Hispanic Diversity

Hispanic diversity

When identifying the linguistic, political, social, economic, religious,

and familial conventions and/or statuses of four Hispanic groups living

in the United States; the following four groups I have chosen,

Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and El Salvadorians. Each

group has a wealthy cultural identity. Yet, has been placed in the same

category, Hispanic Americans, based on language. All these

groups share Spanish speech, though each has a different

dialect. Some words spelled and pronounced the same also have

different meanings. For example, sopa means soup in some countries,

but in other countries it means soap.

Mexican Americans

The Mexican American language is made up of a mix of their national

languages Spanish and English, some people refer to it as “Spanglish”.

In the political sense Mexican Americans were very involved in the Mexican American

Civil Rights movement. It was run mainly by Mendoza, V. “…Reies LÐ"Ñ-pez

Tijerina. The land grant movement, adopted by Rodolfo "Corky"

Gonzales in Denver who defines the meaning of Chicano through his

epic poem “I am Joaquin” It embraces CÐ"©sar ChÐ"ÐŽvez and the farm

workersвЂ¦Ð²Ð‚Ñœ(2000). The movement was made by Mendoza. “The

Mexican American Civil Rights MovementвЂ¦Ð²Ð‚Ñœ “…encompassed a broad

cross section of issuesвЂ"from restoration of land grants, to farm

workers rights, to enhanced education, to voting and political rightsвЂ¦Ð²Ð‚Ñœ

Socially Mexican Americans appear to want what all immigrants want; the American Dream. (Alba, R. 2006).

Education wise, Mexican Americans (no matter what generation) really don’t move

past High School; according to the reading, Alba, R. “Huntington. Alba

presents data that appear to show very low levels of Mexican-

American educational advancement beyond high school, regardless of

generation.” He stated;

“Thus, he cites numbers reported from the National

Latino Political Survey, conducted at the end of the

1980s, to show that no more than 10 percent of

Mexican Americans of any generation earn a

credential beyond high school and only 4 percent of

the fourth generation attains the baccalaureate; 40

percent of this generation fails to obtain the high

school diploma.” (2006)

During immigration of Mexicans to America it seems that

little progress is made for Mexican Americans to move up from

immigrant status to even common social status. This can be blamed on the

amount of discrimination and poor educational system they were given. Mexican Americans have not fully assimilated

themselves into the American mainstream culture totally yet. (Alba, R. 2006)

Economically, Mexican Americans are pushing for fair wages. This

plays out most in the Mexican American Civil Rights

movement as with Cesar Chavez. (Mendoza, V.

2000). Fair pay, benefits, equal rights,adequate wages,and more are still an issue for

most Mexican Americans.

Mexican American Family seems to focus on the Grandparents better so than the US,

The Grandmother especially appears to be the head idol of the

family says GonzÐ"ÐŽlez-Clements, A. in Mexican American

traditions in Nebraska, “Grandmothers, those special women who held

them and fed them and healed them, grandmothers who knew the

remedies, the stories, the crafts, the foods, and the language that

some of us have forgotten.” American Christmas celebrations were

adoptedrather than their traditions such as Gonzalez-Clements, A.

“The traditional Mexican posada, a house-to-house celebration of song

and food that replicates Joseph and Mary's search for shelter on

Christmas EveвЂ¦Ð²Ð‚Ñœ