Racial Discrimination and Hispanics in the United States
The term Hispanic was initiated by the federal government of 1970, to refer to people who were born or originated from Spanish territories. They had different pigments with the whites and therefore could not be generalized to be Negros or Hispanics. They represent a wide variety of countries and ethnic groups of different political, social and emotional experiences. The reason why the Hispanics are segregated in the modern day America is because most of them see themselves as Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans and Cubans. Most whites have taken advantage of their identity to discriminate them and to treat them as unequal members of the society this has been portrayed in many different forms and places in the modern day America. However, discrimination originated long ago and the current victims of the vice are just but emulating the old generation. (Tomlinson, 2008).
Population of the Hispanics
There has been a tremendous increase in population among the Hispanics in the modern day America. According Tomlinson (2008), the available data of the census carried out in the year 2000 on the total number of Hispanic, shows that the population has increased by 12 from 4 in 1917. Despite their increase in population, they still face a lot of racial discrimination especially in education, economic and in employment in the modern day America.
Origin of Racial discrimination in the education
According to Tomlinson (2008), racial discrimination in the education system has been in existence since the introduction of education in the US. The early education system offered education to the slaves who were Hispanics but today, Hispanics are facing a lot of racial discrimination. They were educated by the missionaries to convert them to Christianity. The missionaries established several schools for the Hispanics.
According to Tomlinson (2008) there was a lot of discrimination in selection of students and most Hispanics never attended the same schools with the whites. Many whites were opposed to the education of the Hispanics because they wanted to use them as slaves this was the reason why the Puerto Ricans were denied citizenship since the whites were not willing to interact with them as they were taken to be bad omen in the society and were regarded as slaves (Smitherman, 2000). There was a low level of registration among the Hispanics in the education systems.
According to Smitherman (2000) by the year 1950s, the education system still divided the Hispanics and the whites. Hispanics and the whites were segregated and could not use the same academic institution. Smitherman (2000) argued that the reason why there was a feeling of hatred between the two groups was because the Supreme Court of the US advocated for the segregation of whites and the Hispanics. As a result of segregation, the Hispanics were offered inferior education as compared to the whites and most of them according to Fossett (1997) never performed well as compared to the whites. This was because the government reduced the funding for Hispanic public schools and heavily funded the white schools (Fossett, 1997). Fossett (1997) further argued that, teachers working in the public schools where most Hispanics were learning were paid less than those working in urban areas where most whites were learning. Facilities in white schools were better and adequate as compared to those of the black schools.
The Supreme Court declined racial discrimination in the public schools and removed all the discriminative Acts in the constitution of the country. There was large scale resistance by many whites upon this ruling and some schools continued to practice the segregation of the Hispanics. The federal courts had made tremendous efforts by 1980. Most of the schools had adopted a fairer system
According to Tomlinson (2008), most of the Americans and financially stable African Americans migrated to the rural areas. The poor Hispanics were left in the central places of the city. The migration separated most of the Hispanics and the whites. In the 1960s, most activists led by Martin Luther King Jr, increased the campaign against racial discrimination. The students encountered fierce opposition from the school administration. Some were suspended from school while others were jailed. Most African American students joined the campaigns to stop the increasing gap between the whites and the Hispanics. The students formed organizations within the schools to fight for equality (Smitherman, 2000). Students increased their involvement in the national politics to fight for equality. Demonstrations were held and they also used nonviolent means of achieving justice.
After the federal government gave into the fight against discrimination, most schools were not ready to accept the ruling. However, the education system slowly adopted the new rules. Up to date, some traces of racial discrimination can be seen in the education systems. They are more likely to be placed in remedial classes. Berkowitz (1998) argued that Hispanics have a low probability of being placed in accelerated classes or securing better grades especially if the teacher was a white, he further argued that most Hispanics were discouraged by the performance and dropped out of schools prematurely hence could not compete favorably in the job market with the white graduates.
