...Intro: The fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman took place on the night of February 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida, United States. Martin was a 17-year-old African American high school student. George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old mixed-race Hispanic, was the neighborhood watch coordinator for the gated community where Martin was temporarily staying and where the shooting took place. Following an earlier call from Zimmerman, police arrived within two minutes of a gunshot during an altercation in which Zimmerman fatally shot Martin, who did not have any weapons. Zimmerman was taken into custody, treated for head injuries, then questioned for five hours. The police chief said that Zimmerman was released because there was no evidence to refute Zimmerman's claim of having acted in self-defense, and that under Florida's Stand Your Ground statute, the police were prohibited by law from making an arrest. The police chief also said that Zimmerman had had a right to defend himself with lethal force. Why this case captured America’s attention *What is the history of racial violence in America? Youth? Unarmed? Hoodie? Stand your ground - Mexican women lost her case confuse reader present every side of the case http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/11/why-did-trayvon-martin-s-death-upset-us-more-than-black-kids-killing-each-other/281452/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand-your-ground_law http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/05/us/trayvon-martin-shooting-fast-facts/...
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...minorities and a person who did not speak Spanish was often made fun of. The barrios, or neighborhoods, were home to thousands of Mexican immigrants who’d come to the United Sates in hopes of better lives for their children. The chavalitos, or children, of these people were first generation American and were Chicanos, that is, American children born of full-blooded Mexican parents. I always considered myself a Chicana; I never called myself Mexican or American. To me, this was normal because I had never been around people who were different. When I left my hometown, I realized that most people outside of the Mexican-American community did not fully understand what it meant to be a Chicano or had no idea what the word meant. The word Chicano traces back to the pre-Columbian era, when Mexico was still Meshico. It stems from Meshicano, an ancient Nahuatl word used by the Aztecs meaning “native.” The natives referred to themselves as Meshicanos, and even Shicanos, thus giving birth to the term “Chicano”. The term made its appearance in America, and was used to identify children born on American soil of Mexican descent. Our forefathers came to America seeking better lives and new opportunities for their children. With them, they brought their culture: music, food, customs and traditions. The combination of this with mainstream American culture is where we Chicanos get our way of life. An example of this is Spanglish, our own language. Spanglish is a combination of...
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...past never daring to look too hard. This wall is sometimes disjointed, uncomfortable, and awkward, but that is the life of the Mexican in this world, and that is the beauty of the picture Juan Felipe Herrera lays before his readers. Also like a picture in that you get little snippets of peace and war, of pride and self-consciousness. Each line of the poem gives glimpses, which are somewhat interesting, but in its entirety they become completed and together they form a whole. Reading through this poem, some of these reasons were very capturing, causing me to achieve a new level of understanding, while others were most likely targeting someone else and were above my head. Just as walking through an art exhibit some pieces you cannot tear yourself from, others you barely notice...and understand that each viewer/ reader will take home a completely different experience. Many people can read the same poem or look at the same picture and take drastically different things away from it but that is what gives something its beauty. Herrera does a good job of meeting you where you are while challenging the place you find yourself. Herrera goes beyond these borders and also captures the relations between the Mexicans and the Mexican Americans. Most people are not aware that there is a difference between the two but...
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...Most Mexican Americans speak informal Spanish and English as there languages. If they are bilingual which most Mexican Americans are, bilingual is really good for the country. What most Americans think is that English is not a hard language to learn but in fact it is one of the hardest language to learn and we should respect Mexicans for trying to learn English. Americans fear that any government recognition of minority languages sends the wrong message to immigrants, encouraging them to believe they can live in the U.S.A. without learning English or conforming to "American" ways. Bilingual education and politics and how some people think it is not a good idea to teach kids. It's still a bad idea for the country because bilingualism threatens to sap our sense of national identity and divide us along ethnic lines. The National Association for Bilingual Education is the only national professional organization devoted to representing Bilingual Learners and Bilingual Education professionals. The government really needs more people to be bilingual there are more and more immigrants coming over to the United States they like to live in our country and sometimes they do not know English and they might be to old to learn anything new. Which is why when they bring their kids over to the United States with them, they need to put them in classes to learn English. If they do not already know how to speak it or it would be hard for that child to make it in the world by himself. Legal and...
