After the Mexican-American War, Mexicans residing in Texas were allowed to remain on their now US land and become Americans. Many chose to stay in the country, becoming Mexican Americans instead of Mexicans alone. However, being declared Mexican Americans did not guarantee them equal rights. Mexicans faced many challenges such as loss of their lands, cattle, harassment, lynching, laws aimed at oppressing Mexicans, and other racial inequalities. Additionally, despite Mexicans being providers of the principal labor force, they often received lower wages than their Anglo counterparts (Takaki, 2008). Negative prejudices and similar forms of discrimination against Latinos are still present up to date. This paper entails a critique of the struggles and discrimination Latinos continue to face in mainstream American society.
Mexican labor was essential for America’s economic prosperity. They provided labor working in mines, ranches, fruit farms, vegetable farms, and construction. Mexican labor was preferred because it was cheap, stereotyped as submissive and docile, and with suitable supervision, more efficient than any other race (Takaki, 2008). However, in all the areas of employment, Mexicans were discriminated against in terms of wages and occupation hierarchy. “White labor unions jealously protected the skilled jobs by creating a two-tiered labor market that reflected racial division” (Takaki, 2008, p. 269). For example, in the New Mexico mines, Anglo workers operated machines, while Mexican miners did manual and dangerous work.
Today, Mexicans and all other Hispanics are still victims of the stereotypes and inequalities faced by their people in the US over a hundred years ago. Most immigrant Hispanics come to the US to pursue the American dream, only to encounter other forms of challenges. Hispanics experience multiple forms of sometimes virulent workplace discrimination and harassment. Examples of workplace-related prejudices are subjecting Hispanic workers to ethnic slurs, national origin harassment, unlawful termination, and enforcement of English-only rules, even on employee break time (Bell, 2017). Hispanics are also the first victims of salary cuts and lay-offs in times of economic hardships, such as during the great depression in 1929 where Mexicans lost their jobs and were asked to go back to Mexico (Saenz, 2013). Currently, “Hispanic men have the highest participation rates of all men, with more than 80% participating in the workforce” (Bell, 2017, p.123). However, only a few of them hold leadership positions in organizations. Lastly, Hispanics also have a low representation in higher education which affects blue-collar employment and wages.
References
Bell, M. P. (2017). Diversity in organizations (3rd ed.). Cengage Learning.
Saenz, D. (2013). Destination America part 1 – the golden door[Video]. Web.
Takaki, R. (2008). A different mirror: A history of multicultural America. Back bay books.