Race and Racism in the United States and the Chicana/o Latina/o Experience

Flashcards covering key definitions, historical context, and the impact of the U.S. Census on race and ethnicity for Chicana/os and Latina/os.

Social Identity

The power in one's identity; understanding how different identities like race, class, and gender create diverse experiences, especially for Chicana/os & Latina/os.

Intersectionality

The concept that identities intersect to create distinctive experiences, which may lead to varying levels of oppression.

Race

The identification of a person through one or more biological traits (skin color, phenotypes, hair texture, distinctive facial features) that historically in the United States have been tied to giving one group privilege over another; a social construction.

Race as a Social Construction

The idea that biological traits used to categorize races are arbitrary, race is a determining factor in social structures, and is constructed and reconstructed through mechanisms like the U.S. Census.

Ethnicity

An individual's cultural background, encompassing language, food, art, and culture. Ethnic groups like Chicanx and Latinx people often become racialized.

Racism

An arbitrary privilege given to one group based on biological traits; a system that exists in the United States by design, involving the relegation of people of color to inferior status and treatment based on unfounded beliefs about innate inferiority, and unjust treatment/oppression, whether intended or not.

Components of Racism

Includes negative stereotypes, racial slurs, racist actions, and racial discrimination, drawing on the fictional idea that biological traits dictate behaviors and justify unequal treatment; fundamentally about power.

Oppression

A combination of prejudice and institutional power that creates a system regularly and severely discriminating against some groups and benefiting other groups.

Discrimination

The unequal treatment of members of various groups based on attributes such as race, gender, social class, sexual orientation, physical ability, or religion.

Origin of Race in the USA

The idea of race in America began to change with the rise of global capitalism, backed by slavery and colonialism, using pseudoscientific ideas to justify the enslavement and dehumanization of African people.

Social Ideologies of Race

Ideas that certain racial groups stood outside history or had no history, that non-white groups were inherently inferior, less valuable, and subordinate, often codified into law (e.g., limiting naturalized citizenship to free 'white' persons).

Spanish Racial Classifications

Racial categories constructed during Spanish colonialism to privilege those of Spanish blood, based on how 'white' a person looked, creating a racial caste system.

Mestizo

An individual of mixed European and Indigenous descent, synonymous with not Indio and not African, holding social and political importance for being white or nearly white within colonial Spanish societies.

Racial Hierarchy

A system of stratification based on the idea that some racial groups are superior to others; in the U.S., White is seen as superior, with more privileges afforded to those closer to 'White' status.

Colorism

A form of discrimination based on skin color, usually favoring lighter skin color over darker skin color within a racial or ethnic group; can be tied to racism but is not necessarily the same.

Systemic Racism

Systems and structures rooted in beliefs in White supremacy that operate unconsciously or unintentionally, producing and sustaining racial discrimination and creating compounded disadvantages and disparities for Black people, Indigenous people, and other people of color.

Structural Racism

A form of racism that is pervasively and deeply embedded in systems, laws, written or unwritten policies, and entrenched practices and beliefs that produce, condone, and perpetuate widespread unfair treatment and oppression of people of color, often being invisible (e.g., residential segregation, school funding disparities).

Racialization

The process by which a specific racial identity is ascribed to individuals or groups, leading to differential and/or unequal treatment; it's rooted in historical context and results in subordination and marginalization.

Racialization of Mexican Americans

Following the US-Mexico War (1846-48), Mexican Americans were initially admitted as 'honorary white' but later racialized as a 'low-type Mexican race,' 'othered' by culture in the 1800s and biological characteristics in the 1900s.

Mexican Claim to Whiteness (US Census)

During the 1850-1930 period, newly conquered Mexican populations in the American Southwest were enumerated as 'White' in the U.S. Census, reflecting historical racial categories where only 'white' groups had certain rights.

U.S. Census

An official, constitutionally mandated count of a population of people, collected every 10 years, intended to count everyone regardless of citizenship, determining U.S. House Representatives, Electoral College Votes, and distribution of federal funds.

1930 U.S. Census

A census that created a separate race category labeled 'Mexican' for Mexican Americans, classifying them as 'other non-whites,' and effectively turning 'Mexican' into a racial classification.

1940 U.S. Census

A census that eliminated the 'Mexican' race category, defining the population of Mexican heritage as 'White' and including them within the 'White' population, despite social marginalization and oppression experienced by Mexican Americans.

1950 and 1960 U.S. Censuses

Censuses that reported data under the classification of 'Spanish surname persons' only in the Southwestern states and ceased collecting data on citizenship status, leading to severe undercounting of Mexican Americans.

1970 U.S. Census

The first U.S. Census to include a separate question specifically on Hispanic origin (outside of racial categories) for a 5% sample, defining the Hispanic origin population by Spanish language, Spanish heritage, or self-identification.

1980 and 1990 U.S. Censuses

Censuses where all Americans were asked about their Hispanic origin separately from the race question, with Hispanic origin defined as Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or some other Hispanic origin.

2000 U.S. Census

A census where people of Spanish/Hispanic/Latino origin could identify as Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, or other Spanish/Hispanic/Latino, and the term 'Latino' appeared on the census form for the first time.

2010 U.S. Census

A census that utilized a two-question format for race and Hispanic ethnicity, with explicit instructions that Hispanic/Latino identity is not a race, though few chose more than one racial category.

Impact of U.S. Census on Latino Identity

The Census acts as a powerful agent in defining groups and restricting identity options, creating a disconnection with identity and sense of self for Latinos by often forcing choices like 'white,' 'other,' or 'mixed race,' or 'anything but Mexican' or 'Latino nation'.

Choosing 'Other' Race (Latinos)

Between 1980 and 2010, around 40% of Latinos chose 'other' as their race on the Census, often writing in 'Mexican,' 'Hispanic,' or 'Latin American,' due to frustration with the separate ethnicity and race questions.

Latino Multiracial Experience

Latinos who identify as one race (Black, White, Indigenous) while also considering their Latino background as part of their racial identity indicate a multiracial background, potentially increasing the multiracial population in the U.S., shaped by family, social, and cultural factors.

2020 U.S. Hispanic Population Growth

The U.S. Hispanic population reached 62.1 million (19% of Americans), becoming the nation's 2nd largest ethnic or racial group, the fastest-growing group (23% growth 2010-2020), accounting for half of U.S. population growth, and projected to be 29% by 2060.

2020 U.S. Census Citizenship Question Attempt

An attempt by the Trump administration to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, which was blocked by the Supreme Court in June 2019 due to the potential to discourage non-citizens and legal immigrants from participating, resulting in an undercount.

Drivers of Hispanic Population Growth (Recent)

Recent U.S. Hispanic population growth is predominantly driven by new births, marking a reversal of historical trends from the 1980s and 1990s when immigration was the primary driver.

Significance of Latino/Hispanic Demographic Data

The data reveals a rapidly growing Latino/Hispanic population across the nation, shifting the U.S. ethnic and racial makeup, which can change election outcomes, enhance political clout, and influence commercial marketing.