Social and Political Contribution of Cuban Americans - Term Paper Example

Social and Political Contribution of Cuban Americans in the United s In the United s, the largest immigrantgroup constitutes Latin Americans. In the 1980s, about eight million immigrants from Latin America moved into the United States. This contributed to nearly all the immigrants during that period. According to Orozco (4), estimation by the census bureau shows that there are around thirty one million Latin American immigrants today in the United States. This makes about twelve percent of the whole United States’ population. The immigration from Latin America was the most significant to the United States during the second half of the twentieth century. Among the countries that sent the highest number of the immigrants are Jamaica, Cuba, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and the Caribbean. The other great contributors are Peru, Columbia, Haiti and El Salvador. This paper examines the social and political contribution of Cuban Americans to the United States. Cuban Americans include all people who trace their national origin in Cuba. Cuban Americans also include native born Americans with Cuban born parents who were educated or raised in the United States. Cubans have had a long history of migrating to United States; often for political reasons but the most recent immigration has been influenced by declining economic conditions back at home. Cuban Americans are the third largest Hispanic group in the United States; and the largest group of Hispanics who trace their ancestry to Europe. In the United States many communities’ populations have a significant portion of Cuban Americans according to Knight (17). Miami in Florida has about eight hundred and fifty thousand Cuban Americans, representing the most populous Cuban American community in the entire nation. This fact is attributed to Cuba’s closeness to Miami. Other areas inhabited by the Cuban American populations include Tampa Bay, New Jersey and New York. Union City in the New York metropolitan area has the largest Cuban community outside Florida with a population of about one hundred and fifty thousand (Lastra 37). Many Cuban Americans have been assimilated into the American cultures, and have exerted sufficient influence on Americans’ lives in all the 50 states. The massive immigrants constitute mainly anti-Castro refugees who fled to the United States to seek asylum. The Cuban Americans are well assimilated in the United States. Due to the large population of Cuban Americans, they have had a significant political influence. In 1993, the Cuban American national foundation lobbied against, and successfully prevented the Clinton administration from appointing an undersecretary of state for Latin America’s affairs. During elections, Cuban Americans are well represented because almost all adults register for voting. They, therefore, influence governance and policies structured for government operations in America. In 1989, about seventy nine percent of Cuban Americans had registered to vote compared to seventy seven percent of non-Hispanic white Americans. 67 percent of Cuban Americans were reported to have voted during the elections. This is as compared to 49 percent of Mexican Americans, 61 percent of Anglo Americans and 50 percent of Puerto Ricans (Bogardus 67). In places such as Pennsylvania, Hazleton, Austin, and Francisco Bay, have Cuban Americans who have successfully established businesses and political clout. They have particularly changed Miami from a beach retirement community into a modern city with a young population whose lifestyles are partly shaped by a distinct Cuban culture. Cuban Americans tend to be more conservative politically compared to the other groups of Hispanic decent, and form a major voting block for the Republican Party in Florida. Many of the Cuban Americans, having migrated from Cuba to evade political and economic repression under the reign of Fidel Castrol’s communist government, mostly identify with the strong stand of anti-communism in the Republican Party (White 102). Cuban Americans’ lobby exercises play a significant role in United State’s politics and foreign policy. The exercise influences presidential elections mainly in the state of Florida, which is one of the most important states among the swing states in the United States’ Politics. Cuban Americans also influence important issues such as the foreign policy in Washington by ensuring that the United States embargo against Cuba is maintained at the expense of improved relations with other Latin American and Caribbean Countries. The power of Cuban American lobbyists is exercised at the federal level by representatives from New Jersey and Florida in the congress as well as by Cuban Americans in all the branches of the federal government. In both of the major political parties, this lobby is arguably the second largest after the Jewish lobby. In terms of influence, relative to the population of United State’s citizens of Cuban American origin and heritage, the Cuban American lobby is the strongest and the most powerful in matters of foreign policy (Bogardus 71). According to Knight (33), during the presidential elections of 2008, the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Barrack Obama, got forty seven percent of the total votes by Cuban Americans in Florida. 