When regarding someone’s identity – race is one of
the main factors that is considered. What color are they? Where are they from?
What language do they speak? In America, which claims to be the most diverse
countries, people are continuously classified into different groups depending on
what their race is. Race may be determined by where a person is from, what they
look like, what neighborhood they live in, what culture they portray and take
part in, and many other factors. A common example of categorizing a group of
people together is with Latinos. In most cases, anyone who looks Latino is
considered Mexican by an on-looker. This is an extreme misconception of race
due to the fact that Latinos come from many different places besides
Mexico. Many people, including those in
the U.S. government, choose to be oblivious to the fact that America is consumed
with many different races and ethnicities that deserve to be exposed properly
rather than merged into an over-generalized group.
From
personal experience, people have automatically assumed certain aspects about my
life due to what they assume my ethnic background to be. Without even asking
about where I am from, or what my nationality is, people automatically assume
that I am either Mexican or Puerto Rican. This ties into the idea of racial
profiling based on factors that are similar in many Latinos. This being hair
color, hair type, color of skin, or language that they speak, etc. This notion
of racial profiling demonstrated in an article published through CNN on
November 3, 2011 a man named Nick Valencia experienced discrimination due to
his appearance. While standing in a music festival, a Caucasian woman yelled, to
Valencia and the group he was with, “Why
don't you go back home to Mexico before you ruin this country like you ruined
your own!" (Valenica). This
statement was made due to the fact that this lady assumed they were from Mexico
only because they looked a certain way, and she overheard them speaking Spanish.
This relates back to my previous statement where I mentioned how most Latinos
are assumed to be from Mexico even if that is not the case. This shows how most cultures are forced into
being segregated into groups.
This is where the Census Bureau becomes important. The
Census Bureau is used to identify the races in American population. An example
of how this is portrayed in society is through standardized tests. Citizens are
asked to check a box which fits them the best, most of the time the choices
being, White/Caucasian, Black – African American, American Indian, or Other.
According to a New York Times article, more than 18 million Latinos check the “Other”
box. This shows how most of the time Latinos are not properly included in the
government’s description of identity. Why is it that Latinos are excluded when
it comes to being properly identified, but at the same time, it is so easy for
others to easily generalize Latinos into one group – which is Mexican.
I believe that it is important as a country to begin to
accept rather than discriminate. Race should no longer be considered to be such
an issue in society. If America was able to begin to educate more people, the
ignorance that other’s experience would slowly begin to be replaced with the
proper information. America would then be able to unite it’s people rather than
having people separated due to something as unimportant as race.
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