Introduction
Racism is a prejudice that targets people from a particular racial or ethnic group because of their origin. For instance, Hispanics in the U.S. may experience discrimination because of their race which is a form of prejudice. However, the level of discrimination may vary depending on skin tone, those with darker skin tones experiencing more incidents which is a form of colorism. (Beal Krause, 2021). Race is the division of people into groups typically regarded as distinct within a given society based on shared physical or social characteristics. On the hand, ethnicity is the reality or condition of belonging to a gathering with a typical public or social custom (Menchaca, 2022). Native Americans also have experienced discrimination when accessing health services. This essay theoretically compares Native and Latin Americans’ struggle against instructive isolation, access to healthcare, and lodging agreements as they attempt to assert their legal citizenship rights, as seen in exhibits one and four. Race and ethnicity provide potent symbols as sources of identity, however, as proposed by some interactionist, the symbols of race, not race itself, are what lead to racism.
Aspects of Latin Americans Experience a Representation
Racism against Latin Americans
Hispanic in the United States experience a high level of discrimination, mainly due to the color of their skin, which impacts their public behavior and valuable opportunities for them in the general public. Recent research confirms that Hispanics with darker skin tones are more likely to have experienced segregation than those with lighter skin tones. While 54% of Hispanics with lighter skin types and almost (64%) those with darker skin types claim to have at least occasionally experienced one of the eight separation episodes, respectively, during the year prior to the review(Uzogora,2019). For example, Mexican Americans in Texas have fought against political abuse and prohibition in the courts, the classroom, the voting booth, and elsewhere.
When Latino people bring up Hispanic racial issues, the public does not consider them and pay attention to their issues. The decision favoring the Latinos also heavily depended on their financial situation and long-awaited admission to the democratic stations. Being a potential candidate for a position in the local government during the 1970s required enormous money and mission spending that the Mexican American competitors could not handle. They, therefore, pushed for a “Chicano” identity through friendly approval due to the separation and neediness.
Race and Ethnicity Experiences on Latin Americans
Generally, the concept of race has evolved throughout history and has, over time, become more concerned with superficial physical characteristics than with ancestry and family ties. Historically, historians have categorized races based on geographic regions, nationalities, and skin tones, and that is just the beginning of racial categories (Domínguez, 2018). Racial and ethnic division is standard in Latin America, where wealth is typically associated with apparent whiteness. In contrast, native status and seeing an African family are typically associated with poverty, lack of opportunity, and economic well-being. Race development in Latin America differs significantly from the model studied in the U.S., perhaps because race blending has been a common practice since early colonial times.
Racial Categories in Latin America
Brightening
Brightening, also known as blanqueamiento, is a social, political, and financial technique used to “improve the race” (mejorar la Raza) toward whiteness. The phrase “blanqueamiento” has a long history in Latin America and is always used in conjunction with racial integration in cases where the terms “brightening” and “natural sense” can be used interchangeably (Findling et al., 2019). The most popular brightening method is blanqueamiento, which involves marrying a lighter-cleaned individual to produce lighter-cleaned posterity.
Mestizaje
“Mestizaje” depicts the practice of planned racial blending to limit the proportion of the population that is not white. This practice was possible because, in these countries, one is referred to as white even if one lacks many phenotypically white characteristics. As the “hereditary structure of people” but rather all things considered “in light of a blend of social and substantial considerations,” in contrast to the U.S., where lineage is used to characterize race (Miller, 2019). In Latin America, a person’s family history rarely relates to racial categorization. For instance, full-blooded kin frequently exhibits different racial characteristics (Harris, 1964).
Indigenous Groups
Native personality was created by the predominately Euro-Mestizo majority and imposed upon the native people as a negatively characterized personality, as indicated by the lack of osmosis in modern-day Mexico. Efforts aimed at “helping” native groups make as much progress as the rest of society, eventually assimilating native groups into Mestizo Mexican culture and pursuing the goal of ultimately resolving the “Indian issue” by converting native networks into mestizo networks.
Exhibit One: Aspects of Native American Experiences and Representation
Since Europeans first arrived in North America over 500 years ago, local Americans have experienced worse health outcomes than whites. Hundreds of years of massive injury, massacre, restricted movement, isolation, and separation have all played a role in native Americans-white well-being disparities and chronic weakness outcomes for all ages of Local Americans. However, due to research issues, Native Americans’ most recent experiences of segregation and harassment remain understudied in health administration research. To build evidence for appropriate strategies and projects that address these issues and further develop related well-being outcomes (Silva & Saldivar, 2018). It is critical to examine and record current encounters of discrimination against Local Americans across a wide range of living spaces. Native Americans also experienced high mortality rates, poverty, low-quality health care, depression, drug abuse, and sexual violence.