Institutional Discrimination in Academics
Academic institutions are proud of being associated with the whites and they admit more whites than Hispanics. For example, Sonoma State University in California (SSU) received the status of being the whitest and having the richest student population. This indicates that the Hispanics are still segregated in the admission into institutions of higher education. The university offers its products at a higher price such that the low income earning Hispanics cannot access the resources (Berkowitz, 1998).
However by the year 1994, discrimination was still evident since the school had more than three quarters of the whites students and the Hispanics were the minority groups in the learning institutions (Smitherman, 2000). Smitherman (2000) further argued that the school had the policy of targeting the rich white students from high school and most of the workers in the school were whites. Moreover, Hispanics were not allowed to work in the senior management of the schools. According to Berkowitz (1998), Berkeley High School has a history of increasing discrimination despite the efforts to eradicate the vice by the legal systems in the country. The admission is biased and gives more opportunities to the whites than to the Hispanics. Most of the employees are whites.
Discrimination in Hiring
Affirmative action programs, reverse discrimination, and criteria of comparable worth are appropriate forms of remedy to discrimination in hiring Hispanics and minorities. Discrimination violates the provisions in the Title VI of the Civil rights Act. The Act prohibits any form of discrimination to employees either according to their sex, color, race, and national background. Many organizations have adhered to these affirmative actions since a lot of campaign has been done to ensure equal employment opportunities to all people (Smitherman, 2000).
According to Smitherman (2000), the laws that were set to prevent discrimination against any group of people in employment have been amended continuously to accommodate the changing workplace environment. Employees, employers, trade unions and all other stakeholders in the job market have embraced these laws and success has been achieved in their implementation.
The Hispanics have a higher probability of being unemployed. This has created a huge gap between the income levels between the Hispanics and the whites. According to Fossett (1997), social classes exist in the economy because the Hispanics have been denied access to academic institutions to increase their skills and secure better jobs. All the systems of the economy discriminate against the Hispanics and they are given lower positions in the government as compared to the whites. The campaign by president Obama, has achieved a lot and the difference between the Hispanics and the whites is continuously shrinking. Despite the great effort placed upon the systems of the government to reduce discrimination, there remain some aspects of racial differences which have created a lot of concern in the modern America (Fossett, 1997).
Authority abuses in workplaces are common in America and have affected most Hispanics than most people may think. Abuse of power in the work place refers to any act that interferes with or undermines an employees capability performing task and it includes all forms of harassment, coercion, threats and discrimination amongst other things. Authority abuse in workplaces occurs when an individuals uses the powers bestowed on him improperly to intimidate, threaten or harass the employees. However, due to economic status of the Hispanics as well as fear of victimization, employees are always afraid of reporting cases of authority abuse even when it directly affects them. This has resulted in most cases of abuse passing on unreported as employees continue to suffer silently in their workplaces (Smitherman, 2000).
Racial injustice
As a result of discrimination in social sectors such as interaction, sports and labor, most Hispanics migrated to other regions since they could not compete favorably in the job market. According Smitherman (2000), discrimination has led to inequality and increased the chances of hatred hence can result to conflict.
Racial discrimination has resulted to numerous social injustices in most sectors and organization in America. This is as a result of the Super Ego of the whites, who believes that color determines knowledge, position, possession and power. Most of the Hispanics rights are therefore being violated by the Whites in silence due to fear and their social classificationstratification in the society (Fossett, 1997).
Conclusion
It is therefore true to say that Hispanics has faced a lot of problems in numerous sectors such as education, economic and in social sectors hence their rights and freedom are violated by the whites who think they are not equal to them due to color difference. All human beings were created equal and should be treated equally and with respect. The fundamental rights of a person should be respected by all people. Employees should be allowed to participate in making decisions that concern the policies of the organization. People should be given equal opportunities in the organization. All human beings should be treated equally and none should be discriminated against. Policies on economic, education and recruitment should accommodate the interests of all groups. Hispanics are equal and have fundamental rights which should be protected. The minority groups within the society should be considered when making decisions that affect them.
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