MEXICAN AMERICANS AND PUERTO RICANS

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MEXICAN AMERICANS AND PUERTO RICANS

• CHAPTER 10

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Mexican Americans

• Legacy of war created Americas two largest
  Hispanic minorities
• Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans
• The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2, 1848
• Under the treaty the new Americans were
  guaranteed rights to property and their cultural
  traditions.
• The loss of land and the lack of legal protection
  after the treaty

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• US gained Texas, California, Arizona, ad New
  Mexico for 15 million
• In exchange, US granted citizenship to 75,000
  Mexican nationals
• Guaranteed
• Religious freedom
• Property rights
• Cultural integrity
• Right to continue Mexican and Spanish cultural
  traditions and to use the Spanish language
• Land conflict between Anglo ranchers and
  Mexican-American ranchers
• Mexican-Americans became outsiders in their own
  land

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The Immigrant Experience

• Immigration from Mexico is unique in several
  respects
• Continuous large-scale movement for most of this
  century
• Proximity of Mexico encourages past immigrants to
  maintain strong cultural and language ties
• Aura of illegality that surrounded Mexican
  migrants
• Suspicion of Anglos toward Mexicans contributed
  to mutual distrust

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• Mexican immigration has been tied closely to the
  economies of Mexico and the United States
• US corporations invested in Mexico in a way that
  maximized profits but minimized money remaining
  in Mexico to provide needed employment
• Mexican workers are used as cheap laborers in
  their own country by fellow Mexicans and
  Americans or as undocumented workers here

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• Repatriation
• Program of deporting Mexicans during depression
  of 1930s
• Constitutional because only illegal aliens were
  to be deported
• Many classified as illegal had resided in US for
  decades
• Braceros
• Program between Mexico and US allowing migration
  across border by contracted laborers
• Mexicans regarded as positive presence when useful

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• Operation Wetback and Special Force Operation
  (1954)
• Crackdown on illegal aliens
• Mojados
• Derisive slang for Mexicans who enter illegally
  and refers to those who secretly swim across Rio
  Grande
• The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education
  Fund (MALDEF)
• Expressed concern over handling of illegal aliens

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The Economic Picture

• Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans
• Higher unemployment rates, higher rates of
  poverty, and significantly lower incomes than
  Whites
• The Culture of Poverty
• Embraces a deviant way of life that involves no
  future planning, no enduring commitment to
  marriage, and absence of work ethic
• Developed by Oscar Lewis
• Cultural traits as the cause of poverty
• Blaming the victim
• Used indiscriminately to explain continued poverty

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• César Chavez
• Formed National Farm Workers Association
• Became United Farm Workers (UFW)
• Difficulties of organizing migrant farm workers
• No savings for organizing or to live on while on
  strike
• Growers relied on limitless supply of Mexican
  laborers to replace strikers
• Opposition by agribusiness and lawmakers
• 70 lack health insurance and make less than
  10,000/year

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Political Organizations

• La Raza Unida (LRU)
• Pride in ones Spanish, Native American and
  Mexican heritage.
• Supported candidates who offer alternatives to
  the Democratic and Republican parties
• Chicanismo (Chicanozaje)
• Stress a positive self-image and place little
  reliance on conventional forms of political
  activity

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• Reies Lopez Tijerina (1963)
• Formed the Alianza Federal de Mercedes (Federal
  Alliance of Land Grants)
• Purpose of the organization was to recover lost
  land
• Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
  (MALDEF) 1967
• Pursue issues through the courts and protect
  Mexican Americans constitutional rights
• Addressed segregation, biased testing, inequities
  in school financing, and failure to promote
  bilingualism

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Puerto Ricans

• Borinquen (Puerto Rico) claimed by Spain in 1493
• Native inhabitants, Taino Indians
• Reduced in number by conquest, slavery, and
  genocide
• Puerto Rico was annexed by the United States from
  Spain after the the Spanish-American War of 1898
• Puerto Rico has been a United States colony since
  1898 (Commonwealth Status since 1948)
• Puerto Ricans have been subjected to bureaucratic
  (Political) control by the United States

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• Colonization of Puerto Ricans
• Politically, then culturally, and finally
  economically
• Jones Act of 1917
• Citizenship extended to Puerto Ricans
• Remained a colony
• 1948
• Elected its own governor and became a
  commonwealth
• Cannot vote in presidential elections and have no
  voting representations
• Subject to military service, Selective Service
  registration, and all federal laws

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The Bridge Between the Island and the Mainland

• Despite citizenship, occasionally challenged by
  immigration officials
• Other Latin Americans attempt to enter country
  posing as Puerto Ricans
• Push and pull factors led to migration from the
  Island to the mainland
• Underdeveloped and overpopulated island, absence
  of legal restrictions, growth of cheap air
  transportation, and Puerto Rican communities (New
  York City) on the mainland

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• Neoricans
• Term the islanders use for Puerto Ricans in New
  York
• Better educated and have more money than Puerto
  Ricans from the Island
• Often resented by long time Islanders
• Now more dispersed throughout the mainland
• Sizable numbers in New Jersey, Illinois, Florida,
  California, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut

