Hispanic American Diversity - Essay Example

Hispanic American Diversity Introduction: A significant proportion of the total population of US consists of Hispanic Americans who are living in US in different communities. There is a lot of variation in the religious, social, economic, political, familial and linguistic characteristics of the different Hispanic American communities living in US. Many Hispanic Americans have migrated or immigrated to US from different parts of the world. Some of them have managed to adapt themselves according to the indigenous culture of US while others have remained exposed to social criticism and have been outcast on the basis of their strong ties and belongingness to their native regions. This paper makes an in-depth analysis of the aforementioned traits each of the four Hispanic American communities namely Mexican American, Cuban American, Peurto Rican American, and the Central or South American communities. These four ethnic groups sufficiently represent the whole community of Hispanic Americans in US. Mexican Americans: The level of integration of a group of immigrants into a foreign country can be estimated from its language assimilation or retention. Language retention of Mexican Americans in the areas in which they are in abundance is quite high. In the 2000 census, the percentage of Mexican Americans that used the Spanish language to communicate with one another at home was found to be 75. They exhibit strong ties with the family. They live around one another. They are generally very hard working and display good mannerism. Most Mexican Americans are the followers of Roman Catholicism, yet there are a few of them who belong to Evangelical and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Their ethnic economy is not as widespread as it is of the Cuban Americans who have largely established in the region Miami. The Mexican Americans have conventionally failed to attain the mainstream social status and have retained the immigrant status owing to the poor education and the immense discrimination they have remained subjected to for most part of the history (Alba, 2006). Puerto Rican Americans: A vast majority of the Puerto Rican Americans belongs to the Roman Catholic origin and they generally communicate with one another in Castillian Spanish at home. In most of their elementary schools, English is taught as a second language, though Puerto Rico is the primary language of this community. Puerto Rico is a US territory that has its own legislature, constitution, and governor who has the executive power. It is the very rich commonwealth status that makes the Puerto Rico community typical American citizens. They are more perceived as migrants than immigrants. The commonwealth relationship of the Puerto Rican Americans with the US has conventionally been a subject of a lot of debate and controversy. The adjustment of Puerto Rican Americans has both been problematic and successful simultaneously. 55 per cent of the Peurto Ricans who are residents of Puerto Rico and 25 per cent of them that live in US are still caught in serious issues. Despite the innumerable advantages that the American citizenship has to provide them with, they are still coping with the issues of substance abuse, familial structure breakdown, scanty educational opportunities, crime and violence (Green, n.d.). Cuban Americans: After the revolution that occurred in 1959 and made Miami, Florida kind of Latin America’s capital, Cubans departed from the Caribbean Island in large numbers. A lot of political refugees seeked refuge in US during the Cold War because they were provided with a lot of benefits in US. A lot of things in Miami were altered by the Cuban Americans. The typical progression of societal assimilation and the American culture was reversed. Unlike most other ethnic communities in US, Cuban Americans did not assimilate the American cultures or replace Spanish with English. Instead, the Cuban Americans have caused reverse acculturation. This essentially means that the residents of Miami had to approve of the political domination of the Cuban Americans and adapt themselves according to Cuban economical impact. The Haitian immigrants, unlike the immigrants of Cuba, experienced a lot of alienation and racism in US, and were called as the “boat people” in order to memorize them that they were foreigners and US was not where they belonged. In order to change their assimilation, the Haitian immigrants adopted the attitude, culture and mannerism of African Americans. South Americans: Various ethnic groups in US have settled in the geographic centers. A lot of Central Americans have migrated in large numbers to the western US to live with Mexican Americans, whereas South Americans have remained in eastern US with the Cuban and Puerto Rican Americans. “South America had been almost the central position of the slave trade. As a result of the slave trade that consisted of the African people as the slaves, in South America, African culture also developed through these African people.” (Maps of World, 2010). Many South Americans believe in either Islam or Christianity “with the local animistic practices constituting a two tiered approach” (Anon, n.d.). Among all of the Hispanic American groups, South Americans and Cuban Americans are two groups whose graduation rates are the highest, with the latter coming first and the former coming second. The college graduation rate for the South Americans is 16 per cent while that for the Cuban Americans is 19 per cent. This is the fundamental reason why their financial condition is better than other Hispanic Americans. Comparison: A lot of things are in common among the four ethnic groups of Mexican Americans, Cuban Americans, Puerto Rican, and the South Americans, yet each of these ethnic groups maintains its own individualistic identity because they had descended from different ancestors. A vast majority of members of these ethnic groups have reached US for political asylum. There is a significant population that had migrated to US in an attempt to escape the poor socioeconomic conditions of their native countries. With the passage of time, they have grown in number manifolds. According to the US Census Bureau of 2006, the population of Hispanic people in US was found to be 44 million that made about 14.3 per cent of the total population. This population is estimated to increase up to one quarter of the total population of US by the year 2050. People from the four ethnic groups share common residence in that most of then live in Texas or California (US Census Bureau, 2008). Cuban Americans, Puerto Rican Americans, and Mexican Americans share their religious beliefs of Roman Catholicism whereas South Americans are generally either Christians or Muslims. Among the four ethnic groups, Puerto Rican Americans are the strongest on the political grounds while the political position of the Mexican Americans is the weakest. Each of the four ethnic groups, i.e. Mexican Americans, Cuban Americans, Puerto Rican Americans and South Americans maintains a cultural identity of its own. They have rich familial ties, though many Hispanic Americans have undergone big changes in the dynamics of family after their immigration to US. They are associated with the category of Hispanic Americans fundamentally because of language. The four groups commonly know and speak Spanish in addition to their individualistic origins and dialects. The four groups differ in their religious beliefs despite the fact that Roman Catholicism is each group’s basic religion. Among all four ethnic groups, Cuban Americans have shown the maximum progress in terms of education, politics and social front. On the other hand, Puerto Rican Americans have had the biggest impact on the economic realm in US. There has been a mixed response towards assimilation into the American culture among the four ethnic groups discussed in this paper. References: Alba, R. (2006). Mexican Americans and the American dream. Political Science & Politics. American Political Science Association. Retrieved from http://www.apsanet.org/imgtest/PerspectivesJun06Alba.pdf. Anon. (n.d.). South American Folk Religions. Retrieved from http://www.religious-information.com/south-american-folk-religions.html. Green, D. (n.d.) Puerto Rican Americans. Retrieved from http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Pa-Sp/Puerto-Rican-Americans.html. Maps of World. (2010). South American Culture. Retrieved from http://www.mapsofworld.com/south-america/culture/. United States Census Bureau. (2008). 2000 Census Data. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/. Read More