fact, Fiction, and Folkore” examines the term “Mexican” as it is applied in Southwest literature and argues the Anglo society has made a conscious effort to misrepresent Mexicans (Rios 60). He states the people of Mexican descent are viewed as un-American because they are perceived as filthy, lazy, and dumb. Ricatelli adds to the conversation of Mexican stereotypes by examining the literary expressions of Chicanas and Mexicanas in the literature of both the United States and Mexico. In “The Sexual Stereotypes of The Chicana in Literature” Ricatelli explains how in Yankee literature, the Chicana is referred to as the “fat breeder, who is a baby factory” meanwhile the Mexican is described as an “amoral, lusty hot tamale” (Ricatelli 51). He makes note of these stereotypes in order to highlight the ethnocentric and nativist points of view that dominated Anglo literature.
There is a very high rate at which young males of Latino background are dropping out of high school and in some parts of the U.S the dropout percentage gets to be as high as 60%. There are many reasons for this social issue using the Social Pathology and we will explore the answer to this problem. We can look at these young Latino males in all parts of the country as being deviant. The reason this social problem exists is because of their deviance. So, how is it that all of these males from this particular ethnicity from all parts of the U.S are deviant in the same way?
The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named María is an essay by Judith Ortiz Cofer that addresses the impact of stereotyping on Latino women. Throughout the essay, Cofer relates her personal experiences with stereotypes to discuss how they have negatively affected her life and the lives of other Latinas. She also explains how these stereotypes originated and calls on her audience, the majority-white non-Latino population, to stop propagating the stereotypical portrayals of Latino women. In The Myth of the Latin Woman, Cofer speaks out about how stereotyping hinders the process of assimilating to a new culture by appealing to ethos through her personal experiences, using similes that show how stereotypes create isolation, and adopting
For example this quote “Mexican Americans or Afro- Americans were considered dangerous radicals while law- abiding citizens to drop their cultural baggage at the border.” explains that when natives they drop all their ethics and traits to fit in. Image is everything early on, but not fitting into the community again is hard. The author also writes to persuade readers that that she is a true Latina, because she tries to take spanish lessons. Mexican Americans are also seen as people with little education and poor.
Cohen’s fourth thesis talks about the differences among groups of people in areas of race, gender, etc. and how those differences can create monsters in society. Unauthorized immigrants often get placed into a “different” or “unwanted” group and that causes them to face unfairness in society. “How Immigrants Become ‘Other’” correlates to Cohen’s thesis because unauthorized immigrants can be made into monsters due to differences in race and legal status. The group of unauthorized immigrants can become alienated in society, and the people themselves are sometimes referred to as “illegal aliens.”
The Myth of The Latin Woman Analysis Latin American women face challenges every single day and moment of their lives. They are strongly discriminated against in all sectors of employment, in public places, and even while just walking down the street. In her essay, "The Myth of the Latin Woman," Judith Ortiz Cofer describes her own experiences using illuminating vignettes, negative connotation, and cultural allusion to exemplify how she used the struggles in her day to day life as a Latin woman to make herself stronger. Cofer uses illuminating vignettes to illustrate the different situations she encountered as a Latina while growing up and living in America.
She begins this portion of her speech by asking “does any one of these things make me a Latina?” with reference to her previous narratives. She goes on to describe that the answer is no because each community “has their own unique food and different traditions.” By directly asking the audience a rhetorical question, Sonia Sotomayor furthers her point and explains how a single experience or memory cannot classify an entire identity, because every culture is different. Sonia Sotomayor then reflects on the fact that if she had pursued her undergraduate degree and was asked what being a Latina means, she would “define Latinos as those peoples and cultures populated or colonized by Spain.”
She studies their background and circumstances, explaining how “whether living in a labor camp, a boxcar settlement, mining town, or urban barrio, Mexican women nurtured families, worked for wages, built fictive kin networks, and participated in formal and informal community associations” (p. 5). These are the ways, Ruiz found, that helped Mexican American women make them part of the American society. She also talks about the attempts made by groups like Protestants that tried to civilize or Americanize the immigrant women but were unsuccessful due to the religious and community groups as well as labor unions that were formed to give them
Every individual has their own perspective in a Latino due to how they are viewed by others. Most stereotypes come from social media and largely by the famous latinos which has a big impact on how various mistake the overall view of Latinos. Plenty of Latinos are American citizens who actually become successful. All Latinos are different in many ways for example, not all look alike, some do not even speak spanish, many are accused of selling drugs, and Latinos do not always party every weekend.
“The common denominator all Latinos have is that we want some respect. That 's what we 're all fighting for” - Cristina Saralegui. Judith Ortiz Cofer published the article, “The Myth of the Latin Woman,” where she expresses her anger towards stereotypes, inequality, and degradation of Latin Americans. Cofer explains the origins of these perceived views and proceeds to empower Latin American women to champion over them. Cofer establishes her credibility as a Latin American woman with personal anecdotes that emphasize her frustration of the unfair depiction of Latinos in society.
The article “The making of a Mexican American Dream” mentions that Americans have this notions that immigrants ultimately need to assimilate in order to fit the mold of the “American dream”. Sarah Menkedick, the author of this article, cites Milton Gordon ’s book, Assimilation in American life: The Role of Race, Religion and National Origins, to offer an example of this idea and how immigrants are expected to adapt to the American way of life. Mekedick states, “according to Gordon, assimilation depended first upon acculturation: the immigrant group’s willingness and ability to learn English, and to adopt white, Protestant, Anglo-Saxon, middle-class customs, after which point its members would ultimately identify with and marry into the dominant
A stereotype is a fixed set of beliefs upon of a certain group of individuals who share common traits. Stereotypes can be classified into a wide range of categories such as: race, culture, ethnicity, gender, social or economic status, and religion. A stereotype has to do with a group of people rather than an individual. Most stereotypes are biased and untrue. Stereotypes often lead to prejudice, meaning that one acts a certain way due to the fixed beliefs they have toward a certain group of individuals.
Response to “Our Fear of Immigrants” In “Our Fear of Immigrants” Jeremy Adam Smith takes a neutral stance on the immigration and anti-immigration argument. Smith begins by telling the story of a 4th grade class at Jefferson Elementary School in Berkeley, California who try to fight back against immigration laws after a classmate of theirs was deported back to his home country. Smith then goes on to compare the 4th graders to the adults of their town who fight for stronger immigration laws asking his readers what qualities the children possess that the rest of the citizens do not to make them react so differently.