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Calixto Fernandez

Prof. Carter

English - 1A

10 December 2020

Latino Rights Matter Too

The Latino community has and still face issues that limit their pursuit of happiness in

American society. They are met with discrimination, the fear of deportation, and the uncertainty

of employment. Caesar Chavez led a strike against degrading working conditions and unfair

wages that the Latino community had been experiencing for years. The recent Black Lives

Matter movement is a great example that major change and justice can be brought about in

present-day America. Plato discusses how Justice is when someone accomplishes their job well

without having to do the job of someone else. In America’s society Latinos are faced with the

question of employment every single day, yet if a truly proper and functioning society needs

everyone to be doing their job then why are so many people in the Latino community

unemployed? Not to mention the discrimination that Latinos face due to various stereotypes said

in American society. Lastly, It’s no surprise that there are many undocumented Latino citizens in

the United States. The fear of deportation looms over them while they look for work and try to

create an honest living in the U.S.

During the 1960s Ceaser Chavez founded The United Farm Workers so that Latinos

didn’t have to endure the direful working conditions any longer. That’s without mention the way

below average wages that were given to the workers, it wasn’t uncommon fora worker to go

home with only cents in hand. He believed that these working conditions and poor pay lacked

what basic human rights should be a guarantee to the Latino community in the United States of
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America. Chavez drew out inspiration from that of the civil rights movement and by doing so he

kept his strike nonviolent at all times. He gained the assistance of volunteers from religious and

urban universities. It wasn’t till July 29th, 1970 that Chavez was able to get twenty-six Delano

growers to sign contracts that recognized the UFW and finally bring peace to the farms where

Latinos were working.

This relates to where the Latino community is now because there has not been a large

movement to bring awareness to the various issues it faces on a day-to-day basis. Latinos are still

dealing with discrimination, deportation, and unemployment. In her Article, Racism, not a lack

of assimilation, is the real problem facing Latinos in America, Suzanne Gamboa discusses how

“Latinos are underrepresented in film, high-tech jobs, and in the federal government workforce”

(2020). I find it hard to believe that Latinos are still underrepresented in the workforce to this

day. It doesn’t stop there either, because Gaboa states that “two U.S. born Latino women were

taken into custody after speaking Spanish in a convenience store near the border” (2020). This an

example of stereotyping and how it can be used to decriminalize the Latino community for only

speaking their cultural language. The article goes even deeper into the discrimination when it is

shown that The former White House chief of staff, John Kelly, stated that “Hispanics should

work harder at assimilation”(2020). Latinos are being told to forget their culture and “assimilate”

to an American way of living. A culture can not be told to stop, because it is these people’s

heritage and no matter what anyone says and they shouldn’t need to change that for anyone.

Claude M. Steel discusses how stereotype threats can put a group in a situation where

they feel like they don’t want to confirm the stereotype. If they choose to avoid the stereotype it

can hinder their learning and abilities, especially for American-born Latinos. For example, if a

Latino student enters a relay race hen his situation would be drastically different from say a
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white student. The Latino student would be under the pressure from the stereotype that Mexicans

run fast because they ran across the border. I have personally heard this a few times growing up

and I can understand how that would make the Latino student try and avoid the stereotype

altogether by limiting his overall ability. It’s now that we come to see how stereotypes can

negatively impact the Latino community because the younger generation might find it harder to

embrace the culture due to the discrimination.

The Greek philosopher Plato, in his 4th book, The Republic, believes that a state who has

wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice is a state that will live and thrive on happiness. Do

America’s ideals match with what Plato was discussing and how does that involve the Latino

community? America does not follow in line with Plato’s four virtues because American society

limits job opportunities for Latinos. We already know that Latinos are being underrepresented in

the workforce and Latinos would benefit from Platos “Justice”. Plato writes that a city can

properly function when everyone is doing their job and their job alone without seeing the need

for doing someone else’s. In his book, Plato writes “ when one man is trader, legislator, and

warrior all in one, then I think you will agree with me in saying that this interchange and this

meddling of one with another is the ruin of the State” (15). When someone tries to have multiple

jobs and roles they tend to create an imbalance in the social classes. The same can be said about

the Latino community because they are being unrepresented in the workforce. They are

beginning limited to the minimal job opportunities that cause these families to come from a poor

background. If American society had Justice like Plato has explained then Latinos may be put in

the position where they are now being treated as equals among all the social classes in America.

Not only will it cause equality bit there would be a need for stereotypes and discrimination as

well.
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In conclusion,

I believe that the solution for the Latino community is to band together with the black

lives matter movement to bring awareness to the Latino community and what it faces. Maybe

another nonviolent strike against the government for neglecting the Latino community is the

answer and finally, there could some equality and just made for the Latino community. It sees

descrimination by the American people telling them to “assimilate”. They fear deportation and

are met with the uncertainty of employment since there are so underrepresented in the workforce.

Their pursuit of happiness has been limited by all these factors and it won’t change till another

movement is started to help bring awareness.

Work Cited

Steele, Claude. Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do (Issues of Our Time). Reprint,

W. W. Norton & Company, 2011.

Wikipedia contributors. “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.” Wikipedia, 27 Nov. 2020,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deferred_Action_for_Childhood_Arrivals.

Plato. The Republic. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2019,

www.wheelersburg.net/Downloads/Plato.pdf

History.com Editors. “Cesar Chavez.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 27 Oct. 2009,

www.history.com/topics/mexico/cesar-chavez.

“The Story of Cesar Chavez.” UFW,

ufw.org/research/history/story-cesar-chavez/.
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Gamboa, Suzanne. “Racism, Not a Lack of Assimilation, Is the Real Problem Facing Latinos in America.”

NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 9 July 2020, www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/racism-not-lack-

assimilation-real-problem-facing-latinos-america-n974021.