Increased Discrimination Against Hispanics

This entry is part 12 of 25 in the series Not In Our Town

This entry is part 73 of 106 in the series This I Believe

This entry is part 17 of 23 in the series Language and Power

The issue I decided to focus on was the increased discrimination against hispanics. I am passionate about this issue because my entire family is hispanic (my parents are both Colombian immigrants), and we have experienced discrimination from ignorant people. I have seen is first hand since I was a child, we would be a Target and some crazy old man would see us and immediately get angered and start sputtering insults towards my entire race. I have always been aware of the gap between my family, and white families. In a way, sometimes we are treated like we are inferior or less “civilized”. It is completely untrue, people aren’t aware of how rich hispanics are in diversity, culture, and history. It makes me especially upset that Donald Trump, this country’s president, is basically using social media and his influence to encourage this behavior towards hispanics/hispanic immigrants. He uses his power position to persuade other people to believe that we deserve to be discriminated against. Everything about it makes me angry, it is my people and my family. And sometimes I feel like there’s nothing I can do about it. I focused on this project to see actual evidence of the discrimination.

I know that the issue has escalated since Trump was elected president because he exhibits racist behavior. I knew there were political actions being taken against immigrants. The president favors white people, that’s something everyone is aware of. Now I have seen actual surveys that show there are high percentages of Hispanics who feel the same way. I have also been able to learn about actual laws that have taken away the human rights and benefits of the Hispanic people.