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...Hispanic-Americans make up a large ethnic group in the United States. Many Americans believe Hispanics are much the same and group them together (panethnicity) but, in fact, the groups are very diverse. Hispanics come from a variety of different cultures and include Mexican-Americans, Puerto Rican-Americans, Cuban-Americans, and Central Americans. Each of these groups vary in their customs, religious beliefs, political views, family views, and other conventions that make them similar in some ways, and very different in others (Franklin, 2009). This paper will discuss the various cultures of Mexican-Americans, Puerto Rican-Americans, Cuban-Americans, and Venezuelan-Americans in America. Mexican-Americans As a result of the Mexican-American war, about 80,000 Mexicans resided in the United States due to the accumulation of New Mexico and California. Even though many returned to Mexico, the majority stayed in the United States and gained their citizenship after two years (Englekirk and Martin, 2009). Since then, Mexican immigration to the United States has grown significantly and for various reasons. Today, Mexican-Americans make up about two thirds of the Hispanic population in the United States (Schaefer, 2006). The first indigenous Mexican people were various Indians such as Mixtec, Aztec, Mayan, Olmec, Toltec, Zapotec, and Teotihuacan who assimilated with Spaniards after Spain invaded Mexico. Mexican families were typically male dominated but close-knit due to respect...
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...Hispanic American Diversity NAME CLASS DATE TEACHER Hispanic American Diversity When we look at people's it's interesting to see that they are different in some ways yet alike in other ways. The people may be from different parts of the world, however, they share the same language, religious beliefs and even skin color. Some people are very protective of their cultures and become offended if you mistake their culture for a similar culture. Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans and Latinos are four groups that fit into this category. This research paper will give us an in-depth look at each group identifying their similarities and their differences. Mexico is a Latin country with a complex culture that spans different times in history. The Mexicans are proud of their country, culture and lifestyle and try to preserve it as much as possible even when they are living anywhere other than Mexico. Out of the 26.4 million Hispanics that live in America, 64% of them are Mexican Americans (Thinkquest.org). The Mexican American culture is a mixture of the Mexican culture and the American culture and often causes them to stand out. The primary influence comes from Spain while the secondary influence comes from America. Mexican Americans have strong ties to their families loving each other and taking care of each other. Honor within the family connects all the members together and loyalty without question is expected. They work hard, strive to live in...
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...Heritage Assessment Latasha Rice, WCC- RN Grand Canyon University: NRS 429v Date: 8/31/2012 What is a heritage assessment? A heritage assessment is a subpart to the overall nursing assessment. Assessing a patient’s heritage allows the nurse to obtain more information about a patient’s culture, including beliefs about health and values, this is important to providing cultural health care. One’s heritage includes information about their cultural beliefs and practices of the family and ethno religious community (Jarvis, C., 2012). Through a heritage assessment the nurse can obtain a vast amount of information about the patient/ family, including but not limited to, where ancestors were born, how many siblings they have, if the family originated in another country, how often time is spent with family, religion, if the patient prefers the company of people with the same values and religion or ethnic background, what type of foods the patient prepares, and the patient’s native language. This paper will discuss what the author learned from completing a heritage assessment tool, the usefulness of a heritage assessment tool when assessing a patient/ family/ community as a whole. This paper will also compare the health traditions of three different families (and cultures) to include, health maintenance, health protection, and health restoration, while identifying common traditions based on the author’s heritage. What the families ascribe their traditions to will also be discussed...
