I am a third generation Latino American. My grandfather on my mother’s side was born in Guadalajara in 1932 and moved to California when he was 15. While in the United States, he met my grandmother who came from a small farm outside of Juárez. Both of my grandparents, raised Roman Catholic, align themselves with the Democratic Party and support the government programs and immigration policies that the party stands for. Many of my cousins, on the other hand, are much more conservative. My second cousin, Fermin, once explained to me the reason behind his vote for John McCain in 2008 and why it’s only fair that Latinos legally immigrate to the United States, even though he is the descendants of illegal immigrants. For a while, I have mostly ignored
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Sociologist Teresa J. Guess articulates that “as a basic feature of social organization, ‘race’ in American society largely depends upon what we mean by whiteness and its significance in patterning social interaction and social organization between whites and non-whites.” (Guess 2006, 657) The issue with applying “perceived whiteness” to Latinos is that the group itself is fragmented not just between generations, but also from the perceptions of whiteness from original cultures. Some Latino Americans acculturate and move toward more “Anglo” opinions on policy because of perceived whiteness; numeration of generation, which allows for education growth, economic growth, and interracial marriage, and the racial and socioeconomic differences between Latino Americans allow for some Latino Americans to be accepted into the national perception of “white”, and begin to align their opinion with others that are perceived as “white.” Within this essay, I will touch upon the history of Latino immigration to the United States, the several generational differences that has led to “perceived whiteness,” and the already existing racial and socioeconomic …show more content…
The 1920 US Census did not include a descriptor for Latin Americans, leaving them to either write “‘W’ for White” or “‘Ot’ for other races” (“1920”), but only a decade later, there is a new category allowing census-takers to write “‘M’ for Mexican” (“1930”). A very similar phenomenon happens between 1960, when by then the category for “Mexicans” disappeared from the questionnaire (“1960 Population”), and 1970, when the Census Bureau decided to add in a question separate from race asking about Latin American origin and descent (“1970 Population”). As more and more Latin Americans immigrated into the United States and became more visible to other Americans, the more attention and specificity to how Americans perceive Latin Americans was needed. Suzannah Oboler, in her book Ethnic Labels, Latino Lives, explains it specifically:
The experiences of Puerto Ricans and Mexican Americans in the United States were long excluded from popular historical knowledge, ensuring that until the mid-1960’s, neither group received national attention and their respective histories in this country remained largely invisible and unknown to the public at large...often portrayed [by the media] as groups that were organizing for full citizenship rights for the first time. (Oboler 1995,
Sociologist Teresa J. Guess articulates that “as a basic feature of social organization, ‘race’ in American society largely depends upon what we mean by whiteness and its significance in patterning social interaction and social organization between whites and non-whites.” (Guess 2006, 657) The issue with applying “perceived whiteness” to Latinos is that the group itself is fragmented not just between generations, but also from the perceptions of whiteness from original cultures. Some Latino Americans acculturate and move toward more “Anglo” opinions on policy because of perceived whiteness; numeration of generation, which allows for education growth, economic growth, and interracial marriage, and the racial and socioeconomic differences between Latino Americans allow for some Latino Americans to be accepted into the national perception of “white”, and begin to align their opinion with others that are perceived as “white.” Within this essay, I will touch upon the history of Latino immigration to the United States, the several generational differences that has led to “perceived whiteness,” and the already existing racial and socioeconomic …show more content…
The 1920 US Census did not include a descriptor for Latin Americans, leaving them to either write “‘W’ for White” or “‘Ot’ for other races” (“1920”), but only a decade later, there is a new category allowing census-takers to write “‘M’ for Mexican” (“1930”). A very similar phenomenon happens between 1960, when by then the category for “Mexicans” disappeared from the questionnaire (“1960 Population”), and 1970, when the Census Bureau decided to add in a question separate from race asking about Latin American origin and descent (“1970 Population”). As more and more Latin Americans immigrated into the United States and became more visible to other Americans, the more attention and specificity to how Americans perceive Latin Americans was needed. Suzannah Oboler, in her book Ethnic Labels, Latino Lives, explains it specifically:
The experiences of Puerto Ricans and Mexican Americans in the United States were long excluded from popular historical knowledge, ensuring that until the mid-1960’s, neither group received national attention and their respective histories in this country remained largely invisible and unknown to the public at large...often portrayed [by the media] as groups that were organizing for full citizenship rights for the first time. (Oboler 1995,