Ethnic Groups and Discrimination-Eth 125-Cultural Diversity Course

Ethnic Groups and Discrimination

Amanda ******

ETH 125

October 9, 2010

Ethnic Groups and Discrimination

It is obviously clear that during the course of American history, Mexican Americans have unfortunately been sufferers of discrimination. I feel that the illegal migration of Mexicans is one of the main factors that have channeled discrimination of Mexican Americans. I suppose that the reason why immigration authorities focus on Mexican American’s is because they have established a bad reputation. Many Mexicans were warned that if they entered the United Stated they would be considered outlaws. Things did not get any better for Mexican immigrants with the creation of the border patrol in 1924.

After doing a little research, much to my surprise, I learned that the first Mexicans that became part of the United States did not cross any border. Instead, the Spaniards colonized Mexico sometime around the sixteenth century. As a result, Spanish speaking people lived in North America. Many changes evolved as a result of the Mexico/U.S war in 1846. One change was the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and, another change was the Gadsden Purchase. With the signing of these two events, the United States increased its size. As a result of the U.S expansion, thousands of Mexican citizens came to be United States residents.

There were some instances in which immigration law welcomed Mexican immigrants. One of which was the increase of cattle ranches in the southwest, and an increase of the production of fruit in California sometime between the 1850’s and 1880’s. Mexican farmworkers were deemed as hard working and, efficient. Although, they worked for low wages and, often times horrible conditions. It was work they were willing to do. There were also instances in which Mexican immigrants were not welcomed. One of which was the arrival of the great depression. As a result of the many complications associated with the depression, Mexican immigrants...