In the past four decades, the population of Latinos in the United States has increased drastically ( Massey & Pren, 2012 ). Following the dramatic increase in Latino population in the United States, the U.S. government created the term ‘Hispanic’ to aid in the clarification of the identities of “Latinos.” In other terms, the United States government uses the term Hispanic to describe people who originated from Spain or other Spanish speaking countries. However, the use of the term Hispanic to label and identify Latinos is incorrect. The reason attributed to this assertion is that some individuals identified as Latinos do not originate from Spain but other countries like Mexico, Peru, and Columbia. The use of the term Hispanic homogenizes the varied ethnic, racial, and social backgrounds accompanied by personal experiences, interests, and political beliefs associated with the Latin Americans. Therefore, it is apparent that the method that the U.S government uses to identify various ethnic groups living in the country creates a negative connotation and identifies the Latinos inaccurately. The term Latino is utilized to describe a geographically derived national origin group that has been constantly and consistently viewed and treated as a racial. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the identity and the lives of the Latin Americans in the United States.
According to Oboler (1995), the term Hispanic does not recognize the extremely rich ethnic and racial diversity of Latin Americans Argentines of Italian, German or French descent, Mexicans of Irish or Japanese ancestry. The author adds that the term Hispanic fails to recognize "Cubans with Spanish, Lebanese, African or Chinese forebears; Peruvians of English, Russian-Jewish or Inca lineage; Venezuelans of Polish or Uruguayan stock; and Brazilians of Korean or Greek heritage” (Oboler, 1995). As a result of the organization methods that the U.S. government imposes on social classes, an increase in the amount of Latinos in the nation makes it difficult to label all people with a true identity. On an additional note, Massey & Pren (2012 ) asserts that the Latino population of the United States has transformed from a small and ethnically segmented population of Mexicans in the Southwest, Puerto Ricans in New York, and Cubans in Miami into a large national population comprising of Mexicans, South Americans, and Central Americans. The transformation has occurred as a result of mass immigration ( Massey & Pren, 2012 ). Also, Oboler refers the method that the U.S. government to label and identify ethnic groups living in the country as representational machines. In the context of political dynamics, the distribution of resources and opportunities is related directly to ethnicity, particularly ethnic labeling. In other terms, ethnic labels determine political inclusion or exclusion of the group’s members in full participation as first-class citizens in their nation ( De La Garza & Yang, 2015; Omi, n.d.). According to Joseph & LeGrand (1998), the economic, political, and cultural structures are key determinants of the level of development in a particular region. Additionally, language dominance is a key determinant of political participation in the United States. Considerably, non-English-dominant latinos (bilingual and Spanish-dominant) have access to social environments and Spanish language media that make them more and differently informed about the U.S political world than English-dominant Latinos. As such, ethnic label forms a part of the struggle of both the discriminated and the socially privileged groups alike ( Oboler, 1995) .
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Additionally, the presence of the Latinos in the United States is not enough for the U.S. government to correctly identify and characterize the population of Latinos as a wide variety of people. In light of this, both the U.S. government and public media attempts to create a fixed identity or a true meaning to a group of people to organize them for political, social, and economic structures in modern society. For instance, as Stuart Hall asserts, there is not a single way to interpret a large group of people. According to Hall, cultural studies do not focus on establishing the true meaning. Instead, they try to find out how the meaning enters the event ( Junior, 2016) . Moreover, Hall highlights that it is not until power is given to the representation of a group of people or culture that the use of word Latino becomes a reality. The reason that Hall attributes to this assertion is that culture is a system or representation ( Junior, 2016 ). The true meaning of people is their presence in society. On the same note, language externalizes the meaning that people are making of the world. In other terms, it is the language that renders the meaning that individuals are a making of the world available. The oversimplified representation of Latino people as ‘ Hispanic,' only arises when the audience validates this representation.
During the process of constructing political unity and organizing a system of social classes, the diversities of people ’ s individual characteristics, experiences and beliefs are not accounted for. The US government has a large influence on the way the Latino people are represented in society. Therefore, the method of ‘ social categorization ’ becomes a problem for the non-white groups because they become the means of stigmatization as a result of the social categorization methods imposed by the US government (Omi, n.d.).
The problems faced by Latino people in the US have been focused on maintaining ethnic group’s identities over time. Due to the US government ’ s method of categorizing and labeling people for a social and political organization, groups of people are required to be accounted for by the government, which often leads to a misconception of one's true identity. For Latinos, it is hard to separate their own political, social and economic perspectives with those established by non-Latino people in the United States. Ethnic labeling creates distinct personas whereby those who do not belong to the group adopt particular perceptions of those within the group ( Oboler, 1995) .
The United States political system incorrectly labels and groups various ethnic and cultural peoples into one group by stating that all Spanish speakers in America are simply Latino. This leads to the unintended isolation of Latino people in all aspect of life. This isolation has many ramifications in American society. One ramification is Latino people experiencing difficulties while attempting to integrate into American society. This applies to all levels of society from seeking out employment in the work force to young children attempting to make friends when they begin school. This expedites and exacerbates the creation of a social divide among Americans of different ethnic and cultural groups. This separation is contrary to American ideals of inclusion for all no matter the race, religion, or ethnicity of a particular person. This separation, although not necessarily intended, can easily be experienced by generation after generation of Latinos, due to the fact racial and ethnic divides within American society are not easily solved by legislation within the government or other official means of ending the divide.
In conclusion, the method that the U.S government uses to label and identify various ethnic groups within American society imposes a false identify on Latinos, which creates a negative connotation and categorization of Latinos living in America. Although unintended, the consequences of this labeling run deep in American society and can lead to the unnecessary and unjust social and political isolation of Latinos in America.
References
Oboler, S. (1995). Ethnic labels, Latino lives: Identity and the politics of (re) presentation in the United States . University of Minnesota Press.
Massey, D. S., & Pren, K. A. (2012). Origins of the new Latino underclass. Race and Social Problems , 4 (1), 5-17.
Omi, M. (n.d.). Theoretical Dominance: Ethnicity. Print.
De La Garza, R. O., & Yang, A. (2015). Language Dominance, Bilingualism, and Latino Political Participation in the United States. Political Science Quarterly , 130 (4), 655-699.
Joseph, G. M., & LeGrand, C. (1998). Close encounters of empire: writing the cultural history of US-Latin American relations . Duke University Press.
Junior, R. (2016). "Stuart Hall-Representation & The Media – Part 2." YouTube . Web. December 7, 2016.
