{"article":{"id":95663,"heading":"A History of Racism in California","author":"Jennifer Montoya","created":"2003-11-27 22:35:31","modified":"2003-11-27 22:35:31","last_modified":"Fri, 28 Nov 2003 05:35:31","article":"

>Anyone know of any resources on the dynamics of assimilation to

whiteness today?



I think that Hispanic families constructing a white Spanish heritage

while being silent about our mestizaje is not the same as the

processes that assimilated Irish and Jews into US whitness. Among

mixed communities of color, be they Filipino, Caribbean, Mexican or

whatever, there are oftentimes certain strains of emphasis on

whitening family trees, but that has been going on for centuries and

hasn't assimilated any of our communties to whiteness, while that

happened comparatively rapidly for Irish and Jews in the US.



In terms of the racialized position of Chicanos within the law, my

understanding is that this was a point of contention when the Treaty

of Guadalupe Hidalgo was negotiated. The Mexican government lobbied

for Mexicans living in the ceded territories to be classified as

white because at the time whiteness was required for naturalized US

citizenship. We got our citizenship, but there was nothing written

into the Treaty about our racial classification - we entered this

funny liminal space. I don't know all about the long legal history

of classifications and reclassifications of Mexicans as variously

white or non-white, but here are a few interesting tidbits that I

recall:



Before 1965 there were these immigration quotas that encouraged

immigration of white folks and not of colored folks. During this pre-

1965 period, when US agribusiness required Mexican migrant laborers,

Mexicans were classified as white (example: 1920 census,) so that

immigration could be expedited. When Mexican migrants were no longer

desired because the economy was not doing well, we were reclassified

as non-white (example: 1930 census,) so that is would be easier to

kick us out, whether or not we were US citizens (ie Operation

Wetback.)



Also there are many court rulings that used Mexicans' sometime legal

whiteness to deny racial justice to both blacks and Chicanos. For

example, there are a whole series of rulings saying that it was

impossible to \"racially discriminate\" against Chicanos in jury

selection or in school segregation, since we were legally white,

even if not socially white. Instead it was argued that what was

going on was \"cultural and linguistic segregation\" which was A-OK.

Also in the aftermath of Brown vs. the Board of Ed, California and

Texas \"desegregated\" certain schools by integrating black schools

with Mexican (\"white\") schools in order to comply with the letter of

the ruling but avoid shifting any resources towards children of

color.



Ok, that's all the news that's fit to print.



Jenny







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