American Perspective on Racism MexicanLatin American Studies Program Essay

American Perspective on Racism MexicanLatin American Studies Program - Essay Example On the contrary, ethnicity and nationalism have grown in political importance in the world, particularly since the Second World War. The United States has a long history of racism and racial discrimination. For centuries conflicts have taken place between the Whites, blacks, Mexicans and the Asians. Race hatred often leads to the violence. The people guilty of race discrimination often form extremist groups to defend their country from minority takeover, and ultimately increase the tension and hatred between the two races. Many surveys have been conducted to study the nature and intensity of Racism in American culture. According to General Social Survey, conducted in 1990, 40 to 56 percent of the whites were of the view that Hispanic and Blacks are prone to violence and prefer to live off welfare (Steeh and Schuman, 1992). The minority of Hispanics includes Mexicans, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central and South American, or other Hispanic heritage. They are consists of more than 500 tribes with almost entirely different cultural heritage, traditions, languages and ancestry. The 2000 census showed that the Hispanics are the Americas largest minority. According to the Times magazine 58 percent of this minority is of the Mexican origin. The majority of Mexican Americans are most prominent in the areas, which were formerly the part of the Mexico, i.e. Southern California and Texas. The largest of Mexican Americans community was located around the Los Angles in Southern California, El Paso in Far West Texas, and the metropolitan areas of the South Texas. The Mexican American, just like the other minorities of the United States, reside in the non-economically viable ethnic enclaves: isolated, and other forms of ethnic discrimination. Mexicans are a mixed race, most of them are white having Spanish ancestry, but almost half of them are not white. They are mestizos. It has been observed that among the Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants, mestizos are in the worst condition (Gamio, 1971). According to the Auditors of Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Mexican Americans and especially the non-white Mexican Americans experience discrimination in the housing market from realtors and lending institutions. The auditors have also found out that the Mexican Americans faced discrimination due to their skin color and not due to their Mexican accent. Most of the Mexican Americans are the offspring of the Mexicans who voluntarily migrated to United States in the 20th Century. Hence it is the duty of the community, to which they have migrated, to assist them in adapting and absorbing them to American Society, but they were then busy in a war and colonization. This had fundamental consequences for the ability of these enclaves to provide resources to the generations of Mexican Americans. Hence, although many people thought that the increasing immigrations of Mexicans into the United States is a Mexican problem, it is actually an American problem.