The social development of race is also reflected in how names for racial classifications change over time. Important race, in this sense, is also a naming process that provides a wellspring of personality; explicit marks become desirable and undesirable at various social times. Still, the word choice is unfortunate: it lumps together a wide range of ethnic groups under one umbrella term while excluding others who could precisely be depicted by the name but do not meet the soul of the term.
Theoretical Analysis of Latin American and Native Americans Experiences and Representation
Since the 1960s, dependency theory has attempted to comprehend the characteristics of race advancement in Latin America while considering Asia and Africa. The dependency addresses a different financial and social reality in Latin America, Asia, and Africa than developed countries. The Spanish first advanced into Mexican territory during the war between 1565 and 1880. Following the war’s conclusion, the Americans assume complete command of the Mexican region to reap the benefits of industrialization (Kvangraven, 2021). The Americans relied on the Mexican population to win the war, forcing them to relocate from their foreign land.
Dependency is examined by Cardoso and Faletto using a verifiable structuralism approach, which assumes that political and financial cycles will be independent of one another. Reliance and improvement, viewed as states or levels of separation from a sound system, coexist with independence and underdevelopment. Latin America is a food and raw materials producer for developed countries despite being a marginal region in the global economic system. The framework must allow Latin American countries to achieve their goals in advancing their current events. Disparities between nations are complemented by inconsistent trade between developed and frontier nations.
During the sixteenth century, the American government assigned the traditional label “Indian” to the local people groups in the region and organized its subjects along racial divisions. The Indians could not be reduced to slavery and profit from the security of the American government because they were seen as free, prudent, and defenseless to change. They provided individual assistance as constrained work in exchange for this security and the use of regal terrains. They resided in preserved towns, were represented by several distinct organizations known as cabildos de Indios, and were deemed minors from a legal and strict perspective.
Functionalism Theory
When discussing racism from a functionalist perspective, it is important to note how it can strengthen social ties between members of the in-bunch while excluding members of the out-bunch. On the other hand, Rose (1951) suggested that dysfunctions associated with bigotry include the inability to utilize the talent of the enslaved group and that society should redirect the time and effort required to maintain falsely constructed racial limits from other purposes.
Culture of Prejudice Theory
People grow up surrounded by images of generalizations and relaxed expressions of race and bias. Consider the casually racist symbolism on supermarket shelves or the generalizations that fill famous motion pictures and notices. It is easy to see that people living in the Northeastern United States, who may or may not know any Mexican Americans, could get a generalized impression from Quick Gonzalez or Taco Chime’s talking Chihuahua (Lefringhausen et al., 2021). Because we are unavoidably exposed to these images and thoughts, it is not easy to know how much they have influenced our perspectives.
Conclusion
Race and ethnicity provide potent symbols as sources of identity. Thus, some interactionists propose that the symbols of race, not race itself, are what lead to racism. However, from the two exhibits discussed, it is clear that racial prejudice is formed through interactions between members of the dominant group: Without these interactions, individuals in the dominant group would not hold racist views against each other. Both exhibits one and four show the representation and experience the native, and Latin Americans experience in society due to racial and ethnic vies.
Race is the division of people into groups which is typically regarded as distinct within a given society based on shared physical or social characteristics, ethnicity is the reality or condition of belonging to a gathering with a typical public or social custom (De Castro, 2022). Thus, some interactionists propose that the symbols of race, not race itself, are what lead to racism. The social development of race is also reflected in how names for racial classifications change over time. Instead, these interactions contribute to an abstract picture of the subordinate group that allows the dominant group to support its view of the subordinate group and thus maintains the status quo.
References
Beal Krause, A. L. (2021). The aged population and social spending in Latin America: Comparing the demographic functionalist theories and political pressure arguments. Politics & Policy, 49(5), 1061-1091.
De Castro, J. E. (2022). Mario Vargas Llosa: Public intellectual in neoliberal Latin America. University of Arizona Press.
Domínguez, J. I. (2018). Race and ethnicity in Latin America. Routledge.
Findling, M. G., Casey, L. S., Fryberg, S. A., Hafner, S., Blendon, R. J., Benson, J. M., Sayde, J. M., & Miller, C. (2019). Discrimination in the United States: Experiences of Native Americans. Health Services Research, p. 54, 1431–1441.
Kvangraven, I. H. (2021). Beyond the stereotype: Restating the relevance of the dependency research program. Development and Change, 52(1), 76-112.
Lefringhausen, K., Moftizadeh, N., Zagefka, H., Bilgen, E., & Barn, R. (2022). Testing the theory of cultural inertia: How majority members’ perceptions of culture change relate to prejudice. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 91, 229-241.
Silva, G. M., & Saldivar, E. (2018). Comparing ideologies of racial mixing in Latin America: Brazil and Mexico. Sociologia & Antropologia, 8, 427-456.