Hispanics and the Racial Discrimination - Case Study Example

Racial Discrimination The world history is a witness to atrocities, mass murders, inhuman treatment and strong discrimination by people from certain background towards other people from different background. And all these atrocities and unfair treatments have a root cause in the mind which thinks that people from certain race, having a certain skin color, coming from a certain country and speaking a certain language are not worthy of equal and human treatment. They think that they are somehow inferior than them in every way. However, the fact remains that no one can be considered inferior because of the physical and geographical factors. Your skin color, the family you are born in, the country that you are born in and the financial situation of your family are not your choice. You just take birth and find yourself to be having certain color, certain parents speaking certain language and certain financial situation that you have to face. There are people who try to improve their situation and their life. And if they think that their own country is not enough to give them what they want, they migrate to different countries to find better living situations and opportunities so that they can be happy and content as people living in other countries are. However, it is possible only if they get an equal and fair opportunity and treatment from the people from the country they migrate to. However, if they experience discrimination because of their skin color, their backgrounds, their language and their nationality, they cannot achieve what they want, even if they work sincerely and hard towards a good life. And people from the Hispanic ethnic background are the victim of this kind of discrimination. The racial discrimination is stopping them from attaining their dream of living a content, happy and respectful life. The United States of America is the country that is experiencing the immigration from people from different countries with the hope of living an ‘American Dream’. People from Hispanic ethnic background are the largest in the number of immigrants. The Population of the United States is growing by 1 percent nearly every year and the total population is expected to reach 450 million by 2050 which was 296 million in the year 2006. The rate of population of Hispanic ethnic background is growing faster than the rate of the population of any other ethnic or racial background. It was found that the increase in population of the Hispanic ethnic background community from between 2000 to 2004 was 56.4 percent due to the natural reasons like birth and 43.6 percent was due to the net immigration, and this included both legal and illegal immigrants. The population growth of the Hispanic community is the highest because the rate of birth is the high and immigration is also high. On the top of that the death rate is very low (Cattan 1993). The population trend: Lets look at some of the data available showing the population trend of the people from Hispanic ethnic background. In the year 2000 the population of the Hispanic community in the U.S.A was 35.6 million. By the year 2006 it increased to 44.3 million.( source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates July 1, 2000 to July 1, 2006.) ( Hispanic Population Data) If we look at the population trend of the Hispanic community right from the year 1970, we can see that the population has been surely and steadily growing year by year. In the year 1970, the Hispanic population was 9.6 million which was 4.7 percent of the total population of U.S.A. The trend showed an increase in the population and by the year 2000, the population grew to 35.3 million which was 12.5 percent of the total population. This trend of increase in population continued and it was 44.3 million in 2006. The study of the estimated population growth in the future says that the growing trend is going to keep continuing and now the projected estimate is that by 2010 the total population of Hispanic community is going to be 47.8 million which will come to 15.5 percent of the total population. And by 2050 the growth will still continue and the Hispanic population will be 102.6 million which will be 24.4 percent of total population of The United States Of America. (SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau, 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000 Decennial Censuses; Population Projections, July 1, 2010 to July 1, 2050.) ( Projections... ) However, with this growing population of the people from Hispanic ethnic background, the question also arises of their food, shelter, employment, education and opportunities. With the increase in the overall population, the population of the worker groups have increased substantially and it is in fact 4 times more than the other Non-Hispanic work force. During the 1980’s, 1 out of every 3 legal immigrants was from Hispanic ethnic background. And in the addition, there were many who entered illegally. “So actually the undocumented number of immigrants was approximately 1.3 million. People from Hispanic ethnic background have immigrated from different countries, for different reasons and have settled in different parts of the country” (Cattan 1993). Hence their identities are diverse. Most of them do not prefer to be called as Hispanic as the study showed that only 18 percent of the immigrants are comfortable with the identity of being called as a ‘Hispanic’. (Cattan 1993). There are many factors that might be the reason for the discomfort of being called as ‘Hispanic’. People from Hispanic ethnic background are considered fit for lower level of jobs, uneducated and someone who lacks the language skills. These sort of inferior mental association with the word ‘Hispanic’ make people from Hispanic ethnic background uncomfortable with that name. The study shows that people from Hispanic ethnic background are the people whose educational achievements are very low. The low level of education could be a result of financial problems as it forces the men in the family to start work early because so that they can support the family. And also, it was found that the adult immigrants had very low education; not even 9th grade complete. The study of the youth showed that they do not complete their high school education successfully. The study conducted in the year 1992 showed that the young people from Hispanic ethnic background, falling between the age group of 20 to 24 either did not enroll in schools and if they are enrolled, they did not complete the school successfully. (Cattan 1993) The Work Scenario The study conducted in the year 1992 also showed that people from Hispanic ethnic background experience problem at getting the job. 11.5 percent people of Hispanic labor force was unemployed compared to approximately 1 to ½ times the proportion of the people from Non-Hispanic background. The observation by Frank Bean and Marta Tiends has revealed that most of the people from Hispanic ethnic background migrate to the United states of America to improve their employment situation and so regardless of their educational background or achievements, they have to make themselves available in the labor market. (Cattan 1993) And again, even in the work there is great difference between the occupational