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Aztec dancer at Mexico City performance.
DAVID LEONHARDT, with the New York Times recently wrote an op-ed – Hispanics, the New Italians with regard to “new arrivals.”
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Ranking by Population — Pew
Indeed some Hispanic and Latinos are the new Italians, but the majority of those “Hispanics / Latinos” who are of Mexican descent are not the “New Italians” because those of Mexican descent are indigenous. Mexicans should not be considered “new arrivals.” Many people from the Anglo / Caucasian community forget Mexicans are indigenous to the United States pre-Guadalupe Treaty and it is high time we educate and remind them with regard to how we feel about painting with broad strokes. The Mexica didn’t travel by Mayflower boat to achieve the shores of this continent — nay, they were already here before borders were established and Manifest Destiny. *On a side note: The corrupt Sheriff Joe Arpaio is of Italian descent, and more than likely his ancestry came to our shores via boat.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is a historical source of verification that those of Mexican descent had to recede when The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed by the United States and Mexico on February 2, 1848, ending the Mexican War and extending the boundaries of the United States by over 525,000 square miles. In addition to establishing the Rio Grande as the border between the two countries, the territory acquired by the U.S. included what will become the states of Texas, California, Nevada, Utah, most of New Mexico and Arizona, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. In exchange Mexico received fifteen million dollars in compensation for the territory and the U.S. agreed to assume claims from private citizens of these areas against the Mexican government.
Many Americans forget how our President Abraham Lincoln believed the Mexican-American war to be ‘illegal.’ As a Congressional freshman, Lincoln
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Abraham Lincoln rebuked President Polk for the Mexican War.
got on the floor of the House on January 12, 1848, when he defended the vote of his party given a few days previous “declaring that the war with Mexico was unnecessarily and unconstitutionally commenced by the President.”
It is no secret that Mexican-Americans make up almost 70% of the Latino population pie, but our culture is different than the Honduran, the Cuban, the Dominican Republic and so forth. In fact, the only thing that we really have in common is the Spanish language. In addition, many of the legal terms Americans use are in Latin, too.
Indeed a majority of “us” or the Hispanic / Latino people who are lumped into one big pile will often identify ourselves from our country of origin.
The Pew Hispanic Research states:
When Labels Don’t Fit: Hispanics and Their Views of Identity
by Paul Taylor, Mark Hugo Lopez, Jessica Hamar Martínez and Gabriel Velasco
Nearly four decades after the United States government mandated the use of the terms “Hispanic” or “Latino” to categorize Americans who trace their roots to Spanish-speaking countries, a new nationwide survey of Hispanic adults finds that these terms still haven’t been fully embraced by Hispanics themselves. A majority (51%) say they most often identify themselves by their family’s country of origin; just 24% say they prefer a pan-ethnic label.
Moreover, by a ratio of more than two-to-one (69% versus 29%), survey respondents say that the more than 50 million Latinos in the U.S. have many different cultures rather than a common culture. Respondents do, however, express a strong, shared connection to the Spanish language. More than eight-in-ten (82%) Latino adults say they speak Spanish, and nearly all (95%) say it is important for future generations to continue to do so. FULL STORY>>>
Indeed, I hope the New York Times, the Associated Press, the UK Guardian, the Huffington Post will not lump “Hispanics” into one big pile. We are different, and as a Mexican-American — I do know our American history and rose my right hand to defend this great Nation, however, I also know that those of Mexican descent are indigenous to this land, too.
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Most people forget those of Mexican descent are indigenous to the southwestern part of our Nation.