Latino Americans: 500 Years of History

Latino Americans: 500 Years of History

On January 19th, 2016, an event was hosted by Dr. David Tegeder, Academic Chair Social & Behavioral Sciences at Santa Fe College, for a screening and discussion of Latino Americans, Episode 5, Prejudice and Pride (1965-1980). The film highlighted the generation of Mexican Americans of the 1960s and 1970s; explaining the struggles and barriers the Hispanics, as a whole, had to go through for the formation of a new “Chicano” identity.

Just like the Civil rights movement organized by Martin Luther King, Jr. in the South of the United States, Cesar Chavez, an American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist, organized the Chicano movement in an attempt to stop the oppression and racism that the Mexican Americans had to suffer since the end of World War II. The Chicano Movement of the 1960s, also called the Chicano Civil Rights Movement, also known as El Movimiento, is an extension of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement which began in the 1940s with the stated goal of achieving Mexican American empowerment (Google). At the beginning of the show, the host also underlined the fact that these were some of the few movements that helped shape the United States the way it is today. To some extent, the film, Latino Americans, Episode 5, Prejudice and Pride, exhibited the amount of suffering and oppression a person is capable of going through to satisfy and live the individuals view of a good life and the amount of happiness it can bring, not only in the particular individual’s life, but in the lives of a an entire ethnic group for many years to come. Even though he (Cesar Chavez) knew that he would not be able to enjoy the fruits of his labor during his life time (Latino Americans, Episode 5, Prejudice and Pride), he still believed in what he was doing. He knew that he was doing the right thing for a group of individual who were being obliterated and exploited just because of their identity.

The film helped recollect the stories of the Prophets of different religions, who had to go through tremendous sufferings for doing the right thing for the entire human generation. No matter what comes in your way, never give up in your belief and notion of good life that would help make this a better life, not only for yourself but also fir the future generations to come.

Works Cited:

"Latino Americans." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 31 Jan.2016.

"Google." Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2016.