Tweet
We all know what a cruel and inhumane country America was no more than 50 years ago. Their treatment of African Americans was barbaric and unjust but what about the other minority, Mexican Americans?
Land should never be for sale, these people grew up on it, they farmed it for it's resources. To them, that was their livelihood and their home. It's astounding how deceitful a country like the USA is, first they kill those who protect their land and families. After the war, they offer a promise to allow them to stay, but then they force them out.
I knew America stole land, but didn't realise they made a promise that would later be broken.
What was completely new to me though was the cases where Mexicans were lynched.
To my knowledge it was predominantly African Americans who were victim and possibly a small percentage of other races.
Horrendous statistics, something only comparable to an extermination. Lynching is used to punish an individual who was escaped the ' hand of justice ' but was obviously used for other means.
Are there any Mexicans here that didn't even know about these events? It seems like USA has done well hiding their skeletons in a big fucking closet.
The Texas Rangers were also known to brutally repress the Mexican-American population in Texas. Historians estimate that hundreds, perhaps even thousands of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans were killed by the Texas Rangers.
It's incredible to think how many people we are talking about. This isn't 20,000 or even 100,000, this is half a million people being forced out of their homes.
The Mexican people were treated like pests on their own land. They were removed or killed without no reason except their ethnicity.
World War 2, between 250,000 and 500,000 Hispanic Americans fought for USA. Just decades before they were being lynched, killed and removed by the very people they were fighting to protect.
Felix Longoria, a young man who died in duty protecting the USA was refused a proper funeral service because he was Mexican American.
When reading the above quote, I remembered the article Tunney posted about white people being beaten up by ethnic minorities. But how can we complain when the same was done to them?
This is something else brushed under the carpet. I know of racial segregation between blacks/white on the bus, public places etc. But did not realise such events occurred against Mexicans.
The harm done to the Mexican people is as bad as how African Americans were treated, but not as well publicised. They were mocked and embarrassed as the USA stole their homes, land and opportunities. As the Mexican American population continues to increase in America, the tensions will too. But it is not the Mexican people who are out of place, it is the white man who stole the land from them.
After the United States' victory over Mexico in the Mexican-American War (1846–1848), Mexico was forced to sign the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. This treaty required Mexico to cede over half its land to the United States in exchange for 15 million dollars. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo also guaranteed that Mexican citizens living in ceded lands would retain property rights and would be given United States citizenship if they remained in ceded lands for at least one year. However, the property rights of Mexicans were ignored by the United States government and local officials. Mexicans were systematically forced from lands which their families had held for generations in many cases.
I knew America stole land, but didn't realise they made a promise that would later be broken.
What was completely new to me though was the cases where Mexicans were lynched.
Mexicans were lynched at a rate of 27.4 per 100,000 of population between 1880 and 1930. This statistic is second only to that of the African American community during that period, which suffered an average of 37.1 per 100,000 population.
Between 1848 to 1879, Mexicans were lynched at an unprecedented rate of 473 per 100,000 of population.
July 5, 1851 when a Mexican woman named Josefa Segovia was lynched by a mob in Downieville, California. She was accused of killing a white man who had attempted to assault her after breaking into her home.
Between 1848 and 1860, at least 163 Mexicans were lynched in California alone.
Are there any Mexicans here that didn't even know about these events? It seems like USA has done well hiding their skeletons in a big fucking closet.
The Texas Rangers were also known to brutally repress the Mexican-American population in Texas. Historians estimate that hundreds, perhaps even thousands of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans were killed by the Texas Rangers.
During The Great Depression, the United States government sponsored a Mexican Repatriation program which was intended to encourage people to voluntarily move to Mexico, but thousands were deported against their will. More than 500,000 individuals were deported, one source estimates that approximately 60 percent of which were actually United States citizens.
The Mexican people were treated like pests on their own land. They were removed or killed without no reason except their ethnicity.
World War 2, between 250,000 and 500,000 Hispanic Americans fought for USA. Just decades before they were being lynched, killed and removed by the very people they were fighting to protect.
..many Mexican American war veterans were discriminated against and even denied medical services by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs when they arrived home.
The worst of the rioting occurred on June 9, during which 5,000 servicemen and civilians gathered in downtown Los Angeles and attacked Mexican-American zoot suiters and non-zoot suiters alike. The rioting eventually spread to the predominantly African American neighborhood of Watts.
Mexican American school children were subject to racial segregation in the public school system. They were forced to attend "Mexican schools" in California.
The harm done to the Mexican people is as bad as how African Americans were treated, but not as well publicised. They were mocked and embarrassed as the USA stole their homes, land and opportunities. As the Mexican American population continues to increase in America, the tensions will too. But it is not the Mexican people who are out of place, it is the white man who stole the land from them.
Comment