Latino Americans Experience in the USA - Research Paper Example

ABSTRACT The Unites States of America is a country which is known for its racial and cultural diversity. Many minority groups reside in the country with Latinos constituting the major proportion of these minorities. Being such a large faction in the country, their existence has an impact in the elections of the country as well as on the sector of business. Their group is either referred to as Latinos or as Hispanics. “The complicated measure of being Hispanic in America” by Taylor Gandossy serves to explain the impact and response that this classification receives from their community. Opinions are known to differ with a group of them objecting to the fact that they do not like to be restricted to such a narrow definition and they rather possess more characteristics on the basis of which they should be recognized. Another argument presented by some of them is that they do not identify themselves as Latinos but rather as Americans because that is where they really belong and not from the place where their ancestors come. But there are proponents of these terms as well who argue that though the Latinos hold differences but many similarities bring them together under these terms such the importance of family life and religion that exists in their group. Such cultural difficulties are common to be experienced in multicultural societies. LATINO AMERICANS EXPERIENCE IN THE UNITED STATES The competition in the world has increased and every human being wants a better and more secure future. The prospects for a better life style and a safe and sound future are the main attractions for immigration from one’s homeland to another country. The United States of America is one of the developed nations of the world where people belonging to many different races live. Among these different races, the Latinos serve as one of the largest groups of minorities who reside in the country. They form an integral part of the country and have an impact on the political as well as the commercial sector of the country. The Latinos hold a divided opinion and consider the classification of their entire population as Latinos or Hispanics to be too narrow. On the other hand, it is also believed by many that this classification is of significance because at some point it works towards showing the similarities that exist in their group. Hence, the Latinos hold a different opinion on their position and experience in the United States. “The complicated measure of being Hispanic in America” by Taylor Gandossy serves to explain the complexity and the differing opinions that Latinos hold with regard to their living in the United States. A survey in the United States showed the fact that a large number of Latinos wanted to be recognized by the name of their country from where they actually belonged and the other half was almost equally divided on the opinion where one half identified themselves as Americans and the other half as Latinos or Hispanics. The Latinos have an argument to present that restricting their identity to narrow terms like Hispanic or Latino fails to cover all the aspects and characteristics that lie in the group. They argue that most of them do not even speak the same language or possess similar standings in the society. Some of them argued that they identified themselves more as Americans than as Latinos. The children of the immigrants who are born in the United States are also against the idea of being portrayed as Hispanics or Latinos because they do not consider themselves to be associated with their parents’ homeland and consider themselves to be Americans. On the other hand, another group of the Latinos believe that this term does serve an essential purpose because the Latinos have many similarities amongst themselves which proves to explain the significance of this term to identify them. They argue that though there are many differences amongst these Latinos but they can be put together in this category on the basis of these connections. The importance of a family life and stand is more amongst this group. They do not emphasize upon the aspect of privacy as much as do the Americans. Also religion has a very significant and important role to play in shaping the living and molding the lifestyles of the Latinos. Hence differing opinions can be seen with regard to this issue. Such experiences and difficulties are very common observances amongst the different minorities that reside in the United States. The different people belonging to the same community hold differing opinions. This is the result of the mixing of different cultures and races which results in problems of identity. This leads to a mixture of people within the same group on different levels. The differences are even wider among people belonging to different generational groups. The younger generations identify themselves more with the place where they reside and have been brought up and do not like the idea of being affiliated with the homeland of their parents. On the other hand the older generations have a greater tendency to stick to the culture and living of the country from they have immigrated. Thus a conflict of cultures is seen to arise as the younger generations are exposed to a different culture at home whereas the world outside has another presentation and culture to teach. These races also consider themselves to be targets of segregation and this is the complaint presented in the article when Phillip Rodriguez who is a filmmaker does not like the idea of being put into a simple classification of Latino or Hispanic. The opinion presented by him provides a conclusion that each group wants to maintain their individuality and uniqueness and do not like being categorized and restricted to narrow terms of identification. Hence this serves to explain that problems with identifying to a particular culture are a very common issue noticed amongst the different races that live in the United States where one faction wants to maintain their cultural diversity and the other groups want to be identified as Americans rather than being categorized separately. REFERENCES Gandossy, T.(2007). The complicated measure of being Hispanic in America. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/09/26/hispanic.identity/index.html Read More