Hispanic American Diversity

Hispanic American Diversity

This research paper with identify the linguistic, political, social, economic, religious, and familial conventions and/or statuses of four Hispanic groups living in the United States, Mexican Americans, Puerto Rican Americans, Cuban Americans, and Dominican Americans.

Mexican Americans

The 1990 census indicates that there were over 12,000,000 Mexican Americans residing in the United States, the largest group of Hispanic Americans (Englekirk & Marín, 2006). The Mexican Americans have a slow rate of assimilation as they maintain close proximity and strong cultural ties through friends and family in Mexico (Richard Schaefer, Racial and Ethnic Groups, 2000).

The Spanish language has remained the language of nearly all Mexicans in the United States. The Spanish spoken by Mexican Americans is an informal dialect. It is an informal dialect due to the identity of the speaker, their economic standing, level of education, and the length of time residing in the United States. Young Mexican Americans now use slang from Mexican Spanish, African American English, and Anglo American English creating a new vocabulary. Mexican Americans who speak both English and Spanish switch back and forth from one language to the other in their writing and speaking also known as "code-Switching." In spite of the above, the primary language of Mexican Americans is English; however the Spanish language is becoming less frequent with each new generation born in the United States (Erlinda González-Berry, 1989).

Mexican Americans have a strong family unit. Their extended family includes aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, great grandparents, godfathers, godmothers, and godchildren. Their strong family unity is due to lasting relationships based on admiration and support (Griswold del Castillo, 1996).

As Mexican Americans relocated to urban areas, there existed the opportunity for Mexican American children to attend public school. However, as Mexican Americans entered into the public school system, they were considered "learning disabled" because of language barriers and/or insufficient prior academic learning. Today, bilingual education programs are afforded to Mexican Americans helping them to learn English while being able to continue speaking, also, in their native language (Englekirk & Marín, 2006).

When it comes to religion, approximately 75% of Mexican Americans are Catholic (Julián Samora, A History of the Mexican-American People, p. 232). Religion is meaningful to Mexican-American population and serves as an important spiritual part in their lives as they celebrate various rituals and festivals of their Catholic religion.

Mexican Americans were drawn to agriculture in Texas, California, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado for many new immigrants in the early 1900s. Wages have remained low for most of the Mexican American population. The low level of education and technical training limits the opportunity for higher ranking and higher paying employment for Mexican Americans (Englekirk & Marín, 2006).

Political involvement by Mexican Americans have been hindered due to discrimination, however, even as they became assimilated both politically and socially in the United States, Mexican Americans were stilled viewed as foreigners by society. It was difficult for them to vote because of all-white primaries and coercion, as well as restrictive policies. Dissatisfied with both Republican and Democratic parties, Mexican Americans created their own alternative political party known as La Raza Unida (LRU) in the 1970s. Although the LRU faded out in the mid-1970s, it contributed to the growth of the Chicano Movement during the 1970s. It was at this time that Mexican American became more vocal and militant for social change. This allowed for other groups to step forward and address issues such as farm workers' rights, education, employment, health care, welfare reform, among other issues. Now, with the substantial growth in the Mexican American population, the number of Mexican American elected officials has risen (Feagin and Feagin, 1990).

Puerto Rican Americans

Early Puerto Ricans migrated to New York and in northeastern United States due to the availability of industrial jobs. Over 900,000 Puerto Rican Americans live in New York City while 200,000 live in other areas of New York. However, since the 1990s, younger, healthier, and more educated Puerto Ricans started migrating to different parts of the country other than New York. They settled in Illinois, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. These states are seeing significant number of Puerto Rican Americans (Derek Green, 2006).

As Puerto Rican Americans assimilated into American culture, they moved away from New York to take higher paying and professional jobs (Derek Green, 2006).

As far as language is concerned, there is no such thing as Puerto Rican language. Puerto Rican Americans speak, what is referred to as, Castilian Spanish, which comes from ancient Latin. The difference between Spanish spoken in Spain and Spanish spoken by Puerto Rican Americans is pronunciation. Puerto Rican Americans exposure to American society and its culture created a slang language known as "Spanglish" (Derek Green, 2006).

Puerto Rican Americans' family and community dynamics are strongly influenced by the Spanish culture. Their family structure is also Spanish based in that Puerto Rican Americans strong familial bond. They have their family, extended family, and co-parenting consisting of parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, godparents, and godchildren. Puerto Rican Americans take family seriously and their homes serve as the focal point for family (Derek Green, 2006).

When it comes to interacting with other races, Puerto Rican Americans seem to be the most ethnically and racially diverse people of any Hispanic group as they have a long history of interracial marriages with Spanish, Indian, and African groups (Derek Green, 2006).

As of the 1990s, 70% of Puerto Rican Americans are Roman Catholic with nearly 30% being Protestants including Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, and Christian Scientist (Derek Green, 2006).

Employment for Puerto Rican Americans, particularly, in New York City found jobs with the service and industry areas. The men, usually, worked in restaurants as bartending, bussing tables, or washing dishes. They also worked in steel manufacturing, auto assembly, shipping, meat packing, and other related fields. The women found themselves working in the garment industry. Since the 1990s, however, less than 2% of Puerto Rican American families showed a median income above $75,000. Due to the types of jobs in the specific