distribution of the people from Hispanics and Non-Hispanic ethnic background. The job positions which are ‘decision making’ and authoritative were much less likely to be given to the workers from Hispanic ethnic backgrounds. People from Non-Hispanic ethnic background had more chances of holding those positions. Only 14 percent of employees from Hispanic ethnic backgrounds were seen in this position compared to 24 percent of people from Non-Hispanic ethnic background. This could be due to their young age or lack of higher level school education and maybe the lack of proficiency in English language. Added to these reasons, there were other reasons like qualifications, background, age and skills. The people from Hispanic ethnic background were presented in a wrong way in the market. Their availability was exposed more to the lower paying jobs than the managerial level, professional level or any other high paying level of jobs. This was de to their young age, lack of English language skill and also for not having right contacts to get into right job. The poor financial situation desperately forced them to take whatever job came their way. The poverty did not allow them time to wait even for a short time for the right job. So they end up taking whatever was offered to them. This situation have continued and now its so common that people fro Hispanic ethnic background are now associated with large number of low wages jobs. Because of their major concentration in the lower paying jobs, they earned one-third lower than their counterparts from Non-Hispanic ethnic background. (Cattan 1993) The question is, is this discrimination going to end? Don’t people from Hispanic ethnic background deserve a chance to be treated equally by giving them equal opportunities, making resources available to them so that they can become proficient in English language and get educational degrees, nurturing their skills and confidence and making them comfortable with their identity by not judging them on the basis of their skin or race? They do deserve an equal treatment and equal opportunities. However, the real picture shows that exactly the opposite is happening with them. The discrimination still continues: A study published in 2003 showed that 31 percent of approximately 3000 people surveyed from Hispanic ethnic background said that they have suffered discrimination because of their racial and ethnic background (Bates 2003). 82% of people from the same survey said that the discrimination they are facing is causing great trouble and obstacle in their path of growth and success. 75% said that they are suffering a low performance at school because discrimination is causing a block in their success (Bates 2003). In the year survey published in year 2007, it was found that 29% of workers from Hispanic ethnic background faced discrimination and the sad thing was that 77% said that even after complaining about the discriminative practices, no action was taken against the person who was responsible for that. One in every 4 people from Hispanic ethnic background said that they are paid less and have less growth opportunities in the job because of their race and background (The Enterprise). This shows that the discrimination is so strong that it is likely to make them depressed and hopeless about their situation. The people from Hispanic ethnic background are suffering discrimination not just in the job but also at schools. This hampers their ambition, dreams and will to succeed in studies and get higher education. The students from Hispanic ethnic background said that they got a bad treatment while they were studying at schools so they did not feel the urge or the confidence to do well at studies. The motivation was not there. The students also realized that it is throughout the system of the school that they’re judged on the basis of their ethnic background rather than their performance and their abilities and their behavior depended on from what ethnic background the student is from. The privilege and treatment from everyone like the teachers and the administrators depends on the ethnicity. Not just that but they were also mistreated from African-American teachers and students. The ethnic problem as if breathes in everyone and there is constant stress and negativity that they have to face. The students from Hispanic ethnic background received the worse treatment not only from teachers but also from the students and administrators. This kind of treatment is a discouragement for everyone (Fergus 2004). If life depends on your nature and your genes, then it also depends on nurture and environment. People from Hispanic ethnic background are trying their best to get the education so that they could speak better English and get higher education so as to make themselves efficient in skills and qualifications to make their position better in the society. However, the discrimination that they are facing at every step of life is hampering their performance and making them hopeless and frustrated. This is a bad sign as we all know that if youth sees helplessness in every situation they get, they are likely to get negative and involve themselves in drugs and crime. The study have shown that the prison is serving a better option for the people from Hispanic background as the facilities provided to the poor people are all available at the prison. 3 percent of the people in prison between 25-29 years are from Hispanic ethnic background. The war on drugs have resulted in 2 to 3 times more arrests than their actual use of drugs (Blau and Abramovitz 2007, 279) . So even law makers are treating people from Hispanic background with discrimination. It is a need of an hour to take major and intensive steps by the government to see to it that the discrimination that the people from Hispanic background are facing should be taken seriously and to establish laws that can put a stop to it. People from Hispanic background are capable human beings and deserves respect, equal treatment, opportunity and resources as everyone else does. References Bates, S. (2003). Hispanics see discrimination in the workplace - Executive Briefing - Brief Article. Retrieved May 06, 2009 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3495/is_2_48/ai_97873141/ Blau, J. and Abramovitz, M. (2007). The dynamics of social welfare policy. US: Oxford University Press US Cattan, P. ( August 1993). The Diversity Of Hispanics In The U.S. work force. Monthy Labor Review, Retrieved May 06, 2009 from http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1993/08/art1full.pdf Fergus, E. ( 2004). Skin Color and Identity Formation: Perceptions of Opportunity and Academic Orientation Among Mexican and Puerto Rican Youth. Routledge. Hispanic Population Data Retrieved May 06, 2009 from http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hispanic/files/Hispanic%20population.csv Projections of Future Hispanic Population Retrieved May 06, 2009 from http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hispanic/files/Projections.csv The Enterprise ( September 2007). Nearly three in 10 Hispanic workers have experienced discrimination or unfair treatment at work, survey shows. Retrieved May 06, 2009 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5279/is_200709/ai_n21262848/?tag=rbxcra.2.a.33 Read More