Introduction
In her book How Race is Made in America, Molina pointed out how racial scripts “highlights the ways in which the lives of racialized groups are linked across time and space” (Molina, 6). The author came of this concept based on her examination of Mexican immigration from 1924 to 1965. According to Molina, she observed that during this specific period of time, a characteristic of the immigrants such as their customs, and practices as well as policies applicable to their group tend to define their racial category. She further claimed that the establishment of this racial definition resulted to its ease of application to other groups. Molina’s concept of racial scripts is valuable in the examination of the factors that shaped immigrant histories and experiences.
The Mexican Americans
The Mexican immigration to the United States occupy a distinctive place in the history of immigration in the country. There are millions of Mexicans that arrived in the country during the 20th century, and this can be attributed to the proximity of Mexico to the United States. The immigration policies of the US towards the Mexicans were sometimes lenient, while there are instances when they are restrictive and these were largely impacted by the need of the country for workers during the fast paced industrialization especially in the southwestern part of the United States. This means that the extent by which the US developed its immigration policies are largely dictated by its global economic standing. It was in 1917 when the US started to impose restrictions on the entry of immigrants, and the escalation of anti-Mexican immigrant sentiments that was largely escalated by “inaccurate reports of Mexicans posing health problems and representing a bad moral influence on American citizens” (Garcia, 20).
Consequently, many scholars implied that the years between 1848 to 1930 were the pivotal period that shaped how the Mexicans were viewed legally, socially and culturally (Molina, 5). While the Mexican Americans became a prominent group in the US, they remain to be categorized as one among the racialized groups, whose lives are linked and affected by the lives of others in that category. The reason why racialized groups were said to be affected by other groups and can likewise affect others can be attributed to the ease of application of perceived attitudes, practices, customs, policies and laws directed to one group to that of the other (Molina, 7).
An aspect that represented the observance of racial scripts among Mexicans was made sometime in the 1930s, when Mexicans were associated with slavery. A report by Roy Garis, an economics professor in Vanderbilt Univeristy showed a result of his
study in the southwestern part of the country where a large number of Mexicans settled. In his report, Garis emphasized the words of Abraham Lincoln, where he said, “this country cannot endure half slave and half free” (Molina, 19). The report was made in complete disregard of the positive impact of the cheap labor provided by the Mexicans to the growth of American industries. It is to be noted that the Anglo-Americans have an immigrant origin, yet they generally treated the new immigrants in the United States with indifference. Further, during the developing stage of most US industries, “the US commerce promotes the virtues of America and its ‘American Dream’ of unbounded opportunity for the hardest worker ” (Santa Ana, 65). The immigrants were more than willing to take the most undesirable and lowest-paid jobs that were frowned upon by the white Americans. Yet, the economics professor aimed to induce the idea that the presence of the Mexicans in the country posed a negative impact on the sociopolitical and cultural effects on US society in the same way as the institution of slavery did. This resulted to the negative perception held against the Mexicans who were mirrored as a group who were out to compete for the opportunities that was supposed to be available only to the white Americans.
The majority of the Americans post the 1924 period looked upon the Mexican immigrants as undesirable and even referred to them as the ‘Negro problem’ in the southwestern part of the country. The Americans were blunt in expressing their superiority, and did so by comparing the “Mexicans to other groups who had already been defined and established as non-white, nonnormative, and unfit for self-government” (Molina, 22). While the Mexicans were spared by the 1924 law on immigration, they were not welcomed as having an equal standing with that of the white Americans. Rather, their role was largely to fill the needs of American industries for cheap labor.
The Asian Immigrants, and Mexicans as Racialized Groups
Another implication of the racial scripts as pointed out by Molina were the many instances when Mexicans were treated like their Asian counterparts. Just like the Mexicans, the Asians came to the United States either through a legal or illegal means. Most of them generally came at the invitation of friends and relatives in the country. Some of the reasons of immigration include the reunification with family members and to seek better employments (Golash-Boza, 15). In 1924 the Immigration Act limited the entry of many Europeans, and it completely barred the Asians from immigrating to the country.
