Schaefer c10 (1)

Chapter 10
Mexican Americans and
Puerto Ricans

Mexican Americans
• Legacy of war created America’s two
largest Hispanic minorities
– Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans
• The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo,
February 2, 1848
– Under the treaty, new Americans guaranteed
rights to property and their cultural traditions
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Mexican Americans
– The loss of land and the lack of legal
protection after the treaty
• US gained Texas, California, Arizona, and
New Mexico for $15 million
• In exchange, US granted citizenship to
75,000 Mexican nationals
– Guaranteed

Mexican Americans
• Religious freedom
• Property rights
• Cultural integrity
• Land conflict between Anglo ranchers and
Mexican-American ranchers
• Mexican-Americans became outsiders in
their own land

The Immigrant Experience
• Immigration from Mexico is unique in
several respects
– Continuous large-scale movement for most of
this century
– Proximity of Mexico encourage immigrants to
maintain strong cultural & language ties

– Aura of illegality that surrounded Mexican
migrants
• Suspicion of Anglos toward Mexicans
contributed to mutual distrust
• Mexican immigration tied closely to the
economies of Mexico & the United States

• US corporations invested in Mexico in a
way that maximized profits but minimized:
– Money in Mexico to provide employment
• Mexican workers are used as cheap
laborers in their own country by fellow:
– Mexicans & Americans or as undocumented
workers here

• Repatriation
– Program of deporting Mexicans during
depression of 1930s
– Constitutional because only illegal aliens were
to be deported
– Many classified as illegal had resided in US
for decades

• Braceros
– Program between Mexico & US allow
migration across border by contracted labor
• Mexicans regarded as positive presence
when useful
• Operation Wetback and Special Force
Operation (1954)

• Mojados
– Slang for Mexicans who enter illegally; refer to
those who secretly swim across Rio Grande
• The Mexican American Legal Defense
and Education Fund (MALDEF)
– Expressed concern over handling of illegal
aliens

The Economic Picture
• Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans
– Higher unemployment rates, higher rates of
poverty, and lower incomes than Whites
• The Culture of Poverty
– Embraces a deviant way of life that involves:
• No future planning, no enduring commitment to
marriage, and absence of work ethic

• Developed by Oscar Lewis
• Cultural traits as the cause of poverty
• Blaming the victim
• Used indiscriminately to explain continued poverty
• César Chavez
– Formed National Farm Workers Association
– Became United Farm Workers (UFW)

• Difficulties of organizing migrant farm
workers
– No savings for organizing or to live on while
on strike
– Growers relied on limitless supply of Mexican
laborers to replace strikers
– Opposition by agribusiness and lawmakers

Political Organizations
• La Raza Unida (LRU)
– Pride in one’s Spanish, Native American, and
Mexican heritage
– Supported candidates who offer alternatives
to the Democratic and Republican parties
• Chicanismo (Chicanozaje)
– Stress a positive self-image

Political Organizations
• Reies Lopez Tijerina (1963)
– Purpose of the organization was to recover
lost land
• Mexican American Legal Defense and
Education Fund (MALDEF) 1967
– Pursue issues through the courts and protect
Mexican Americans’ constitutional rights

Dual Nationality
• The United States does not prohibit dual
nationality
• Estimated that anywhere from 5 million to
10 million Mexican Americans are eligible:
– For such dual nationality

Puerto Ricans
• Borinquen (Puerto Rico) claimed by Spain
in 1493
• Native inhabitants, Taino Indians
– Reduced in number by conquest, slavery, and
genocide
• Puerto Rico annexed by the US from
Spain after the Spanish-American War

Puerto Ricans
• Colonization of Puerto Ricans
– Politically, then culturally, and economically
• Jones Act of 1917
– Citizenship extended to Puerto Ricans
• 1948
– Cannot vote in presidential elections and have
no voting representations

The Bridge Between the Island and
the Mainland
• Despite citizenship, occasionally
challenged by immigration officials
– Other Latin Americans attempt to enter
country posing as Puerto Ricans
• Push and pull factors led to migration from
the Island to the mainland

The Bridge Between the Island and
the Mainland
• Neoricans
– Puerto Ricans in New York
– Better educated and have more money than
Puerto Ricans from the Island
– Often resented by long time Islanders
• Now more dispersed throughout the
mainland

The Island of Puerto Rico
• Original inhabitants, Taino Indians, wiped
out in a couple of generations
• Neocolonialism
– Refers to continuing dependence of former
colonies on foreign countries
• English and Spanish are the official
languages

• Statehood and Self-Rule
– Puerto Ricans periodically argued and fought
for independence
– Commonwealth supporters argue too many
unknown costs, so embrace status quo
– Others view statehood as key to increased
economic development & tourist expansion

• Arguments for and against independence
• Obama promised support to:
– “a clear decision” by the people on statehood,
whatever it be
• “By the end of 2012 or soon thereafter”
• Statehood, independence, or continuation
of the island’s current status

Social Construction of Race
• Color Gradient
– Reflects past fusion between different groups
– Rather than being “black” or “white”, such
societies judge as “lighter” or “darker”
• On the Island social class determines race
• On the mainland race is more likely to
determine social class

The Island Economy
• Overall economy well below that of
poorest areas of the US
– Federal government exempted US industries
in Puerto Rico from taxes on profits (10 years)
– Enterprise Zones
– Island’s agriculture ignored and economic
benefits to the island are limited

The Island Economy
• Unemployment is three times that of
mainland
• Per capita income is less than half of
Mississippi, the poorest state
• Puerto Rico emerging as major gateway to
US for illegal drugs from South America
• World Systems Theory

The Island Economy
• Major factors in Puerto Rico’s economy
– Tourism
• Government subsidies encouraged construction of
luxury hotels
• Criticisms
– Major economic beneficiaries are investors from the
mainland not locals

The Island Economy
– High prices prevent less affluent from visiting
– NAFTA (North American Free Trade
Agreement)
• Reduction of trade barriers and its lower wages
undercut Puerto Rico’s commonwealth advantage
– Other island nations compete for tourist
dollars

Contemporary Picture of Mexican
Americans and Puerto Ricans
• Education
– In 2008, only 55% of Mexican Americans &
76% of Puerto Ricans aged 25 or older:
• Had completed high school, compared with 88
percent of White non-Hispanics

• 3 factors of increasing social isolation of
Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans
– Latinos are increasingly concentrated in
largest cities where minorities dominate
– Schools once desegregated have become re-segregated
• Tracking

• Family Life
– Most important organization or social
institution among Latinos or any group
– Structure differs little from all families in US
– Familism
– Display variety of American family in general
while suffering higher levels of poverty

• Health Care
– Life Chances limited for Latinos
• People’s opportunities to provide themselves with:
– Material goods, positive living conditions, and favorable
life experiences
– Hispanics as a group are locked out of health
care system

– Complicated by lack of Hispanic health care
professionals
– Curanderismo
• Latino folk medicine, form of holistic health care
and healing
• Culture makes them less likely to use medical
system

• Religion
– Predominantly Catholic
– Church has taken an assimilation role in past
– Recently, more community oriented
– Hispanic population growth important for the
church

– Some churches starting to accommodate
observances of Mexican rituals
• Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)
– Pentecostalism
• Type of evangelical Christianity growing in Latin
America

Schaefer c10 (1)

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