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...Mexican Americans There are many ethnicity cultures and race in the world. One of such ethnic groups is Hispanics. Hispanics can be identified or categorized in such ethnic groups. Hispanic Americans are Mexican with origin in a country of Latin American and countries in Europe such as Portugal and Spain. Under the Hispanic sub group we do find Mexican American who are Americans with Mexican decent. The median age of Mexican American is 24 years, which makes them the youngest Hispanic groups. In fact, 71 percent of the Mexican- Americans population is under 35. (U.S Bureau of the Census. , March 1989). The average size of the Mexican- American household is at 4.1 persons is the largest among the Hispanic groups. Through the early 1900’s Mexican Americans were mainly in rural and agricultural people, but today 90% of the populations is estimated to live in metropolitan areas. 73% of them lived in California and Texas in the 1980’s. Mexican American are the least well educated group among both major Hispanic groups and among the total U.S population. The dropout rate among Mexican American students is estimated at 40 percent or more. (Valdiveso, 1988). Lack of education probably contributes to the fact that as a group, Mexican Americans have lower status occupations than does the U.S populations as a whole. They concentrate on farm work and service occupations. Lower status jobs translate into lower income and higher poverty rates. The median family income of Mexican Americans...
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...Diversity Action Plan SOC315 Diversity Action Plan In today’s emulous world it is not enough for a company to employ a diverse workforce. Companies must take full advantage of the diversity at their disposal to remain successful (Gwele, 2009). This must include a plan of action; a roadmap to success. The company will face challenges and detours along the way, but it must resign itself to stubborn resolve. Commitment to addressing diversity in the organization must be a cogent conviction instead of a retrospective addendum. Opportunities and Challenges of Increasing Diversity Today more than 60% of McDonald’s home office and U.S. company workforce are of a racial or ethnic minority, or are women (McDonald’s, 2010). McDonald’s thrives on diversity within their organization, and based on their initiatives, the level of diversity will increase. Opportunities Diversity presents a variety of opportunities to improve adaptability, productivity, teamwork, and problem solving. Organizations employing a diverse workforce can supply a greater variety of solutions to problems in service, sourcing, and allocation of resources. For instance, different perspectives can assist in the development of new meal options for consumers. Employees from different cultures bring a variety of talents or experiences in suggesting new ideas in adapting to changing markets and customer demands to keep McDonald’s competitive in the food industry. A variety of skills lead to innovative approaches...
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...Obesity and Overweight in Hispanics in the United States Maria Teresa Carrasco Francisca Velasco Adrian Rodriguez RES 341 November 19, 2011 Deborah Green Obesity and Overweight in Hispanics in the United States The purpose of the research that will be conducted is to validate what studies have shown about that Hispanic Americans have higher levels of overweight and obesity than Non – Hispanic Whites. “In accordance with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services information in 2008, Hispanic Americans were 1.2 times as likely to be obese than Non-Hispanic Whites. Among Mexican American women, 73 percent are overweight or obese, as compared to only 61.6 percent of the general female population. In 2007 – 2008 Mexican American children were 1.4 times more likely to be overweight as Non-Hispanic White children. In 2007, Hispanic adults were 50% less likely to engage in active physical activity as Non-Hispanic Whites” (OMH – Source: CDC, 2010) Impact of obesity and overweight The problem with obesity and overweight has affected the Hispanic race in many ways. Obesity and overweight are two different problems. A person with a BMI (Body Mass Index) of 25-29.9 is considered overweight and a person with a BMI of less than equal to 30 is considered obese. Based on the information gathered by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of minority health, more than 80% of the Hispanic overweight population tends to develop diabetes. Tests were driven...
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...Cuban Americans Cuban Americans started forming communities in the United States during the late nineteenth century. Most people when you mention the word Cuban first though may be Cuban cigars, Cigar manufacturers started coming into the United States in the 1860’s looking to avoid the political issues in Cuba. By the mid 1980’s Cuban Americans served in the state legislature, in 1981 the Cuban American National Founded was founded and was based in Washington, D.C., they voiced anti Castro views and had an influence on United States policy toward Cuba. Cubans dominant religious beliefs follow Catholicism; you will also find protestant, Muslim, Jewish and Santeria (a mixture of Catholic religion with the traditional African religion). The median household income for Cubans is higher than that of other Hispanic Americans, the average Cuban American income is around $38,000, native born Cuban Americans have a higher median income than that of non-Hispanic whites ($50,000 vs. $48,000). Cubans living outside of Florida have a higher median income then those living in Florida. The family values have changed for many Cuban households those that came into the country first focused more on educating their children then teaching them family beliefs, many elderly Cubans prefer to living in Miami prefer to live alone. The family lives have changed over the last 30 years, part of this is from acculturation between generations. Mexican Americans Mexican-Americans have been...
