Those
Who Don’t
Those
who don’t know any better come into our neighborhood scared. They think we’re dangerous. They think we will attack them with shiny
knives. They are stupid people who are
lost and got here by mistake.
But we aren’t afraid. We know the guy with the crooked eye is
Davey the Baby’s brother, and the tall one next to him in the straw brim,
that’s Rosa’s Eddie V. and the big one that looks like a dumb grown man, he’s Fat
Boy, though he’s not fat anymore nor a boy.
All brown all around, we are safe….
Sandra
Cisneros House on Mango Street
According to the 2000 census, the Hispanic community makes up 13% of the US population. Mexican Americans comprise 66.1% of that community while Puerto Ricans make up 9%, Cubans 4%, South Americans 14.5%, and other 6.4%. Currently, they are the fasted growing ethnic group in the United States. Out of every 4 immigrants that cross our borders, 1 of them is Mexican. Most Mexican immigrants live and settle in the Southwestern states of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and California. The majority of them settle in urban areas, although the availability of migrant work keeps a growing wave of them on the move from rural local to rural local.
For more information on demographics go to:
www.diversityinc.com/public/1784.cfm
http://library.thinkquest.org/C008371/politics.html
40% of Latino children live in poverty compared to 16.1% of white and 37.2% of black. During the 1990’s, the Latino middle class was undergoing considerable growth, however, recent publications suggest that Mexican Americans in particular are still plagued by poverty. On May 22, 2002 a report issued by the Public Policy Institute of California released a report that stated, “Mexican Americans earn far less than whites after three generations because they receive less schooling than almost all other racial and ethnic groups in the United States.” The Mexican American household has an average income 40% below that for non-Hispanic whites. To read this article in the Chronicle go to www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/05/22/MN204077.DTL
Despite facing harsh economic conditions, less educational opportunities, and inabilities to move up in the work place, Latinos remain faithful to the basic institutions of society – family, work, and education. Latinos often base their identity in the family, culture, religion, and Spanish language. Religion plays an important role in social and daily life. Their religion has its roots in native indigenous religion and Catholicism. A religious icon of great importance is La Virgen de Guadalupe. For more information about the Virgin of Guadalupe go to: www.sancta.org.
Mexicans are generally family-oriented with much of their activities incorporating members of both the immediate and extended family, Men and women tend to abide by traditional gender roles where the women stay home with the children and the men go out to work. To follow in tradition, young girls often do not leave home until they are married.
In accordance with those traditional roles, the men are often guided by the imposed code of behavior known as “machismo.” For a Mexican man, this means to be the essence of confidence, pride, and control. The “machismo” code does not allow for admittance of fear, sadness, or disappointment.
For more information go to http://cwr.utoronto.ca/cultural/english/mexico/index.html
In the 1600’s, Mexicans were the first to establish homesteads in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. Since before the turn of the century, Mexican Americans literally built the Southwestern cities of Los Angeles, Tucson, Albuquerque, Dallas, and San Antonio. In the 1800’s they were involved significantly in the era of industrial expansion with their involvement in the building of the railroad across the nation.
In 1846, the United States invaded and conquered California, then part of the Republic of Mexico.
For some radical perspectives on the Chicano Movement and Mexican culture go to
For historical information and curriculum ideas on Cesar Chavez go to