Summary Of Latino Focus-A Class Apart

• Briefly (1 paragraph) summarize the story in the video(s).

Latino Focus - A Class Apart

This video covered the Mexican- American historic civil rights court case Hernandez v. Texas in the 1950s. Discrimination against Mexican- Americans could be seen throughout the United States during this time but particularly in the southwest part of the country. Civil rights lawyer, Gustavo Garcia, who was also a Mexican-American, represented Pete Hernandez and was quick to point out that for the past 25 years in Jackson County, Texas no Mexican-Americans served on a jury. After Hernandez was found guilty by an all-white jury the case was appealed to the Supreme Court where Gustavo Garcia argued Hernandez fourteenth amendment was being violated. Garcia

I learned that Mexican-Americans were discriminated against more than I was aware of during this time in our history. An example from the video showed a sign outside of a restaurant that said “We serve whites only – No Spanish or Mexicans.” I also learned that the Hernandez v. Texas was the first Mexican-American civil rights case involving Mexican-American lawyers to reach the U.S Supreme Court. (PBS) o What does the video tell you about civil rights in America – for example, 1) how have our views of civil rights changed? 2) How have the laws changed to reflect these changed views? 3) How have these changes been

With that being said, I still believe we have progress to make but we are in a far better place now then we were during the video timeframe (1950s). The discriminating sign in front of the restaurant in the video is something we rarely ever see today and if we do there are now legal and moral consequences for such actions. We have stronger and more established civil right and employer discrimination laws to protect against discrimination. The most powerful protection in my view is our Constitution (“We the People of the United States”) and Bill of Rights.

o What role did government, interest groups and/or private organizations play in the video you watched?

A local civil rights lawyer represented Pete Hernandez to help fight against Mexican-American discrimination and equal protection of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court disagreed with both the local and state courts in Texas and determined they failed to protect Hernandez’s fourteenth amendment rights. The original court case and conviction of Pete Hernandez was overturned by the Supreme Court. The role of the Supreme Court in this case established that all groups of people are protected under the Fourteenth Amendment. This also led to a Mexican-American juror on Hernandez’s next trial.

o What group or policy process model do you see at play in your assigned