Hispanic Americans: Historical Background, Experiences of Discrimination, and Challenges

This article discusses the historical background of Hispanic Americans, their experiences of discrimination, and the challenges they face. It also provides data on participation rates, employment levels, and income levels of Hispanics and Blacks.

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Historical background Hispanic Americans- The American history includes the growth of
the British colonies in the northern American and the year of 1776 by which land got its
independence. This further led to the development of the America from east to the west. From
the 16th century onward, there was a significant amount of colonization by Spain in the southwest
portion of America. The southwestern region which included the Texas to the California were
inhabited by the Spanish speaking people and the region had a distinctive customs, culture and
heritage for several decades (Wu, 2014). The Hispanics included the Afro descendants,
indigenous people and the mestizos and they used to inhabit the area known as Mexico. These
people explored the Northern portion of America long before the British founded the Jamestown.
Thus, it is an important event because the Hispanics are not foreigners to America. Secondly, a
group of mestizos, indigenous people, afro-Latinos and a group of Spaniards set out from the
colonial era Mexico to the California and later on they founded the city called Los Angeles. This
is an important event because the in 2014, Los Angeles became the city which has the largest
number of Hispanic population and the number is a 5 million (HuffPost India, 2019).
Experiences of discrimination- a research conducted by the Pew Research Center Survey
has revealed that about of the Hispanic population in United States said that they have
experienced discrimination or they have been treated badly due to their ethnicity or race. The
Hispanics that have born on United States are more likely to face unfair treatment or
discrimination in comparison to the ones that are immigrants. The black Hispanic have
experienced larger discrimination in comparison to the white Hispanics (Krogstad & López,
2019). About 4 in 10 Hispanics have described that they have experienced discrimination for
speaking in Spanish and even been told to go back to their country. These experiences are the

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highest in the instances where the person has mentioned that he or she is a Hispanic
(pewhispanic.org, 2019).
The table below shows a comparison between the Hispanics and Blacks on the basis of
participation rates, employment levels, and income levels (pewhispanic.org, 2019)
parameters Hispanics Blacks
participation rates 20.1 percent 4.2 percent
employment levels 67 percent 62 percent
income levels 24,000 US dollar 25,000 US dollar
Challenges- the high school graduation by the Hispanics have increased to 78 percent
(2013) in comparison to the 67 percent for the year 2004. Even if there are improvements in the
graduation, the other issues in education are not encouraging. The number of the 8th graders is
still less than the whites. The health programs in United States have effectively reduced the
health insurance by half. However, the insurance coverage for the unemployed youths that
belong from the black and white Hispanic community is just 56 percent of the entire population.
The Hispanic incarceration has dropped considerably but the rate is too high when compared
with the white population (unidosus.org, 2019).

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Reference
HuffPost India. (2019). 18 Moments In Hispanic History That Every American Should Know.
Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/18-major-moments-hispanic-
history_us_55f70275e4b042295e370d3c?ec_carp=2319077930982753277
Krogstad, J., & López, G. (2019). Roughly half of Hispanics have experienced discrimination.
Retrieved from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/06/29/roughly-half-of-
hispanics-have-experienced-discrimination/
pewhispanic.org. (2019). Facts on Latinos in America: Current Data. Retrieved from
http://www.pewhispanic.org/2017/09/18/facts-on-u-s-latinos-current-data/
pewhispanic.org. (2019). Latinos' experiences with discrimination. Retrieved from
http://www.pewhispanic.org/2018/10/25/latinos-and-discrimination/
unidosus.org. (2019). OUR RESEARCH. Retrieved from
https://www.unidosus.org/research/articles/latino-kids-data-explorer-092916
Wu, Y. (2014). Race/ethnicity and perceptions of the police: A comparison of White, Black,
Asian and Hispanic Americans. Policing and society, 24(2), 135-157.