While the Mexicans were not largely affected by the Immigration Act of 1924, people started to question why the law specifically targeted some groups such as the Asians while it spared the Mexicans. Accordingly, the reason why the Mexicans were spared from the policies of immigration during that time can be attributed to the fact that they are a racialized group who have an extensive social, cultural and economic relations with the Americans. However, while there was a closer relationship between the Americans and the Mexican immigrants, the former always wanted a superior status. Thus, in order to differentiate themselves from the Mexicans, the Americans made concerted effort to show how the Mexicans were under the category of non-whites (Molina, 44).
In a Supreme Court Decision sometime in 1922, the verdict on the case between Ozawa v. United States was one among the contributory factor in the concept that non-whites. This was reinforced when again, the Supreme Court of the United States favored against the Bhagat Sign Think in the United States v. Bhagat Sign Thind case in the subsequent year (Molina, 49). These two cases that were decided against the Asians was argued to have played an important role in shaping the idea about the Mexicans. According to how Molina pointed out, the Mexicans were racialized in relation to other groups. That is, just like the Asians who were non-whites, the Mexicans were also labeled according to that category and this can be attributed to the fact that white Americans refused to consider that the Mexicans were of an equal status as they.
During the late 19th century, the immigration laws of the United States completely barred the entry of Chinese in the United States, and this form of discrimination lasted in 1965 when the immigration quota imposed on Chinese people were lifted (Lopez, 1996). The historical basis of this discrimination was founded on the nativist sentiment against the Irish and German Catholics who settled in parts of the East Coast and towards the Chinese and the Mexicans who opted to build their community in the West Coast (Lopez, 27). The Chinese and other Asians suffered from the discriminatory laws that excluded them from having the right to enter the United States.
Repositioning the Mexicans in the Lower Order
There was an absence of certain guidelines that can completely exclude the Mexican immigrants in the racial order. Thus, there was a need to categorize them as non-whites to relegate them in the lower racial order and to eventually restrict their entry to the United States. It is to be noted hat historically, the Mexicans who entered the United States after the U. S-Mexican war was already linked to two aspects of racial scripts, that is of indigeneity and whiteness (Molina, 24). Accordingly, the historical inferiority of the Mexicans was justified be reference to their indigenous roots. They were not considered as one of the white-Americans, and while there was an effort to accept them as part of the American society, this was only acceptable for as long as they maintain an inferior or lower status compared to the Americans.
Other Race and their Impact to the Mexicans
In the older guidelines, the Mexicans were considered as whites, but nevertheless were culturally referred to as different and inferior than their white American counterparts. When the Mexicans came to the United States after the Mexican American war, there were already many racial scripts that immediately affected how they were viewed in the society. For example, the systematic and institutionalized racism that was directed at African Americans and Indians in terms of their citizenship, right to property, and systems of unfreedom “meant that when Mexicans were forcibly incorporated into the United States, they were stepping onto an uneven playing field” (Molina, 24).
Conclusion
The Mexicans and Asian immigrants in the United States has considerably suffered from unfair treatment in the American society, especially during the early years of immigration to the country. They were not only made to endure the inequality that was directed against their race and culture, but they also have to bear the brunt of racial inequities thrown to other races. The Mexicans and the Asians were two of the races that were prejudiced based on the biased against another race. When the Chinese were expressly banned from entering the U.S, there was a question on why the same law was not applicable to the Mexicans. While the immigration law was not as restrictive as the Mexicans, they remain to suffer the consequence of having to be classified as a second class citizen. Some Supreme Court decisions also bluntly pointed the difference between the white Americans and the non-whites, which added to the pain of racialization of the Mexicans.
Works Cited
Garcia, Alma. The Mexican Americans. Greenwood Publishing Group. 2002. Print.
Golash-Boza, Tanya Maria. Immigration Nation. Routledge. 2011. Print.
Lopez, Ian. While by Law: The legal construction of race. New York University Press. Print.
Molina, Natalia. How Race is Made in America: Immigration, citizenship, and the Historical Power of Racia Scripts. EBSCO Publishing. Print.
Santa Ana, Otto. Brown Tide Rising: Metaphors of Latinos in Contemporary American Public Disclosure. University of Texas Press. 2010. Print.
