Approximately 38% of Latinos/Hispanics have noted experiencing some level of harassment, discrimination, or public criticism for their ethnicity (Lopez et al., 2018). Part of the reason why Hispanics face racism and discrimination stems from history. Since the origins of the U.S. as a country, it had several conflicts with Spain, Spain-controlled colonies in Florida and the Caribbean, and Mexico. After the U.S.-Mexico war, Mexican Americans were incorporated as U.S. citizens as a result of an international treaty. However, they experienced what is known as ascriptive citizenship, where large sectors of the Hispanic community were lagging behind socially and economically due to lacking rights and facing structural inequalities. Racial hybridity was a concept strongly misunderstood historically and created a racist-based feat of miscegenation, which in turn led to discriminatory practices (King, 2020). Modern racial sentiments against Latinos are based largely on politics. There has been a rise in harassment and racially-motivated attacks against Hispanics under the premise of immigrant ‘invasion’ of the U.S. Anti-immigrant conservative politics practiced by the Republican party, and previous President Trump has encouraged some individuals or groups to go to the extreme in their political pursuit of racism and xenophobia (Gamboa, 2020).
Racism, at its core, is a manifestation of white supremacy. White supremacy believes that there is a natural superiority of lighter-skinned or white races over other racial groups, so Hispanics, who are darker colored, are faced with racism and sometimes violence. White supremacy believes in systemic racism, which segregates and allows the white race to dominate. Despite segregation being illegal, the influence of white supremacy in certain regions is leading to discrimination against Hispanics on a systemic level. Furthermore, white supremacists of modern times believe that the white race is in danger of extinction due to the rise of non-white populations. That is causing the politically-based pursuit of anti-immigrant policies and racial discrimination.
References
King, M.B. (2020). Hispanics progress against racism but have long way to go. Web.
Lopez, M.H., Gonzalez-Barrera, A., & Krogstad, J.M. (2018). Latinos and discrimination. Pew Research Center. Web.
Gamboa, S. (2020). Rise in reports of hate crimes against Latinos pushes overall number to 11-year high. NBC News. Web.