BY: JOSH QUINTANILLA

Racial Discrimination Among Mexicans Living in the U.S.:Their Perceptions and Experiences

Overview

The U.S. population will soar to 438 million by 2050 and the Hispanic population will triple (Pew Research Center).

Hispanics will make up 29% of the U.S. population in 2050 (Pew Research Center).

U.S. Census Bureau Report issued in June 2004 estimates that 6.5 percent of the U.S. population is defined as Mexican.

It is important to investigate how Mexicans understand their treatment in society.

Overview

This presentation will hypothesize the factors that lead to discrimination Nationality Language Ability Education Legal Status Skin Tone Martial Status

Participants reported their experiences regarding discrimination

Participants were given consent forms in order to conduct an ethical interview.

Methods

Participants & ProceduresAreas of Canton, Woodstock & AlpharettaMexicans and Mexican AmericansSnowball sampling35 Face-to-Face InterviewsAbout 8-10 min. per interviewTelephone InterviewsInterviews were conducted in Spanish &

English

Gender Years Living in the U.S.

56% 44%

Male Female

Less

than

1 y

r

1 to

5 y

rs

6 to

10

yrs

11 to

15

yrs

16 to

20

yrs

21 to

30

yrs

Ove

r 30

year

s0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%

3%9%

31%34%

9%11%

3%

General Demographics

Places of Discrimination

School16%

Work23%

Gov't institutions26%

Restaurants

/Stores29%

Other6%

What causes discrimination?

Skin

Col

or

Lang

uage

Ski

lls

Inco

me/

Educa

tion

Lega

l Sta

tus

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%

12%

23%

3%

62%

NationalityNationality & Less Respect

Once in while

61%

39%

Native-born Foreign-born

Native-born

Foreign-born

41%

50%

Findings: Nationality

Chi-Square value .467 Not significantGamma of -.08 Weak association

Nationality and Poorer Service in Restaurants and Stores, once in a while

Significance & Association

Nat

ive-

born

Forei

gn-b

orn

0%

200%

400%

600%

800%

1000% Chi-Square Value .457 Not statistically

significantGamma .10

Moderate association

Findings: Nationality & Poor Service

Language skillsLanguage Skills and Employment/Promotion Denial

60%

40%

Spanish Bilingual

Only Spanish

Bilingual0%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80% 77%

40%

Findings: Language Skills

Chi-Square value .037 SignificantLambda of .21 Moderate association

Education LevelEducation and Discrimination/Unfair Treatment by Individuals of Their Own Race

0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%27%

23%26%

17%

3% 2%32%

43%

26%

High school graduatesSome collegeCollege graduates

Chi-Square value .567 Not significantGamma of .12 Weak association

Findings: Level of Education

Findings: Legal Status

Undoc-umente

d51%

Student visa3%

Resident20%

Citizen26%

Findings: Legal Status & Racial Slurs/EpithetsUndocumented Mexicans are more likely than Mexican citizens and residents to have experienced racial insults and offensive names against them in the past 5 to 10 years

Undoc-umente

d

Resident Citizen0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

77%

29%

38%

Series 1

Chi-Square value .046 Statistically significantLambda of .20 Moderate association

Findings: Legal Status & Discrimination/Unfair treatment by individuals of their own race

Undocumented83%

Residents17%

Undocumented Mexicans are more likely than Residents to experiences racial dis-crimination and unfair treatment by indi-viduals of their own race

Chi-square value .019 SignificantLambda of .23 Moderate association

Classification of Skin tones

Very Dark Dark Medium Light Very Light

Findings: Skin Tones

Light21%

Medium75%

Dark4%

Skin tone and Physical Fights

Mexicans with medium skin tones are more likely than those who are light skinned to have been in a physical fight in the past 5 to 10 years

36%

61%

LightMedium

Chi-square value of .037 Statistically significant With a lambda of .31 Evidence of a strong association

Martial StatusMartial Status and Physical Fights

32%

59%

3% 3% 3%

Single MarriedSeparated DivorcedN/A

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

81%

28%

Series 1

Findings: Martial Status

Chi-Square value .020 Statistically significantLambda of 3.9 Evidence of strong association

Discussion

As we can see, racial discrimination against Mexicans and Americans with Mexican descent (Chicanos) living in the U.S. still exists today.

We have found that those individuals who are undocumented, single, medium skin toned, and those who do not have the ability to speak English are more inclined to be the victims of racial discrimination and unfair treatment in society.

Discussion: Why Does Discrimination Still Occur?

Discrimination most often takes the form of ignorance.

For those who have limited social worlds, one bad experience with a member of a particular group is easily generalized into a negative perception of everyone belonging to that group.

Undocumented Immigrants tend to be discriminated against because they do not have equal rights as citizens do.

People are sometimes subjected to different treatments because their primary/official language is associated with a particular group, class or category.

Discussion: Further Investigations

Since the study only consisted of 35 participants, further research needs to be conducted to accomplish a more representative sample.

Because of ethical reasons, minors were not included in this study. However, it is important that there be a specific study devoted to minors in the future.

Finally, in order to fully understand racial discrimination among Latinos, additional groups of minorities need to be included for future studies.

Thank you for your time!