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...Huntington showed his strong worries with the American identity. According to this book, Huntington thought because of lack of common enemies and opposites, the cohesion power and common identity of American people diminished in the past twenty years. He also blamed the Latino immigrants, especially the Mexican immigrants for threatening the American political foundation with the impact on American culture and language they brought. Under this circumstance, he called on a more concrete American identity, which not only includes the “American creed”, but also embodies a core culture. Different with many people, he argued United States is fundamentally a “settler” nation rather than an “immigration” nation. And the initial settlers, White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASP), had a dominating effect on the subsequent values and direction of the country. So the Anglo-Protestantism culture, which includes Protestant work ethic and centrality of the religion to personal life, should be re-affirmed as the American core culture, and United States, which he believe ought to be a nation-state, should be built upon this base. And he implied that American government should take measures to limit Latino immigration and take Islam as a national enemy. Huntington’s view has a clear conservative and Republican color. Huntington himself probably views himself as a firm patriot, however what I read is that he is not really confident in American culture and spirit. A successful and vigorous...
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...towards Hispanics. Incentive policies would be the opposite of punitive and the outcome of that one is positive. Pat Buchanan characterizes the “Hispanic Population” as very powerful and dominant. Very dominant a dominant popular ideology towards Latinos and immigrants is that the citizens see “social non-comformity as threatening to security”. Not only that but citizens fear that the Latino immigrants are coming in huge numbers and they start to see more competition towards every day jobs. Even though immigrants don’t have quite the resume in a manner of speaking they are still thought of and feared by many and some fear them in different ways. Mostly Latino Immigrants are right off the bat believed to be Mexican. The population thinks this because of the dominance of Mexican immigrants over the whole country but majorly the west coast....
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...Race and Your Community Keisha Bullock ETH/125 July 3, 2011 Margie Molnar Race and Your Community African Americans in my community cannot go into Arab or White owned stores without being followed around. The owners are always under the assumption that they are going to steal from them. Most of the people that live in my community are African Americans. There are a few White Americans who recently moved into the community and they appear to have no problems with living around so many African Americans. The members of my community for the most part do look like me. We all have kinky hair with dark skin, and our children of African American Parents. Our facial features resemble each other with having a round or oval shape face. There are some people in my community whom we would consider to be mixed because one parent may be African American while the other is White American. The leaders in my community treat people like me with love and respect. The leaders in my community look like me and are trying to make things better in the community for the younger generation of kids so that they have parks and community centers to be able to go to and play without having to worry about being gun down by senseless gun fire of the street gangs. I have never heard of or seem the leaders in my community treat people differently because they are not African American. They try and give just as much to them as they would anyone else. My work manuals contains information about people...
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...citizenship, cultural and national. 4. In chapter 4, The Wanderers – El destierro, Tobar depicts the lives of immigrants, the channels through which they cross and life after crossing the border. It is one depicted of wandering travel and job seeking. 5. In chapter 5, In the Land of the New – En la tierra de lo nuevo, Tobar illustrates fantasy, of those who immigrate, meeting reality through brokenness in the education system. 6. In chapter 6, Our Secret Latin Heartlands – Los secretos del machete, Tobar depicts the phenomenon of immigrants who reject their Mexican cultural identity for the desperate hope of being integrated into “American culture”. Tobar brings reason and sheds light upon how damaging that can be and depicts how powerful and positively impactful it can be for Mexicans to embrace their culture through his fried Ben Reed. 7. In chapter 7, Unconquered – La Reconquista, Tobar depicts how beautiful Mexican culture can be through historically influential leaders in San Antonio. He...
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