Academic Level
Description of Target Population
The Mexicans in the United States comprise a majority of the Hispanics and Latinos (Naylor, 1997). In the recent times the illegal immigrants from Mexico started becoming an increasingly bigger part of the laborers in the livestock, agriculture, construction and other service industries, due to the work conditions they formed their own unions to look into their rights. The majority of Mexicans are Roman Catholics by religion (Naylon, 1997).
Naylon notes that the Mexican Americans are ethnically a diverse population and here we get groupings of various ancestries including indigenous, European and from the Middle East with the main grouping being mainly Mestizos. From its inception, the Bureau of statistics had not recognized the Mexicans as either White or Black, and there was some confusion regarding their races. There was a time that they were reported as ‘Mex' but they were later to be categorized as White. There were times when they were treated as Whites but when it came to receiving some services they were discriminated upon for not being Whites and they were not even allowed to vote and hold an elected office and received the same treatment as Blacks. They were further discriminated upon in job opportunities and most organizations treated them as second rate citizens to Whites, and their employment was limited to guest worker programs. They form the majority of illegal immigrants and provide a source for cheap labor in the United States. They continue to endure many forms of discrimination and negative stereotypes. This is the brief description of the Mexican Americans.
Advocacy Processes that are Equitable and Responsive to their Unique Needs
Cooper, Torres and Howard-Hamilton (2013) agree that this target population has some unique needs in the sense that they are at times treated as Whites, and there are other times that they are treated as colored or blacks. These issues are further compounded by their different ancestral backgrounds. Therefore, it appears that they are not quite sure of the kind of treatment to expect from the government, public institutions and various other organizations. From their racial classification, rights to vote, holding elected offices, discrimination and stereotypes. In addition, there is their social status and assimilation, immigration issues, intermarriage issues, segregation in housing, schools and other sectors.
It is the responsibility of the government to move in and take care of their special needs. During their registration when they are applying for identification the government should decide whether they should be White or Blacks. The idea of having them in between brings a lot of confusion in the treatment to expect from various sectors. It could have been better for them to be looked at as belonging to one specific grouping in order to identify with the challenges within that specific group and plan on how to overcome them. In some cases the first form of treatment may involve mediating in one’s culture; here it becomes difficult since the clinician might assume the cultural identity of the patient leading easily to misdiagnosis. This in effect can lead one not to receive the appropriate form of medical care. They do suffer from segregation based on the fact that they are Latinos and not Whites. It is agreed that the reason the members in this grouping face this form of treatment is not because they are not White, but it is by the fact that they are likely to be having a lower socioeconomic status. In the places of work, they suffered discrimination by getting a lower wage for the same work due to the institutionalized higher wages for the Whites in comparison to the Mexican wages.
National Policy Impact on Delivery or Accessibility of Services
The national public policies failed to address the special unique needs of such diverse cultural groupings. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that its citizens receive services without any biases or forms of discrimination of any form. There should be national policies to safeguard against discrimination in the areas of immigration, labor, healthcare and education among others.
There should have been a national policy that should have treated them in an all-inclusive manner irrespective of their divergent cultural differences (Cooper et al. 2013). The area of healthcare calls for an understanding of the patient's cultural background for effective delivery of treatment to the individual. There are cultures where treatment is taken as a community responsibility, and there are others that treat it as an individual responsibility. With such knowledge then the clinician would be in a position to know how to apply the form of treatment that is most in line with the cultural alignment of the patient. Their cultural beliefs of the patient would have a significant impact on the form of treatment to be preferred. It calls for an understanding of these for one to be able to deal with the cultural beliefs that may interfere with the patient's acceptance to specific forms of treatment.
There was confusion in the form of classification from the inception of the bureau of registration. There was a time when American citizenship was based on the skin color, and one would qualify to be a citizen based on the whiteness of the skin color. At the same time the bureau had only two forms of classification, black or white, and an emergent grouping felt that the Mexican groupings were neither black nor white but needed to have a special class formed for them that would be in between these two races. Later the bureau came up with the Mex to imply the Mexicans but there was no clear distinction on how they would be perceived by the various organizations. As an example, during World War II they were allowed to serve in all-white units but the war veterans were discriminated upon when it came to receiving medical services back in the United States.
Three Community Strategies Appropriate for this Group
The culturally diverse population within the local group our current area of residence can have the following strategies in dealing with them. According to Cooper et al. (2013) for a start, studies can be undertaken to know their different modes of assimilation to the United States in order to know how to deal with them. The local treatment center can have an additional part in the registration part that would require specific questions that would identify their cultural backgrounds. The other strategy would be for them to form a welfare society or grouping that would then educate them and assist them to deal with the various perceptions that the community has about them. This organization would further assist them in adoption of the different commonly accepted values within the American society. Lastly websites can be established which would encourage discussion forums that would come up with the best solutions in tackling problems arising from their diverse cultures.
Community Resources Internet Links
The following three internet links would come in handy in dealing with the Mexican Americans. www.aama.org, www.macsa.org, www.maof.org and www.mexican-american.org.
Reference
Cooper, D. L., Torres, V., & Howard-Hamilton, M. F. (2013). Identity development of diverse populations: Implications for teaching and administration in higher education. San Francisco, Calif: Jossey-Bass.
Naylor, L. L. (1997). Cultural Diversity in the United States. Westport, Conn. [u.a.: Bergin & Garvey.
