Hispanic Americans

Hispanic Americans

Introduction

"Hispanic American" refers to all people tracing their ancestry to Spanish-speaking areas of the Western Hemisphere. In the United States, most Hispanics trace their lineage to Mexico, followed by Puerto Rico and Cuba. During the 1960s and 1970s, the Mexican-American civil rights movement emerged. During the 1960s, César Estrada Chávez worked as a labor organizer among migrant farm workers in California. Chávez organized Huelga, a 1965 strike directed against California grape growers to raise public awareness of unfair labor practices and poor working conditions in the vineyards. In 1970 the strike was won when the growers granted greater rights and higher wages to the workers (Baum, 1997).

The Chicano movement emerged from the Civil Rights and antiwar movements. Chicano students, especially in California, demanded that their language, culture, and ethnic contributions be recognized in schools. The Chicano movement included groups like the United Mexican Students (UMA) and the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MECHA). In 1970 José Angel Gutiérrez established La Raza Unida (Mexican People United), a Mexican-American political party devoted to ending discrimination against Hispanics by gaining access to mainstream American politics and financial institutions. The group advocated bilingual and bicultural education. The efforts of groups in the Chicano movement resulted in the establishment of Mexican-American studies programs in colleges and universities. Activist groups like the Young Lords advocated similar programs for Puerto Ricans. Unlike natives of other Hispanic nations, natives of Puerto Rico are American citizens by virtue of the 1917 Jones Act (Vazquez & Pascual, 2010).

Discussion

Census data revealed another interesting characteristic of Hispanic Americans. Of the total Hispanic-American population, 35 percent are under the age of 18 years. Moreover, while the median age of the entire population in the United States is 35.3 years the median age of Mexican Americans is 24.2. Because of their youth and numbers, Hispanic Americans will play an important role in changing political and cultural life, especially in the western states. As a result, both the Democratic and Republican Parties have made conscious efforts to recruit Hispanic-American voters.

Hispanic Cultural Issues

Although Hispanics or Latinos are incorporated quickly to American popular culture, many still face inequality in socioeconomic status, education and access to health and human services. Recent studies have shown that health programs always successful in attracting Hispanics or Latinos who need health care. Many Hispanics or Latinos rely on their families, communities, traditional healers and the church for help during a health crisis. As a result, thousands of Hispanics or Latinos who have a mental illness untreated mental health professional (Scott, 1991).

Drugs cause serious harm to physical and mental health and create networks of crime and corruption. The critics say that is used to defend geopolitical interests, interference in the internal affairs of certain nations, breaking into the private lives of citizens, and the problems related to drug trafficking and consumption forms most part of the prohibition. A drug is a substance that alters the normal functioning of the organism once it comes into contact with ...