Introduction
A culture is a belief about a population passed down from one generation to the other. Mexican Americans or Latinos are occasionally stereotyped in the United States of America. The trend has made discrimination part of the everyday life of Latinos. It has developed to be a culture rooted in most Americans’ minds. The negative perceptions significantly affect the minority group, especially the youth. Racial discrimination is manifested toward this category of people verbally and through actions by the police. Latinos are viewed as drug traffickers and addicts, which leads to profiling by the police in America. Mexican American students receive anti-immigrant sentiments from their peers who view them as inferior and undesirable. The discrimination exposed to Latinx youths in America affects their physical health and academic performance. They get depressed and end up engaging in drug abuse and sexual acts. Mexican Americans are deemed inferior, especially to the whites in America. Latinos are subjected to stereotyping and racial profiling; furthermore, they are accused of being less educated, criminals, illegals, gardeners, and maids; the film industry plays a critical role in spreading false beliefs to the larger non-Hispanic population.
Main body
Mexican students face assumptions that they are not capable of aspiring to a career and are not intelligent. The negative thought of Latinos being less educated persists due to institutional levels of racism (Pasco 637). Teachers pay much observation to non-minority students and less attention to the minority (Pasco 640). The lack of support from teachers causes the low academic performance of Latino youths. Race discrimination plays a big role in poor academic performance. The high school dropout rate for Latinos is 18 percent, the highest among minorities (Rengifo and Pater 348).
Among the Latinos between 18 and 24, only 75 percent have earned a high school diploma (Rengifo and Pater 348). The rest default from studies due to the high institutionalization and racial discrimination they face. Mexican students face challenges in schools due to language barriers. Teachers use English in learning institutions; this limits how some Hispanic students understand concepts (Zeiders et al. 56). They are expected to be proficient in English. Mexican American students experience difficulties in learning institutions leading to high school dropouts which further associate them with criminal activities, subjecting them to criminalization.
Male youths of Mexican American descent face criminalization and are perceived to be gang members. They are subjected to surveillance at school and viewed as a possible menace and cause of destruction. The criminalization within the community still extends; young Latino males are occasionally stopped, questioned, and frisked by police (Rengifo and Pater 338). Their bags get searched with the belief that they might have drugs, and they are further required to state where they are coming from and where their destination is. Criminal stereotyping is so rampant that Mexican Americans are viewed as homegrown terrorists or enemy combatants (Zeiders et al. 53). All Latinos are seen as drug dealers with criminal minds. They are regarded as ‘Narcos’ members and are believed to be in gangs operating illegal businesses like selling drugs (Zeiders et al. 55). The association of Mexican Americans with drug abuse and trafficking is so rampant that its eradication has become a problem (Rengifo and Pater 359). As a result, the minority population is further subjected to discriminative remarks that portray them as illegals and foreigners who pollute American society with negative indulges.
Mexican American youths receive discriminative remarks from their peers and adults. They are seen as perpetual foreigners who have decided to invade a foreign land and stay there permanently. In some cases, Latinos are called illegals even though some have birthright citizenship as Americans (Seaton et al. 768). Lopez (2020) states that a person’s physical appearance does not define nationality. Some have Hispanic looks but were born and raised in America; they are Americans, not illegal immigrants. The locals categorize all Latinos as Mexicans irrespective of where they are initially from, whether Panama, Brazil, or any other Latin nation. The majority of Latinos get treated just as though they are illegal immigrants. Lopez (2020) states that she was born and raised in New York to Colombian parents; she is an American by birth but a Latino by ethnicity. Lopez is still viewed as a more Latin American; she lacks an identity (Lopez). Young and older Mexican American adults find it difficult to get jobs: their credentials are always doubted and considered fake. Furthermore, the population is considered handy jobs such as cleaning and gardening.
The American film industry stereotypes the minority population leading to a false understanding of the group. Latin Americans represent 18 percent of the American people but less than 7 percent feature in popular television programs (Pasco 643). When the characters from this minority group feature, they are likely to be stereotyped. They are depicted negatively and associated more with lower-status occupations such as domestic work. The thought is further supported by other stereotypical beliefs of them being uneducated and immigrants. Television programs play a big role in portraying this population negatively. Non-Hispanic white Americans who lack contact with this population heavily rely on films to conclude (Pasco 646).
