The Pros And Cons Of Chicanos

As described in the text Categorically Unequal: The American Stratification, Chicanos faced several disadvantages such as their marginalization in society because of their skin color. Although they weren't enslaved like African Americans, Hispanics were differentiated on the wrong side of the color line and in effect did not receive the same rights as lighter-skinned Hispanics. As Douglas A. Massey states:
“Research has shown that black Hispanics face greater discrimination than white Hispanics in most U.S. markets. For example, darker-skinned Hispanics have been shown to earn lower wages, achieve less prestigious occupations, inhabit poorer residential environments, and generally experience more restricted life chances compared with their

In addition, Anglo-Americans confused certain races because Mexicans constituted two-thirds of the Latino population. Given that, it was difficult for the average Anglo-American to differentiate between mestizos like Mexican, Guatemalan, Salvadorian, Peruvian, or Colombian origin and created the racialized category “other.” Thus, how Mexicans were viewed affected the status and well-being of all Hispanics. Another major disadvantage for Latino/Mexican Americans was the disenfranchisement from their property and liberties. After the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1948, it was till the nineteenth century when Mexican Americans had been transformed socially and economically into a subordinate stratum of people subject to widespread discrimination and systematic

numbered about 150,000 and only 237 of them were immigrants. Although, they were subordinated because of their small numbers and geographic isolation. To resume, for the fact that Japanese workers in the U.S. were to industrious, this angered white westerners because of their competition in services, buying farms, and starting their own businesses. As a result, Japanese were no longer laborers, gardeners, or manual service workers thus rising in the racial hierarchy. Consequently, state legislators in the west made harsh laws to prohibit citizenship for immigrants and banned property ownership owned by foreign citizens, restricted their civil liberties, segregated them spatially, rejected them in society, and excluded them from jobs they desired. Thus, the exploitation of Mexican Americans commenced as western employers recruited them for work. Firstly, they worked in railroads, then in mines and farm fields, and lastly in factories. For the fact that the U.S. had entered WW1 in 1917, there was a labor demand spike and a persistent shortage for workers because white workers were mobilized for military duty. Hence, the U.S. government launched an official labor recruitment program to assist growers in the southwest and factory owners in the Midwest. From the Gentlemen's Agreement in 1907 to the end of 1929, the Mexican-born population in the United States grew from 178,000 to 739,000 in just two