Some would argue that Latinos are recognized as aliens to a land that was founded before the Americans when in reality, we’re all on stolen land. Wandering on land that millions before us shed blood for. Looking back to the countless times we’d have to sing “This Land Is Your Land” by Wood Guthrie while the indigenous people to the Americas are either extinct or on a reservation. Blood has been spilled in the honor of Native Americans, Afro-Americans, and Latino Americans.
The growth rate of the Latino population is taking over. Los Angeles was founded in 1781 by a group consisting of Afro-Latinos and Spaniards. Till this day, Los Angeles has a population of more than 5.5 million Latinos, making California the largest state with a Latino population of 15 million. Today, Latinos are seen as a “growing force to be reckoned with,” (CNN) as we are.
Growing up Latino, you learn a couple things. One of the most important was to take anything they threw at you and make it beautiful. I never understood who “they” was, until I was told that Latinos weren’t ever looked down upon. I was told that Latinos weren’t actually mistreated by the American Government but bottle fed. Looking at this person I was completely shocked. How could someone actually say we were bottle fed?
All I pictured were the years when immigrants were the primary labor source for irrigated farms of the western United States. The small town of Lawrence, MA that was a mill town before it was recognized as an immigrant town. Which happened due to the fact that immigrants found work quickly in mill towns. Once word spread, the community started to see a great population increase.
By 1902, the Reclamation Act was passed, dispossessing many Hispanic Americans of their lands. This started a series of events beginning with enforcing a literacy requirement on all immigrants by 1917 (PBS). Shortly after the United States declared war against Germany, following into WWI (PBS). By 1932, there was a decrease in the Latino community due to the United States government deporting between 300,000-500,000 Mexican Americans. In the late 1920s, Border Patrol was created by Congress to control the population of immigrants coming to the United States.
Shortly after WWII, the United States government suffered a labor shortage. In 1943, the U.S. government launched an agreement with Mexico to import temporary workers, to fill void in agricultural work (PBS). There was a significant increase in the Latino population again in the 1940’s. Many of these Latinos enlisted in to the U.S. military. This was the largest ethnic group in history to serve in war. As a result, the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 was passed. This act provided settlements for veterans, which Mexican American veterans had troubled receiving.
It only took about 20 years after the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act was passed that Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The act established Affirmative Action programs, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender, creed, race, or ethnic background. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was also established through Tittle VII to prevent job discrimination (PBS).
Throughout a course of decades, you see that the United States has been on the rocks with the Latino community. We’re not a bottle fed community, we’re in fact the complete opposite. We stand our ground and work hard for all we have. As I was once told as a child, “whatever they throw at you, make it beautiful.” Today, we’re looked at with confusion as if we are the minorities. In reality, the minority is them.