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The Island of Puerto Rico

• Original inhabitants, Taino Indians, wiped out in
  a couple of generations
• Disease, tribal warfare, hard labor, unsuccessful
  rebellions against the Spanish, and fusion with
  their conquerors
• Neocolonialism
• Refers to continuing dependence of former
  colonies on foreign countries
• English and Spanish are the official languages

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• Statehood and Self-Rule
• Puerto Ricans periodically argued and fought for
  independence
• Contemporary commonwealth arrangement is popular
  with many, others prefer statehood, and some call
  for complete independence from the US
• Idea of statehood invokes fear of higher taxes,
  erosion of cultural heritage, end of separate
  participation in Olympics and Miss Universe
  pageant
• Commonwealth supporters argue too many unknown
  costs, so embrace status quo
• Others view statehood as key to increased
  economic development and expansion for tourism

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• Arguments for and against independence
• Probably economic
• Independent Puerto Rico would not be required to
  use US shipping lines, more expensive than
  foreign competitors
• Independent Puerto Rico might be faced with a
  tariff wall when trading with its largest
  customer, the mainland US
• Puerto Rican migration to mainland would be
  restricted
• 50 favor commonwealth 47 backed statehood
  less than 3 favor independence
• Discontent remains a colonial dilemma

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Social Construction of Race

• Color Gradient
• Describes distinctions based on skin color made
  on a continuum rather than by sharp categorical
  separations
• Reflects past fusion between different groups
• Rather than being black or white, such
  societies judge as lighter or darker than
  others
• On the Island factors such as social class
  determine race
• On the mainland race is more likely to determine
  social class

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The Island Economy

• Overall economy well below that of poorest areas
  of the US
• Federal government exempted US industries in
  Puerto Rico from taxes on profits for at least 10
  years
• Enterprise Zones
• Federal program that grants tax incentives to
  promote private investment in inner cities
• Extended to Puerto Rico
• Islands agriculture ignored and economic
  benefits to the island are limited
• Business profits returned to the mainland

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• Unemployment is three times that of mainland
• Per capita income is less than half of
  Mississippi, the poorest state
• Puerto Rico emerging as major gateway to US for
  illegal drugs from South America
• World Systems Theory
• View of the global economic system as divided
  between certain industrialized nations that
  control wealth and developing countries that are
  controlled and exploited

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• Major factors in Puerto Ricos economy
• Tourism
• Government subsidies encouraged construction of
  luxury hotels
• Criticisms
• Major economic beneficiaries are investors from
  the mainland not locals
• High prices prevent less affluent from visiting,
  unnecessarily restricting tourism
• NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement)
• Reduction of trade barriers and its lower wages
  undercut Puerto Ricos commonwealth advantage
• Other island nations compete for tourist dollars

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The Contemporary Picture of Mexican Americans and
Puerto Ricans

• Education
• Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans experienced
  gains in formal schooling but still lag behind
  Whites
• 1968 55 of all Hispanics attended
  predominantly minority schools
• 30 years later, increased to 76
• Over 1/3rd of Latinos in schools that were at
  least 90 non-White

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• 3 factors of increasing social isolation of
  Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans
• Latinos are increasingly concentrated in largest
  cities where minorities dominate
• Latino numbers increased dramatically since
  1970s when school desegregation began to lose
  momentum
• Schools once desegregated have become
  re-segregated
• Tracking
• Practice of placing students in specific classes
  or curriculum based on test scores and other
  criteria

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• Family Life
• Most important organization or social institution
  among Latinos or any group
• Structure differs little from that of all
  families in US
• Familism
• Means pride and closeness in the family, which
  results in family obligation and loyalty coming
  before individual needs
• Expected to decline in importance with
  urbanization, industrialization, and acquisition
  of middle-class status
• Display variety of American family in general
  while suffering higher levels of poverty

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• Health Care
• Life Chances limited for Latinos
• Peoples opportunities to provide themselves with
  material goods, positive living conditions, and
  favorable life experiences
• Hispanics as a group are locked out of health
  care system more often than any other racial or
  ethnic group
• Complicated by lack of Hispanic health care
  professionals
• Curanderismo
• Latino folk medicine, form of holistic health
  care and healing
• Culture makes them less likely to use medical
  system

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• Religion
• Predominantly Catholic
• Church took assimilationist role in past
• Recently, more community oriented
• Hispanic population growth important for the
  church
• Some churches starting to accommodate observances
  of Mexican rituals
• Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)
• Pentecostalism
• Type of evangelical Christianity growing in Latin
  America

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QUESTIONS
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• In what respects has Mexico been viewed as a
  source of workers and a place to leave unwanted
  laborers?

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• Using the functionalist perspective, will the
  current exploitation of Mexican labor in Mexico
  by American corporations and the Mexican
  government eventually lead to an improved economy
  and living conditions for Mexicans? Explain your
  answer.

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• In what respects are Hispanic families similar to
  and different from Anglo households?

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• How does Chicanismo relate to the issue of
  Hispanic identity?

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• How does the case of Puerto Rico support the
  notion of race as a social concept?

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• What role does religion play in the Latino
  community?

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• Churches have become reliant on the growing
  Latino population to replenish their
  congregations. Based on the changes in religious
  values currently noted in American culture, will
  the religiosity of Latinos remain the same as
  they assimilate more into American culture?
  Explain your answer.