For nearly forty years, the United States government has used the word Hispanic or Latino to refer to people hailing from the Spanish-speaking countries. However, recent surveys have revealed that the people from these communities have not embraced the Hispanic or Latino words. An estimated 51 percent say that they identify themselves with their countries of origin rather than the pan-ethnic label ( Schwartz et. al. 2014) . Only 24 percent were found to agree with the pan-ethnic label. In 2015, about 56 million Latinos lived in the United States, thus becoming one of the fastest growing population in the US ( Schwartz et. al. 2014) . As a result, the number of the Hispanic community has grown over the decades. There are about 11. 7 million immigrant Mexican living in the United States as of 2014 ( Schwartz et. al. 2014) . According to statistics, Mexico accounts for an estimated 28% of all immigrants to the United States. With this increased immigration, the Hispanic community has grown significantly. This means that the other millions of Hispanic come from different cultures and Spanish speaking countries. Most of the Hispanic people do not use the term Americans as their identity. However, the US-born Hispanic tend to identify with the Americans and American more that the immigrants. Although the Hispanic population accounts for a large group, they are still a minority that receives various forms of discriminations from the dominant group which is the White population.
Discrimination is common for minority groups in the United States. About 52 percent of the Hispanic population claim to have been discriminated against or treated unfairly because of their ethnicity or race ( Ortiz & Telles, 2012) . Most Hispanics experience discrimination according to their age. For instance, about 65 percent Hispanics of the ages between 18 and 29 claim to have been discriminated in one way or another ( Almeida et. al. 2016) . On the other hand, only 35 percent of Hispanic over the age of 50 years states that they had been discriminated. Additionally, Hispanics born in the US indicated that they had been discriminated or unfairly treated than the immigrant Hispanics. However, Hispanic are less likely to say that they have experience discrimination compared to blacks ( Almeida et. al. 2016) . For the Hispanic, the concept of identity and race are important to the community. For a long time, the Hispanic population has expressed concerns about the policies that are made to target the, especially the immigrants. These policies often target the illegal immigrants and their deportations. Notably, the Hispanic community is likely to discuss their racial inequality and bias with their family and friends ( Ortiz & Telles, 2012) . About 60 percent of the Hispanic population say that the topic of racial prejudice often comes up during any conversation.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The Hispanic population is said to experience various racial barriers, a topic that brings out controversial debates ( Ortiz & Telles, 2012) . Many people from the Hispanic population experience low levels of education as compared to white and black communities. Some scholars argue that the low education levels can be attributed to the immigration of the Hispanic people who have relatively low levels of education ( Almeida et. al. 2016) . It is argued that the Hispanic community lack of education has become a reason for them to be victims of racial prejudice over the years. The community first came to the United States as labors in the farms and doing odd jobs. As a result, they were discriminated against and treated unfairly. The Mexican migrants were treated as merchandise rather than workers ( Cohen & Chavez, 2013) . However, the farm works and migrant camp works presented the Mexicans with harmony as a community. The Mexican immigrants were racially segregated as their children attended different schools from the others. Over the years, they have experienced severe barriers to economic and social integration ( Cohen & Chavez, 2013) . Scholars argue that the Hispanic population continues to lag behind in education and economic matters due to unfair treatment as well as racial prejudice. Therefore, most of them have been limited to the working class status in the society.
The issue of race among the Hispanic community has been disputed in various manners. Notably, the racial heritage of the Hispanic population has become mixed over the years with mixtures from European, indigenous and African people ( Ortiz & Telles, 2012) . Therefore, making the population heterogeneous with the racial attributes. These characteristics range from light to dark skin Hispanics. Many people tend to argue over whether the Hispanics are white, non-white, or even brown. Similarly, the people from this population also appear to be uncertain about their own identity. The Hispanics say that their population is the least successful of the minority groups in the US ( Ortiz & Telles, 2012) .
In the recent years, there has been a backlash from the US due to illegal immigrants. This has increased new divisions and significant concerns among the Hispanic populations, both the legal and undocumented immigrants ( Schwartz et. al. 2014) . Notably, there are about 11.1 million illegal immigrants of Hispanic descent. Another common bias is the assumption of resident illegality ( Ortiz & Telles, 2012) . In the United States, more than 40 million people from the Hispanic population are legally migrated, residents. Therefore, about 85 percent are legally documented, and other are American-born Hispanics. This is a justification that the Hispanics living in the US should not be discriminated based on the issue of documentation and illegal immigration. When looking at the percentage of the illegal and legal immigrants from the Hispanic community, it is clear that the legal immigrants are much more than the illegal immigrants are ( Ortiz & Telles, 2012) . However, as a result of media reporting, most people assume that all the people of the Hispanic descent are illegally living in the United States. The political class also lead in propagating the lie that the people from the Hispanic community are living illegally in the US. Due to such assumptions from the politicians, the public assumes the same and end up mistreating the Hispanic population. People from the Hispanic community have been observed to be the most hardworking, but they are at the same most mistreated in their workplaces. According to research people from the Hispanic community are discriminated against especially in the workplaces, both in the public and the private sectors. They are paid low wages, given no appreciation and poor health conditions ( Hamilton et. al. 2015) . Employers take advantage of their willingness to work for low wages, and thus they do not offer them good working conditions compared to the conditions given to the white population, which is the dominant group in the US.
