Chapter 9 Latinos: The Largest Minority
Dec 17, 2015
Chapter 9
Latinos:
The Largest Minority
Hispanic Population
• Nearly 32 million, or two-thirds of Hispanics in the United States:– Are Mexican Americans, or Chicanos
• The majority of Hispanic adults in the United States worry that:– They, a family member, or a close friend
could be deported
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Latino Identity
• Panethnicity– The development of solidarity between ethnic
subgroups
• Hispanic or Latino– Collective term is subject to debate– Latino more common in the West
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Latino Identity
– Hispanic more common to the East and the term used by federal government
• Actions of the dominant group have an impact in defining cultural identity to some degree
• Among Hispanic youth age 16–25:– Only a minority, about 20 percent, prefers to
use panethnic names
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Latino Identity
• About 72 percent of immigrant youth are likely to prefer country of origin – Compared to 32 percent of grandchildren
• The sharp White–Black divide is absent in their home countries– Where race, if socially constructed, tends to
be along a color gradient
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Latino Identity
• Name issues/“language battles” distract group’s attention from working together
• Income and education does not appear to influence Hispanics’ perceptions
• Younger generation think more in panethnic terms
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Latino Identity
• Color gradient– The placement of people on a continuum from
• Light to dark skin color rather than in distinct racial groupings by skin color
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The Borderlands
• Borderlands– Refers to the area of a common culture along
the border between Mexico and US
• Notion of separate Mexican and US cultures obsolete because of– Legal and illegal immigration
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The Borderlands
– Day laborers crossing the border to go to jobs in the US
– Implementation of (NAFTA) North American Free Trade Agreement
– Exchange of media across the border
• Maquiladoras
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The Borderlands
• Multinational companies found even lower wages in China– 40%+ of the 700,000 new maquiladoras jobs
created in 1990s were eliminated by 2003
• Immigrant workers have significant economic impact on home countries– Remittances estimated at $24 billion annually
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The Borderlands
• Hometown Clubs– Typically are non-profit organizations that
maintain close ties to immigrants’ hometowns: • In Mexico and other Latin nations
– Collect money for improvements in hospitals and schools
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The Borderlands
– Some states in Mexico began matching-funds programs
– Inland from the borders, hometown clubs have sprung up in northern cities:
• With large settlements of Mexicans
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The Economic Picture
• Median income increased over past 25 years
• Gap remains between Latinos and Whites
• Latino household earns 70 cents for every dollar earned by Whites
• Low wealth is characteristic of Hispanic households
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The Economic Picture
– Likely to earn less annually and have fewer financial resources to fall back on
• Poverty rate reflects pattern in income
• Beginning of 2010– 25.3% of Latinos were below poverty level
compared to 9.4% of Whites
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The Economic Picture
• Situation difficult to predict– As a group, poor Latinos are more mobile
geographically– Half send money abroad to help relatives
• Puts a strain on supporting themselves in the US
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The Growing Political Presence
• Federal law requires bilingual or multilingual ballots in voting districts – Where 5% of voting-age population does not
speak English
• Voting turnout was poor– Many were ineligible – non-citizens
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The Growing Political Presence
• 2010– 19% of Latinos voters have more confidence
in the Republican agenda on immigration– 51% leaned toward the Democratic position
• Factors that elicit support from politicians– Growing population; higher proportions of
voter registration; higher election participation
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The Growing Political Presence
– Less commitment to a single political party
• Resent the fact that existence is rediscovered during election years– Little interest in between except by Latino
officials
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Cuban Americans
• Cuban settlements in Florida date back to the early nineteenth century– Where small communities organized around
single family enterprises
• 1960 census – 79,000 Cuban born in US
• 2010 – more than 1.7 million of Cuban descent in the United States
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Cuban Americans
• Increase followed Fidel Castro assumption of power after 1959 Cuban revolution
• Three significant influxes of immigrants through the 1980s– 1st - About 200,000 came during the first
three years after Castro came into power
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Cuban Americans
– 2nd – Freedom Flights; 340,000 refugees between 1965 and 1973
– 3rd – 1980 Mariel boatlift is most controversial – “Freedom Flotilla”
• Castro used Carter’s invitation to send prison inmates, patients from mental hospitals, & addicts
• Marielitos
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Cuban Americans
• Wet Foot, Dry Foot Policy– Refers to government policy which generally
allows Cuban nationals who manage to reach:• The US (“dry foot”) to remain while those picked up
at sea (“wet foot”) are sent back to Cuba
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Cuban Americans
• Cuban refugees have advantage over other refugees in terms of public opinion
• Issue of communism still overshadows attitudes about US relationship with Cuba
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The Current Picture: Cuban Americans
• The influence of Cuban Americans – Miami area– In Urban centers
• Generational relations among Cubans– Generational clash between cultures (parent
and child)
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The Current Picture: Cuban Americans
• Long-range perspective of Cubans in the US depends on several factors– Most important – events in Cuba
• Refugees proclaim desire to return if communist regime is overturned
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The Current Picture: Cuban Americans
– Cuban Americans have selectively accepted Anglo culture
• Split between original exiles and their children– Children more concerned with Miami Dolphins
than they are with Havana
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Central and South Americans
• Central and South Americans came from – historically different experiences and times– culturally diverse backgrounds
• Unlike racial groupings in the United States they use a color gradient– Describing skin color along a continuum from
light to dark
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Central and South Americans
– Another indicator of the social construction of race
• Little in common other than hemisphere of origin and Spanish language– Other languages are Portuguese, French, and
Dutch
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Central and South Americans
• Other distinctions– Social class distinctions– Religious differences– Urban versus rural backgrounds– Differences in dialects among those speaking
same language
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Central and South Americans
• Central and South Americans do not form a cohesive group
• Do not naturally form coalitions with– Cuban Americans– Mexican Americans– Puerto Ricans
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Central and South Americans
• Immigration has been sporadic and influenced by– US immigration laws– Social forces in the home country
• War and persecution• Economic deprivation
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Central and South Americans:The Current Picture
• Two issues clouding recent settlement– Many are illegal immigrants
• Citizens from El Salvador, Guatemala, & Colombia are outnumbered only by Mexican nationals
– Brain Drain• Immigration to US of skilled workers,
professionals, and technicians
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Central and South Americans:The Current Picture
• Experience high unemployment compared to Whites
• Better educated than most Hispanics
• By 2010 El Salvador, Guatemala, and Columbia were the top countries of origin – Each with at least a million present
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Central and South Americans:The Current Picture
– Success found in catering to other Colombians
– Many obliged to take menial jobs & combine income of several families
• To meet high cost of urban life
– Colombians of mixed African descent face racial as well as ethnic and language barriers
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Central and South Americans:The Current Picture
• Future of Central and South Americans in the US?– Could assimilate over generations– Alternative: being trapped with Mexican
Americans as a segment of dual labor market– Possibility is that they retain an independent
identity while establishing an economic base
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