Free Essay: Struggles of the Mexican American Community

The Mexican American community is one of the fastest-growing minority communities in the United States of America. Mexican Americans make up 63% of the Latinos Subgroups. This has, therefore created a significant racial–generational gap in America. Mexican American is faced with numerous pressing issues ranging from unemployment, racial discrimination, lack of education, financial crisis, health care, and immigration, among others (Walsh, 2012). It is estimated that Mexican American comprises 16% of the total population of the United States. One of the major issues that currently face Mexican Americans is the issue of health. It is the prerogative of every American citizen to stay healthy.

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However, most of the minority groups in the United States, especially Mexican Americans, are faced with numerous health disparities more so in accessing health care services. This is problematic because good health leads to increased productivity in terms of enabling one to work, consistently attend schools, socialization, and participation in social and economic activities that help in building a nation. Mexican Americans have high mortality and morbidity rates in diseases such as heart disease, Cancer, homicides, and stroke, among others. Due to poor social, and economic factors such as poor living conditions, lack of education, and lack of capital among other Mexican Americans do not have access to quality health. The community do have access to health insurance due to structural factors such as working in small firms that do not provide insurance and low or lack of enough capital. Mexican Americans are currently faced with educational barriers. Education is regarded as one of the significant issues affecting Mexican Americans, which is estimated to be 57% (Hampton & Licona, 2013). With high growth in the population and especially the youths, Mexican Americans are experiencing lower educational and achievement levels, alongside racial biases in the academic setting.

The population has experienced a high level of school dropout and issues such as significant rates in early teen pregnancies. There exist educational disparities between Mexican Americans and whites because a good number of Mexican Americans begin learning with no social and economic resources. Weak learner-teacher relationship and inadequate learning resources undermine their achievement, which hinders them from getting stable employment opportunities. Latin Americans are among the least educated populace despite having high educational expectations; it is estimated that 11% of over 25 years of age have a bachelor's degree compared to 30% of whites and 49% of Asian Americans of similar age group (Walsh, 2012). These educational issues have not begun today but have an underlying history. A good example is the East LA Blowouts of 1968, a day in which high school students helped ignite the Latin-American power movement. This was a series of protests that took place in 1968 to fight for injustices against unequal learning conditions in the high schools in Los Angeles. During this time, many Chicano students only graduated in the 8th grade, and most of them were admitted to vocational training and others in mentally disabled classes (Monreal, 2018).

Chicano students were prejudiced by both the educators and the administrators, stereotypes were instigated upon them, and this discouraged them from attaining higher learning. On March 1 to March 8 1968, at least 20,000 students walked out of the classes to demand equal, culturally, qualitative and relevant education. Even though the demands were not all successful, the walkout specifically empowered and brought unity among the East L.A community. The issues that led to the walkout are still a thorn in the flesh in the educational expectations and achievements of the Chicano population. Racial discrimination has been a fascinating issue in the history of Chicanos in the United States of America. Mexican Americans have always been treated as second-class citizens. Even though in the mid-nineteenth Latin Americans were granted full rights as Americans Citizens they lost much of their properties, were relegated to laborers and have predominately been of low status who are only employed to low-paying jobs such as domestic workers, and agriculture among others. Discrimination and unfair treatment of the Chicano population has gone beyond the economic circle; students in various institutions have continually been segregated. The Chicano Movement of the 1960s, commonly referred to as EL Movimiento, was a movement in which was aimed at achieving maximum Chicano empowerment which included educational reforms, land restoration and rights for farmworkers.

Even though the movement is gaining reforms, particularly in education, much is required keeping in mind that currently Chicano is the largest minority group in the United States of America and are still facing the same issues. The Lemon Grove Incident is a case that is related to the current struggles faced by Mexican Americans. It took place in the early 1930s and is presumed to be one of the successful desegregation school cases in the United States of America (Madrid, 2015). It took place in California in which a local board of school attempted to set a learning institution for learners from the Mexican origin. Even though the court ruled that the school board violated the law, the case was viewed as a success over the increased segregative practices that were carried out in most of the learning institutions.

Conclusion

In conclusion, much has been discussed, but it is vital to point out that still much is required to avert the issues faced by the Minority groups in the United States more so the Mexican Americans. Being the largest group, the Chicanos are still struggling with immigration issues, educational segregation practices, racism, and disparity in health practices, among others. Education and health is a valuable assets; therefore, Americans need to treat every citizen in their land with equality.

References

Hampton, E., & Licona, M. (2013). Examining the impact of science fairs in a Mexican-American community. Journal of Border Educational Research, 5(1). https://jber-ojs-tamiu.tdl.org/jber/index.php/jber/article/view/7115

Madrid, M. (2015). The Lemon Grove desegregation case: A matter of neglected history. In Latino Civil Rights in Education (pp. 69-79). Routledge.

Monreal, T. (2018). Chicano Power and Youth Resistance. Hollywood or History: An Inquiry-Based Strategy for Using Film to Teach United States History, 222.

Rodriguez, D. (2014). Latino national political coalitions: struggles and challenges. Routledge.

Walsh, C. E. (2012). Education reform and social change: Multicultural voices, struggles, and visions. Routledge.