84 percent of registered voters from the Cuban American community voted in Miami, of which those above 65 years old backed the republican candidate while the younger ones backed the democratic presidential candidate. This shows that the younger Cuban Americans are more liberal. The invasion of Cuba by John F. Kennedy left many Cuban Americans distrustful of the Democratic Party. Many Cuban Americans believed that John F. Kennedy deliberately denied the Cuban exiles air support leading to rout by Castro forces. The trauma of this event has led to speculation of involvement of Cuban Americans in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. There is a street named after Ronald Reagan in Miami because in the exile community of Cuban Americans, Reagan is more popular than any other American President. Political representation of American Cuban people has improved very much in the recent past. Lincoln Diaz Balart, a Florida republican member of congress since 1993, was born in Havana. Robert Menendez was the first Cuban American democratic representative to the national legislature. Bob Martinez served as the first Hispanic governor of Florida and was appointed as director of the office of national drug control policy by President George Bush. There are four members in the House of Representatives and two senators of Cuban origin. Cuban Americans have also served in the high profile government jobs such as the white house chief of staff. Cuban Americans have also served in high profile judiciary positions. More recently signs of conflict between Cuban Americans and other Americans have increased. There has been a long standing antagonism between African Americans and Cuban Americans in Florida, especially because Cuban Americans have asserted themselves in business and politics in the Miami area, becoming the dominant group. African Americans accuse Cuban Americans of shutting them in the political process and from the tourism industry (Orozco 9). According to White (109), the Cuban Americans use a variety of food and drinks, which in most cases are directly from their heritage though they enjoy Cuban and American cuisines as well. Traditional Cuban food is a mixture of Spanish and West Africa cuisine in the Caribbean climate. Many Cuban Americans and especially those born in America have adapted to the American foods and reserve the Cuban traditional foods for special occasions. According to Bogardus (82), Cuban Americans enjoy greater economic security than other Hispanic groups. There are four factors that influence economies of the Cuban Americans: new technologies based primarily on computer chip, global economic interdependence, capital flight and domination of information and service sectors over manufacturing industries. Together these factors have redesigned jobs, reorganized cities and regions and exacerbated inequalities. They have influenced the life styles of Cuban Americans in all social classes, families and communities, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Some of the Cuban Americans work in economic sectors most vulnerable to cyclical unemployment such as the manufacturing sector that is threatened by decline, though most of them work in the service sector. Most Cubans born in the United States have higher median income than the other Hispanic groups. A case in point is in 1986 when they had a median income of $ 26770 - $2700 which was less than the median for all US families but greater than all Hispanic American families who had been surpassed by $6700 by the Cuban American group. Cuban Americans are also highly educated with most of them having college degrees or higher. 17 percent have completed college education compared to 6 percent of Mexican Americans, 8 percent of Puerto Americans and 20 percent of the total US population (Orozco 15). Most of the Cuban Americans are Catholics according to Orozco (25). Fourteen percent of Cuban immigrants and about ten percent of Cubans born in the United States follow some form of Protestantism. Generally, the presence of Cuban American in the United States has shaped the political system, governance and the general social lives of the American people. The Cuban American culture has been integrated with the American to create a significant influence in lifestyles especially in places where their population is dominant. They have also had an impact in American politics, education and religion. Works cited Bogardus, Emory. The Cubans in the United States. Los Angeles: University of Southern California Press, 1998. Print Lastra, Frank. The Making of a Landmark Town. University of Tampa Press, 2006. Print Knight, Paul. Immigration: Cubans Enter U.S. at Texas-Mexico Border. Houston: Houston Press, 2009. Print Orozco, Suarez. Latin American Immigration to the United States. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999. Print White, Alfred. Perspective of American foreigners. Cambridge, MA: Harvard university press, 2001. Print Read More