Hispanic American Diversity

HISPANIC AMERICAN DIVERSITY

Hispanic American Diversity

In this paper we will address four Hispanic groups in the United States, we will compare and contrast language, politics, economics, religion, family and other conventions. Mexican Americans possibly the most controversial group due to the mixed status of American citizenship, Puerto Ricans having United States citizen status, Cubans mostly granted asylum into our country, and Central Americans a group made up of several different countries. One common thread for all of these groups is that they have all ended up here in the United States seeking a better life, they fled their native countries to escape extreme poverty or persecution, they came here in search of work, education, and a chance for a life that was not available in their home countries and some were even assimilated into citizenship.

Mexico is a large cultural nation with 63 languages and has the second largest number of indigenous languages after China and behind India. Although the majority of Mexicans speak Spanish, the Mexican government has never legally recognized Spanish as the official language of Mexico. The Mexican American people do have representation in politics with Federico Pena who served as Secretary of Energy, Bill Richardson who served as Governor of New Mexico, and Loretta Sanchez who serves as a congress woman out of the state of California. The religion of the Mexican Americans is almost exclusively Roman Catholic. Economic status of the people can be summed in the state of California; being twenty percent of the states population they are more than forty percent below the average income when compared to non-Hispanics. Some of these core reasons stem from lower high school diploma rates making them less competitive in the earnings area of employment. Trejo and Grogger (2002).

The Puerto Rican people have been influenced by America for nearly one hundred years affecting their political, social, and economic views....