Ideologies and ethnocentric practices within the United States have perpetuated and given rise to oppression and discrimination towards Hispanic children and their families, creating a distinction between races and cultural classes since the creation of the US border in 1848. According to Belton and Fritz (2013) in the PBS video, Latino Americans, almost one-third of what is now the U.S territory belonged to Mexico in the 1800’s. At that time Mexico was actively forming missions, to organize their cultures policies and beliefs. And began spreading them to the indigenous Native Americans to help them protect their borders and begin to populate the North. At this time, the Hispanics did not have a stabilized government or leader who provided
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This is how the Hispanic policies were guided, the higher classes made the decisions. “Class lines were strongly drawn and tended to become in part racially defined, the basic class structure was defined as a dual class system with the small upper class rationalizing its hereditary position by invoking divine authority and inherent superiority” (Beals, 1953, pg. 330). The family position was validated and reinforced by wealth in the form of land estates, mines, etc. However, wealth alone rarely gave social status. As time went on, many of the rancheros were controlled by wealthy Latino families who created their own eclectic culture mixing Mexican heritage and values with American idealism (Belton & Fritz, 2013). This was the beginning of the problem as the upper class idolized the Americans and wanted to progress and modernize, however, the Americans viewed the Latinos as a terrible and barbaric culture due to their knowledge and …show more content…
Due to the ideology of a dominant and superior racial class, the Anglo citizens put policies into place such as a court system where Latinos would lose their land and be unable to vote due to the poll tax. This was just another example of the oppression and discrimination the Latinos were facing in lue of becoming so called US citizens. This oppression lasted almost a century. As a result, the social institutions that are formed to this very day are imbalanced, which create economic and social barriers that isolate ethnic minorities, without providing any adequate alternatives to help better themselves and their families. Prior to the 1980’s the majority of Latinos would not make it to the eighth grade before dropping out and taking manual labor positions. After the 1980’s it began to slightly change with “the new prevailing norms and values of American society prescribe a system in which all individuals are treated equally by programs and policies designed to ease or overcome social and economic disadvantages” (Sandefur, 1988, pg. 220). Personally, I believe this was implemented along with the head start programs to help the disadvantaged youth gear up for ongoing education. The problem with assimilation is ongoing to this very day, for example if the child and the
This is how the Hispanic policies were guided, the higher classes made the decisions. “Class lines were strongly drawn and tended to become in part racially defined, the basic class structure was defined as a dual class system with the small upper class rationalizing its hereditary position by invoking divine authority and inherent superiority” (Beals, 1953, pg. 330). The family position was validated and reinforced by wealth in the form of land estates, mines, etc. However, wealth alone rarely gave social status. As time went on, many of the rancheros were controlled by wealthy Latino families who created their own eclectic culture mixing Mexican heritage and values with American idealism (Belton & Fritz, 2013). This was the beginning of the problem as the upper class idolized the Americans and wanted to progress and modernize, however, the Americans viewed the Latinos as a terrible and barbaric culture due to their knowledge and …show more content…
Due to the ideology of a dominant and superior racial class, the Anglo citizens put policies into place such as a court system where Latinos would lose their land and be unable to vote due to the poll tax. This was just another example of the oppression and discrimination the Latinos were facing in lue of becoming so called US citizens. This oppression lasted almost a century. As a result, the social institutions that are formed to this very day are imbalanced, which create economic and social barriers that isolate ethnic minorities, without providing any adequate alternatives to help better themselves and their families. Prior to the 1980’s the majority of Latinos would not make it to the eighth grade before dropping out and taking manual labor positions. After the 1980’s it began to slightly change with “the new prevailing norms and values of American society prescribe a system in which all individuals are treated equally by programs and policies designed to ease or overcome social and economic disadvantages” (Sandefur, 1988, pg. 220). Personally, I believe this was implemented along with the head start programs to help the disadvantaged youth gear up for ongoing education. The problem with assimilation is ongoing to this very day, for example if the child and the