Mexican Americans are regarded as misfits incapable of offering something (Yuknavitch); furthermore, they are stereotyped as casual laborers, predominantly maids for women and men’s gardeners for men. In the films, characters of Latin American origin are likely to perform these parts, and the Non-Hispanic are given good roles (Seaton et al. 765). There is a division in how people view these stereotypical beliefs; some view them as true, and some are against them as they have personally encountered the population.
Despite their clear experiences of racial discrimination against Mexican Americans and Latinos in general, some believe the accusations are false. They view the minority group as one that contains individuals who harm society. In their defense, they will state names like Pablo Escobar and El Chapo, some of the most dangerous criminals and drug lords from Mexico and Colombia. Mexico is also known for its gang violence involving rivals who dominate the drug business. The Sicarios, also known as Narco Assasins, are used to commit murder and eliminate competitors (Seaton et al. 779). Sicarios are known to be Mexicans; with that in mind, all other Latinos’ views are generalized. Some Americans view Mexicans as people with problems and bad backgrounds. In his speech in 2015, Trump stated that Mexico sends worse people who are drug dealers and criminals to America (Pasco 638). Some local Americans have similar thoughts, further escalating Latino stereotyping. The individuals saying the stereotyping is not there often claim that the allegations are valid. In their argument, it is true that most illegal immigrants are Latinos and often come from Mexico.
A person’s decisions do not justify the doings of all others of similar ethnicity. Even though Mexico is known for its criminal way of life, full of drug trafficking and gang violence, it does not mean all Mexicans are active participants. One’s actions cannot determine the true nature of every other person just because they share the same ethnicity. Stereotyping all Mexican Americans because of the deeds of a few individuals is wrong and should not be tolerated (Zeiders et al., 2018). Every human is a rational being who can make decisions on their own. Not everyone is a saint, as everyone has the potential to make mistakes or commit unlawful acts (Yuknavitch). The thought that only Latinos commit criminal activities is false, as many Whites have been arrested for similar acts. The deeds of individuals like Pablo Escobar and El Chapo do not justify the actions of all Mexicans. Instead of stereotyping, ways should be identified on how racial disparities can be eradicated. Some engage in crime life as they are stereotyped to the extent they cannot get jobs.
Conclusion
Mexican Americans are stereotyped as uneducated, criminals, illegal, and inferior. They get profiled by the police as they are viewed as a threat to society. Regarding education, they are considered non-intelligent and unable to pursue a career. Educational institutions and teachers tend to seclude them from the rest as they offer unequal treatment. The educators and the administration attend to the whites, but the minority are treated differently. Young males of Latin American origin are criminalized, viewed as drug traffickers, and associated with gangs. The majority are occasionally stopped and profiled by the police, who see them as a threat to the nation’s security. The minority group also faces discriminative remarks from the Whites, who picture them as immigrants who are illegally in the country even if they were born there. They are perceived as inferior; in Hollywood films, they are given characters such as maids that portray inferiority. Despite people arguing that the harmful deeds truly characterize them, it is better to note that one evil individual does not mean the whole population has the same qualities.
Works Cited
Lopez, Adriana. “Being You to Be Latina.” Belatina, 2020. Web.
Pasco, Michelle C. et al. “A Retrospective Analysis of Racial Discrimination Experiences for Latinx Adolescents and Young Adults.” Journal of Research on Adolescence, vol 32, no. 2, 2022, pp. 636-647. Wiley. Web.
Rengifo, Andres F., and Morgan Pater. “Close Call: Race and Gender in Encounters with the Police by Black and Latino/A Youth in New York City.” Sociological Inquiry, vol 87, no. 2, 2017, pp. 337-361. Web.
Seaton, Eleanor K. et al. “New Directions for Racial Discrimination Research as Inspired by the Integrative Model.”. American Psychologist, vol 73, no. 6, 2018, pp. 768-780. American Psychological Association (APA). Web.
“The Beauty of Being a Misfit.” YouTube, uploaded by Yuknavitch Lidia. Web.
Zeiders, Katharine H. et al. “Latina/O Youths’ Discrimination Experiences in the U.S. Southwest: Estimates from Three Studies.” Applied Developmental Science, vol 25, no. 1, 2018, pp. 51-61. Informa UK Limited. Web.