Hernandez V. Texas

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In an article written by a Senior student they discuss a monumental moment in Mexican American history concerning equality in the South. The student’s paper revolves around the Pete Hernandez V. Texas case in which Hernandez receives a life in prison sentence by an all white jury. The essay further discusses how Mexican Americans are technically “white” americans because they do not fall into the Indian (Native American), or black categories and because of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848. The student’s paper proceeds to discuss the goals connecting the Hernandez V. Texas case which was to secure Mexican American’s right within the fourteenth amendment [1].
The essay compares the Mexican American struggle to the African American struggle and even points out how some Mexican Americans did not want to join in the fight the get legal protection for the fear of being on the same level as an African American 12[12]. The student’s essay recognizes that although Hernandez was clearly guilty his lawyer Gus Garcia was fighting for the over all civil rights of Mexican American people when it came to trial by jury. The article further …show more content…

I did not know that Mexican Americans were considered to be “white” however, I am not shocked to discover they were treated as second rate citizens. Although, the essay discusses how the Mexican Americans were afraid of being reduced to the standards of an African American they in many ways were treated the very same. For example, the essay discusses segregation of White bathrooms from blacks and hispanics the racial separation seemed to surprise the essay writer were I was not even roused. I am however, taken aback by how distant Mexican Americans seem to want to be from African Americans yet even in this essay the history of black people was referenced to several

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