In the United States, the issue of language and racism tend to have a strong bond. The dominant group, which is the Whites, tend to discriminate against the Hispanic population due to the way they speak the English language ( Schwartz et. al. 2014) . Additionally, when the Hispanics cannot speak proper English, they tend to be barred from participating in the dominant group’s culture. As the Hispanic population increases, the dominant groups of the White population have been feeling threatened. Thus, issues such as adopting a policy whereby everybody living in the United States has to speak in the English language has been pushed ( Almeida et. al. 2016) .
Discrimination in the United States, especially on minority groups such as the people from the Hispanic community has resulted in crimes. These crimes have put the Hispanic as targets of hate crimes such as hate speech and being beaten. Notably, Hispanic women are among the most discriminated people in the United States compared to other groups. Hispanic women are often associated with domestic work and low wages ( Schwartz et. al. 2014) . The Hispanic community also experiences health disparities in the country due to lack of money, insurance and reluctance to seek medical services ( Hamilton et. al. 2015) . The discrimination on the Hispanic community also appears in housing. Due to low income, the people of the Hispanic population tend to live in poor housing ( Hamilton et. al. 2015) .
People from the Hispanic population are the most interesting people to interact. From a personal level, I have many friends hailing from the Hispanic culture. Surprisingly, they come from different countries, but I feel like they speak in the same mannerism. I have also worked with a few people from the Hispanic population, and I must admit that I did not find the stereotypes. Many people assume that the people from the Hispanic community are illegal immigrants, but the ones I interacted with personally and professionally are all legal and documented. I admire their enthusiasm in working and embracing their culture. However, some have lived in the United States all their lives and thus never visited their countries of origin.
Hispanic are considered as the single minority groups rising in the United States. However, they face various discriminations just like other minority groups in the United States. The high levels of discrimination are facilitated by the media representations, linguistic factors, and resident legality. The media is seen as a tool of information to the public but also as a propagator of the issue of oppression for the minority communities. The media has been blamed for increasing the stereotypes that are related to the Hispanic community and making fun of them as non-issues. These stereotypes contribute to the biases that are seen as people work with the Hispanic community. I have interacted in many ways with the Hispanic community, but the issue of stereotypes affects my perspective. The media has been the main issue in my view of the people from the Hispanic community.
The media presents the people from the Hispanic community as drug addicts and dealers, criminals and domestic workers. Therefore, if any drug related arises when working with people from the Hispanic community, you will find that people will tend to suspect the person of Hispanic descent rather than people from other communities. Additionally, the people from the Hispanic community will always be viewed as illegal immigrants given the news from the media, even though many are documented while others are American born. Managing the issue of stereotypes and bias when dealing with the Hispanic community is not easy. However, discrimination of not the right thing. Notably, drug addicts and dealers come from all communities and criminals can rise from anywhere; thus other people from different especially the dominant white community should avoid discriminating against the Hispanic community. Political representation also plays a significant role in the way the dominant groups views the people from the Hispanic community. With the politicians calling the Hispanic community illegal migrants, the notion of discrimination against them will tend to accelerate.
The Hispanic population is made up of many different Spanish-speaking people from different countries. I find that I cannot differentiate for instance a Mexican and a Puerto Rican. I would love to understand the differences, as I find them to have almost similar cultures and way of speaking. I would also want to know more why they have been stereotyped with drugs and whether they view the issue of drugs as a major problem in their countries. I have also enjoyed the way the Hispanic population focuses and embraces family. I would love to know how the culture helps them as a people in a foreign and in their countries of origin.
References
Almeida, J., Biello, K. B., Pedraza, F., Wintner, S., & Viruell-Fuentes, E. (2016). The association between anti-immigrant policies and perceived discrimination among Latinos in the US: A multilevel analysis. SSM-Population Health , 2 , 897-903.
Cohen, J. H., & Chavez, N. M. (2013). Latino immigrants, discrimination and reception in Columbus, Ohio. International Migration , 51 (2), 24-31.
Hamilton, T. G., Palermo, T., & Green, T. L. (2015). Health Assimilation among Hispanic Immigrants in the United States the Impact of Ignoring Arrival-cohort Effects. Journal of health and social behavior , 0022146515611179.
Ortiz, V., & Telles, E. (2012). Racial identity and racial treatment of Mexican Americans. Race and social problems , 4 (1), 41-56.
Schwartz, S. J., Unger, J. B., Lorenzo-Blanco, E. I., Des Rosiers, S. E., Villamar, J. A., Soto, D. W., ... & Szapocznik, J. (2014). Perceived context of reception among recent Hispanic immigrants: Conceptualization, instrument development, and preliminary validation. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology , 20 (1), 1.
