Fermin Hernandez
Michelle Clark
Humanities
Period 2
Power and Privilege
People all over the world have privileges and power that they do not know exist, but it doesn't change that it actually is among us. Invisible privileges have been around since the beginning of time. It has stopped American from being united since every ethnicity has been ridiculed for one or another reason. As long as America has invisible privileges, it will tear America from the inside out and have what we have fall worked for to create will crumble. The privileges that people have are all different. From being able to get ahead of life just because of their skin color, their culture, just simple features that they might have that puts them ahead or behind, of some one with a different ethnicity.
My grandfather was the first one to step into an unknown land for him and start all of our new lives here over 20 years ago. As soon as he came here, the rest of my family followed close by. Including my dad and all of his brothers. Over time, most of my dads family came little by little until the majority came to the little town called Fallbrook. A couple years later I was born and started out my life in a new environment and and pursue my happiness. Having most of my family here to start of made it easier to start out new and have that blend of being Mexican and Mexican American. The positive part about growing up in Fallbrook is that it since the majority of the population is filled with more Mexicans, I can connect with them and be more of myself more. But the same positive point in living in Fallbrook is also a negative since there isn't much diversity. With knowing that living in Fallbrook is both good and bad, privileges for other ethnicities in town have trouble since most Mexicans would bother them. Invisible privileges have been something I have dealt with for quite some time already and is something I include in my daily life as I live it. But as well, I am not the only one that had to deal with invisible privileges, in history as well hispanics were treated unfairly for something they had or didn't have.
Invisible privileges have been in our world for hundreds of years. From slavery to immigration to much more. Even after the world managed to get rid of some of them, more just seemed to appear and disrupt the world with conflicts and just made the world come tumbling down with more problems to fix. Mexicans have mostly been used in America for cheap labor. When America needed assistance with creating structures or anything else, they received help from Mexico.
During World War 2, America was in dire need for help since most of the men were off fighting in the war. The American government made an agreement with Mexico to supply temporary help known as the Braceros. After they're use there was done, they were ordered back to Mexico because that was all they were needed for, hired help. They were treated unfairly because they were less educated than Americans and not given what they deserve for their much needed help.
Invisible privileges has influenced decisions for many occasions that cause problems that could've been avoided. The "Zoot Suit" riots took place in Southern California where there were fights between Mexicans and sailors, soldiers, and marines fighting. And even though some hispanics weren't involved with their problem, they were beaten simply because they wore a zoot suit. Many innocent people got injured all because of what they wore. They couldn't be themselves and dress how they wanted and were forced to change just to be able to be left alone. This is an example of how the world has been troubled with invisible privileges causing trouble for everyone. Even after this incident there were still problems between hispanics because of how they dressed and were discriminated due the way they were dressed. Even for those who weren't involved in any incident caused them trouble.
Although the life in Mexico and America are different, there still is a matter of invisible privileges thanks to having more diversity in America. Being of hispanic descent, I find myself living with it as a blessing and a curse at points in my life. But it doesn't mean just because there are some points in my life where I find myself lacking the privilege that other ethnicities have it does not mean I feel like I am inferior to them in anyway. Feeling inferior to other ethnicities is something that shouldn't occur since I have my own privileges that help me out at some points in my life.
There are many privileges that I have that do make me proud of being Mexican. One of them would be how we were raised and being close. Being hispanic means that our families are close to each other and always have each other for support for anything we may need. Even though families might have problems at some points, we get together for family events that is how we are raised to be and be close to each other, no matter the problem we steer away from it and stick together as a family should be. From what I have observed, other ethnicities aren't as united because they had a little fight that changed them completely and forced them apart instead of being together like they're suppose to be.
Although I'm privileged with being hispanic, there are some entitlements that I'm not happy to own for being hispanic. Despite being close together with my family, they aren't open to new ideas in America. We can't be who we truly are because my family thinks it's wrong since that is how they lived in Mexico and they want to keep it that way with the next generation as well. But growing up in a different environment with different cultures and ways to live is something we can't help and so we change into something more diverse. Despite having a different way to live my family doesn't agree with that so it makes me feel left out of my family at some points because we don't always have the same point of view on a certain topic at times. Another privilege that I feel that I do not want to have is the stereotype of Mexicans dressing like gangsters. Living in Fallbrook most Mexican's style of dressing is a gangster look so when one doesn't dress like them they're automatically labeled as whitewash. Just because someone dresss differently than the rest it does not mean we are "white-wash", it just means we're a diverse group of people with different beliefs.
Having personal experience with invisible privileges is one thing, but conversing with the people and knowing their personal experience helps understand more of it. What people don't realize is that invisible privileges are everywhere. From getting a better job because someone is white, to being searched in the airport because someone is Islamic. But when asked, people didn't know much about it when we did an interview with people of our own ethnicity. That was surprising to hear people say since hispanics say they have problems just because of their skin color. I was predicting a list of reasons of how they see privileges given to them or not given to them. But what was weird was that even though they said that they didn't have any when asked the question if they thought that people were treated differently they automatically said yes without thinking about it. Yet, they didn't have their reasons of how it is that way. From what I observed, I thought that they responded this way because they just didn't want to be labeled as being racist or anything negative.
I was lucky enough to talk to a young woman who goes to college and talked about her invisible privileges. She said that her privilege was being able to get accepted into more colleges thanks to scholarships given to hispanics. That is something that is a major plus since most Mexicans don't go to college due to the fact that they do not have enough money to succeed. Something that she thought wasn't worth having as a privilege was not being accepted in society. I didn't quite understand her reason for that but then as I thought more of it I understood her reasoning for it. Being Mexicans in college might be difficult for her since maybe not many Mexicans attend there so she might be intimidated by the other ethnicities and how they treat her. If that is true to her, then that is a major problem that could determine her future if it does not get better. Knowing this information, privileges that Mexicans do not have like that is vital because if we aren't treated correctly treated, it could change our future dramatically for the worse.
Historical moments helped shaped our future with invisible privileges and just increased the majority of invisible privileges. For most of the people of the world, invisible privileges are something that will hurt and bother people for days to come. But hopefully, one day, people will band together to fight off and live in a better place where everyone has the same right and no one has privileges over any other person. We can only hope that America, the land of the free, that it stays like that and we get over the fact that there are invisible privileges and actually make them invisible and avoid further conflict within our country and hopefully world wide.
Citation and Sources:
Hispanic "Heritage Events in Hispanic American History"
5 May 2010
People & Events "The Zoot Suit Riots of 1943"5 May 2010
18 May
Los Braceros "The Bracero Program"
17 May
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