Hispanic American Diversity

Hispanic American Diversity

Hispanic American Diversity
With the influx of immigrants of the past few decades, a multitude of varied cultures have set stakes in the United States. Though many of the Spanish-speaking immigrants come from different backgrounds and cultures, the fact that they share a language finds them labeled as Hispanic-Americans. Within this classification reside the cultures of Puerto Rican Americans, Mexican Americans, Dominican Americans, and Cuban Americans. Each of these cultures shares a few similarities with the others, but also has many differences that distinguish their way of life. These differences include politics, economics, language, religion, and family life.
Mexican Americans
Mexican Americans speak Spanish while able to communicate in English fairly well. With the annexation of Mexican lands, many Mexicans were given citizenship in the 19th century. With the ability to practice Mexican and Spanish culture and traditions, Mexican Americans were seemingly free to grow and assimilate into the American culture (Shaefer, 2006). Though Mexican Americans were to be treated equally, they were ultimately given subordinate status. Mexican Americans, and Puerto Rican Americans, are much less employed with a significantly lower income than White Americans (Schaefer, 2006). Mexican Americans have struggled to gain political power, even creating their own political party for a short time.   As they gain in political strength, many are beginning to run for office positions.
Similar to other Hispanic cultures, Mexican Americans are predominately in the Roman Catholic denomination of Christianity. Mexican Americans have a similar familial structure as the White American family. Despite this, Mexican Americans are referred to as a culture of poverty, and are commonly looked at as an illegal immigrant.

Puerto Rican Americans
Unlike other Hispanic countries, Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the United States of America. The result of...