Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans

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Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans

Texas gained its independence from Mexico in 1836, and it came to be known as the Republic of Texas. The state could not last long as it retained the title for only nine years after the United States annexed Texas. Texas’s annex led to the Mexican-American war that took lasted for two years (1846-1848), claiming the lives of more than 63,000 people (Min 5-7). The US troops blemished the divided, and unprepared Mexican side as President James Polk of the United States held that the US had a “manifest destiny” to expand beyond the Pacific Ocean. The Rio Grande border skirmish kick-started the fight and was proceeded by a sequence of the US victories. Mexico had lost close to a third of its protectorate by the time things were resuming to normality. Some of the territories lost to the US were Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and present-day California. The dust was cleared in 1948, following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

It has been a halting discussion on how racial discrimination functions in Mexican Americans’ day-to-day social circumstances. Some individuals try to compare Mexican Americans to European Americans who came to the US with modest backgrounds and managed to integrate themselves into society. On the contrary, others view Mexican Americans as subject to racialization, limiting their participation in society. Persistent educational disadvantages further cement the racialization argument throughout their generations, not to mention repeated reports concerning discrimination and stereotyping (Schaefer, 2015). The quality of education they receive shows their racial stigmatization instead of being a mere low human immigrant capital. Throughout the United States history, Mexican Americans had fallen victims of racial discrimination, often viewed as people belonging to the bottom of the economic hierarchy.

In conclusion, Puerto Rican culture has primarily been influenced by its history. The integration of African traditions, Spanish, and Taino Indians brings about a melting pot of individuals and culture impactful enough to drive the US political and social contexts of day-to-day aspects of life.

References

(2020). Retrieved 15 October 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHut4leSchM&feature=youtu.be.

Schaefer, R. T. (2015). Racial and ethnic groups. Pearson.