Outline for myth of Latino immigration

Myth Outlining Worksheet

1. What is your myth?

A common myth about Latino is that Latino is homogenous naturally existing and an easily identifiable group of people.

2. What is your argument about your myth? (Should be two to three concise sentences.)

This myth is wrong because Latino is not a homogenous group or an easily identifiable group because Latino is the group that is initially from areas with different ancestries. Latino population is consisting of many types, say, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban or Dominican, and they are not easily identified.

Evidence

I. Latino comprises of several sub-groups with unique identities

· One of the typical stereotype and mentality regarding the Latinos in America is that they have a shared ethnic background, race, and culture.

· However, the reality is that Latino comprises of several sub-groups with unique identities (Holloway, 2008, p.5).

· In the United States, Latino is defined in terms of their nationalities or the countries that they originated.

· For example, in the case of Midwest and Southwest, Latinos are seen as Mexicans.

· In the eastern part of America, particularly New York and Boston regions, Latino is people who are considered to have limitations of communications with the Dominicans and Puerto Ricans.

· In this case, Latinos are defined by their inability to communicate with o people other in the region. In the case of Miami, Cubans, and Central America, Latinos are groups for interpreting Latin America.

· Latin America is considered a group of Latin people who originate from different nationalities. In chapter three, Social Polarization and Colonized Labor: Puerto Ricans in the United States, between 1945–2000 Kelvin Antiago-Valles & Jiménez-Muñoz assert that the idea of homogeneity is quite extensive to the extent of some politicians treating Latino Americans as culturally unified people.

· Latino is racially diverse, thus making the ethnic category rather than a race (Gutiérrez, 2008, p.129). Technically, anyone from central, South America and the Caribbean can be described as Latino because the regions were previously empires of Spanish, Portuguese and French.

· Also, Latino as an ethnicity, has people from different nationalities. Several races are comprised of the group. The only similarity they have is that they are not the original inhabitants in America. Latinos have their roots in the immigrant groups that moved to America.

2. Latino originated from different countries with varying cultures.

· Latino is not easy to identify in terms of cultural practices.

· In chapter six, The Other “Other Hispanics”: South American–Origin Latinos In the United States, Espitia states that Latino originated from different countries and had different cultures.

· For that reason, they are often tied between practicing their native culture and that of the country they live in. For instance, in the case of Mexican-Americans, they remain loyal to both the Mexican and American cultures (Gutiérrez, 2008, p.257).

· Latin-Americans do not have universal practices shared amongst all people to distinguish them from the rest of the people. Therefore, it is not possible to identify them from the community.

· Generally, Latino has different cultures and background as they are immigrants from other nations. It is not easy to classify them as people from a particular region like South America due to specific culture and practices they uphold altogether.

3. All Latinos do not look the same.Race

· In the United States, there is always a general assumption that Latino has particular characteristics that differentiate them from the rest of the Americans.

· Often, they are perceived to have dark-brown hair and eyes, as well as dark or tan skin.

· In the chapter on Latino Imagery, Flores (2004, p.184) asserts that not all Latinos are a mix of Spanish and Indian. There are those others who look like Europeans; others look black, and other pure Indians.

· In America, based on the 2010 census, the number of Latinos who identify as whites continues to increase.

· In 2010, 53% of the Latino identified as white, while 2.5% were classified as black. In this case, it is impossible for one to identify one as a Latino based on their physical appearance. (Why cobra. Rumba)

· There are also Latino people who are Caucasians. They can either be white, black, indigenous America, Mestizo, as well as the Asian descents. In this case, Latino from the groups is considered different in their appearance and physical characteristics.

References

Flores. J. (2004). The Latino Imaginary: Meanings of Community and Identity

Gutiérrez, D. G. (Ed.). (2004). The Columbia History of Latinos in the United States since 1960. Columbia University Press.

Holloway. (2008). T.A A Companion to Latin American History. Holloway, University of California, Davis Waltham, MA: Wiley/Blackwell, 2008.Gutiérrez, D. G. (Ed.). (2004). The Columbia History of Latinos in the United States since 1960. Columbia University Press.