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The interviewer (a confused young person) is asking an older generation Mexican-American about his experience with segregation and desegregation - only to find out that the story has nothing to do with Mexicans.
This man is completely honest that Mexicans went to school with Anglos, were in the same classes with Anglos, and used white public facilities without issue - long before integration.
He also points out that there was no relationship between blacks and Mexicans before integration. There was no notion of "Black and Brown" or "Blacks and Latinos" in Texas.
Neither "Mexican" nor "Hispanic" is a race. "Mexican" is a term of national origin. "Hispanic" is a term that means one's ancestry or background can be traced to Spain. (Brazilians are not Hispanic.)
Most Mexicans (and Mexican Americans) are of "mestizo" race which means they have both Spanish and Indian ancestry. There are a few Mexicans with African ancestry and some who have little or no Indian ancestry.
Hispanics in the Americas are of all races and combinations thereof.
In Texas, at least, mestizo Mexicans were traditionally considered "white" since they are not black.
Yes, there was discrimination against them. That discrimination did not come because they were considered "non white" but because of their ethnicity and religion. (Ethnicity is not race, and of course neither is religion.) You can't say that Irish immigrants weren't white, but they were discriminated against, as were Italians. (There weren't a lot of either in Texas.) That was because of ethnicity and religion.
The experience of Puerto Ricans and Cubans is only peripherally related to that of Mexicans and Mexican Americans since regions where there were a lot of Mexicans didn't have a lot of Cubans or Puerto Ricans, and vice versa. And the experiences of people growing up in Minnesota REALLY don't have anything to do with the experience of Mexican Americans in the segregated south.
Tritone is trying to say it is disingeonous for hispanics to say they suffered the same level of discrinmiation as AA did back in the day.
They are trying to make themselves look like victims and undermine AA's struggle for Civil Rights.
He or she is right 100%.
It's about getting the historical record straight. What's happening is an attempt to fundamentally rewrite American history. It's not a quibble over who suffered more, or the "oppression olympics". I can be sympathetic to the white-ethnic struggles of Italians, the Irish, Poles and Mexicans - but they were absolutely not riding on the back of buses with black people. That's something that completely didn't happen.
The period of legal segregation is a large part of this nations history, and a new wave of revisionism is claiming that all "people of color" were segregated in the "colored" section with blacks. It's even being taught in schools. That's just not true. It's a myth that needs to be dispelled.
When America was segregated, black people were "colored" and used colored facilities. Everybody else was white. The Chinese and the brownest most Mexican-looking people in Texas indeed drank from WHITE water fountains and used white public facilities. Because the concept of race and ethnicity is so different today, people just refuse to believe this. That's why it's so fortunate that we have video recorded first-hand accounts of Mexicans explaining their lived experience in the era of segregation.
They were not segregated legally, as Blacks were. However, the treatment was similar, with restaurants telling darker Mexican Americans to leave.
There were some highly publicized incidents of Mexicans being denied service at restaurants, but normally "brown" Mexicans could do anything that was for whites only in Texas. The whole state of Texas watched Mexicans go to white schools and public places every day.
In Texas, Mexicans/Mexican Americans have always been considered racially white. There has been plenty of prejudice but for other reasons.
Mexican Americans were considered to be legally white on paper. Whether or nor they were socially accepted as white could vary depending on the local area and the Mexican American in question.
Here is an example of a fallen Mexican American soldier being denied burial services in a white funeral home (socially not accepted as white in that area). The cemetery was also divided into white and Mexican sections.
Mexican Americans were considered to be legally white on paper. Whether or nor they were socially accepted as white could vary depending on the local area and the Mexican American in question.
Here is an example of a fallen Mexican American soldier being denied burial services in a white funeral home (socially not accepted as white in that area). The cemetery was also divided into white and Mexican sections.
There were incidents of Mexican exclusion and social discrimination. The reason that made the news was because it was not normal.
Normally, the brownest most Mexican-looking people could do anything that was for whites only in Texas. They experienced social discrimination in a segregated white context - like going to white schools but being bullied or not being allowed to speak Spanish, etc
Brown "indian-looking" Mexicans did in fact use white public facilities in Texas without a problem. No one said anything about it.
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