Hispanic Diversity in the United States

Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Dominican immigrants, along with their American born descendants, occupy a unique place in the story of U.S. immigration. They are known by different names, come from widely divergent origins, and took many different paths in their journey to assimilation into the United States. This paper will examine the different linguistic, political, social, economic, religious, and familial conventions and statuses of the four Hispanic groups. The author’s goal is to identify the differences and similarities between the groups.

Close to 27 million Americans list there ancestry as Mexican as of 2006, which is by far the largest Hispanic group in America (PEW Hispanic Center, 2007). Mexican immigration dates back many generations, and this shared history and culture between the two countries has spawned some interesting traits specific to Mexican Americans. Though Spanish is the official language of Mexico, many Mexican Americans speak both English and Spanish in their households. This intermingling of the two languages has bred a new form of Spanish called Spanglish, which is a combination of Spanish and English (MSN Encarta, 2007).

During the 1960’s the efforts of political activists such as Cesar Chaves, “Corky” Gonzalez, and Dolores Huerta mobilized a broad based civil rights campaign that mirrored the actions of African American civil rights movements occurring at the time. This Mexican American campaign became known as the Chicano Movement, and was the birth of the immigrant group’s political consciousness. This movement used civil disobedience much in the way Martin Luther King Jr. was using it in the South. These tactics were ultimately unsuccessful in achieving their radical goals, but they did succeed in raising self-awareness within their community. They have since begun to use their political power to influence legislation in the United States (MSN Encarta, 2007).

Today, despite this political awareness, Mexican Americans socioeconomic status hasn’t much improved. Many Mexican Americans are living in poverty, and a large number do not graduate from high school (MSN Encarta, 2007). The biggest social issue facing Mexican Americans is illegal immigration. Though these immigrants provide low cost labor, they put a strain on our social services and take jobs from other Americans, including legal Mexican immigrants. This tension has lead to stereotypes and discrimination towards all Mexican immigrants, regardless of their legal status.

From a religious standpoint, most Mexican Americans are members of the Roman Catholic Church, but there a few others present, most significantly Sephardic Jews (MSN Encarta, 2007). This religious background meant there was traditionally a male-dominated household, but in more recent times the economic outlook of Mexican Americans have forced more and more families to depend on both the mother and father earning income, often leaving older children behind to look after the family (PEW Hispanic Center, 2007).

The next largest Hispanic group in America is Puerto Ricans, with approximately 4 million living stateside. Of those living stateside, 81.5 percent speak Spanish at home (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006). Stateside Puerto Ricans also have the highest percentage of “linguistically isolated”, or poor English speaking, households. This may attribute to their low voter turnout, which in turn weakens their political power among other Hispanic groups. Puerto Ricans also view the U.S. system of voting to be unfair to low-income people, further compounding the issue (PEW Hispanic Center, 2007).

Studies by the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration have found a strong dual-identity among Stateside Puerto Ricans. In their survey sixty-eight percent say that their children’s friends are mostly Hispanic or Puerto Rican, and fifty-four percent say they have strong ties with family back in Puerto Rico. This is attributed to the large circular migration between the main island and the United States, as well as the prejudices and discrimination they face. A by-product of these factors is the low income generally associated with Puerto Ricans. However, since the beginning of the 21st century, the economic progress of this group has been gaining clout with higher graduation rates and salaries than the previous generation (PEW Hispanic Center, 2007).

Like Mexican Americans, a large number of Puerto Rican immigrants are practicing Roman Catholics, though other religions, such as Santeria (an spiritualist African religion), Judaism, and Islam are present (PEW Hispanic Center, 2007). Despite these religious backgrounds, a staggering number of Puerto Ricans come from single-parent households. 42.8 percent of Puerto Rican children under the age of eighteen live with only their mother. Without the father’s presence this same group suffers a 67.7 percent rate of poverty (Landale & Lichter, 1995).

The next group, Cuban Americans, has 1,520,276 people in America, and is the third largest Hispanic immigrant group (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006). Like other Hispanic groups, Cuban Americans speak Spanish and American English. The high rate of Cuban Americans proficient in English, along with the perception of being “white” or “Fair skinned” has helped with their mass assimilation into mainstream America far more than other Hispanic groups by avoiding most prejudices and stereotypes associated with other groups (PEW Hispanic Center, 2007).

Though large concentrations of Cuban Americans exist in south Florida, since the 1980’s many have moved elsewhere in the nation and have been successful at establishing business and developing political clout. The average income for Cuban Americans is much higher than other Hispanic groups, and amazingly, native born Cuban Americans have a higher median income than even non-Hispanic whites. Cubans tend to be more conservative than other Latinos, and have formed a fairly large voting block for the Republican Party, especially in Florida. Most scholars attribute this to the strong anti-communist stance of the party.

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