Hispanic American diversity and cultural variations

True Diversity of Hispanic-Americans

The recent controversy over illegal immigration has centered almost entirely on people of Hispanic descent, primarily those making their way into the country over the Mexican border. This centralized source of the controversy and attention towards Hispanic minority groups is perhaps one reason that the term "Mexican" has become essentially indistinguishable from the term "Hispanic" the way many people use it. This demonstrates a definite and indeed almost willful lack of understanding on the part of individuals who use the word so indiscriminately. While the United States' history and its current border with Mexico have led to a large number of Mexican-Americans living in the United States, they are far from the only Hispanic group that makes up a portion of the American citizenry. Hispanics from many different national and cultural backgrounds have made their home here, and developing a true understanding of and appreciation for the diversity of individuals that make up the full population of "Hispanic-Americans" does not take a great deal of effort.

The commonality of language -- which is not actually as completely common as many might think -- is one of the primary similarities between different groups of Hispanic-Americans. Other similarities might seem to exist in the broad view of the "typical" (i.e. essentially white and European) American perspective, which has a tendency to lump together anything that is "other," but this does not, of course, change reality. Differences in familial and political values and many other cultural elements exist in different Hispanic groups, as can clearly be seen by even a brief examination.

Mexican-Americans

Mexican-Americans make up the vast majority of Hispanics in the country, with twenty-five million individuals identifying as Mexican-American. Predominantly Catholic, though with varying degrees of religious observance, Mexican-Americans often live with extended families, and the majority of Mexican-Americans (as with all Hispanics) live in metropolitan areas. Proportionately, Mexican-Americans are more likely to be economically disadvantaged than are non-minorities, and this fact mixed with their religious identity has led to a blend of certain liberal and other conservative political values. The current immigration issue is pushing Mexican-Americans along with other Hispanics more towards liberal political views containing broader liberties to minorities and immigrants.

Puerto Ricans

Puerto Ricans are unique among Hispanic-Americans in that their native country is also a U.S. territory, meaning that they are full U.S. citizens even if they are born in Puerto Rico -- something that is not true of Mexican-Americans born in Mexico, for example. Previously residing almost entirely in New York City, Puerto Ricans have no begun to spread around the country. Thirty-nine percent of Puerto Ricans are speak English as their dominant language, and an additional forty percent are fully bilingual, largely due to Puerto Rico's status as a territory. Large families are less likely to live together, possibly due to the larger linguistic comfort of this group, and Puerto Ricans also tend to have more liberal political views.

Cuban Americans

Cuban Americans have made communities in Florida since the first half of the nineteenth century, but have remained in this country only in small numbers until relatively recently. Still, they have managed to achieve greater success in the United States than many other Hispanic groups by certain measures; Cuban Americans have higher college completion rates and are generally better off economically than most other Hispanic groups. In part due to the history of Cuba and the Communist regime established there -- and the backlash against this regime that caused much of the Cuban migration to this country -- many Cuban Americans also hold more conservative political views than do other Hispanic-Americans.

Central and South Americans

Though comprising a diverse group in and of themselves, Hispanic-Americans hailing from Central and South America make up a small yet growing proportion of the Hispanic-Americans living in the United States. Hispanics from countries like Nicaragua, Honduras, Brazil, and Chile are similar to other Hispanic-Americans in many ways, including having Catholicism as their dominant religion, but many have different family structures and other vast cultural differences. Political differences also exist in ways similar to the differences noted among Cuban Americans; political views of immigrant and immigrant descendants in this country can often depend on the different political backgrounds in these peoples' countries of origin, as many fled political upheaval and oppressive regimes.

Major Similarities and Differences

There are, of course, many significant similarities between the various Hispanic-American groups that currently exist in this country, for a variety of historical reasons. Spanish is a native language common to the vast majority of Hispanic-Americans, especially immigrants who were not born in the United States and even many individuals who identify as Hispanic-Americans that were in fact born here. Catholicism is also a common religion among many of these people, and both the language and the religion are so common among these immigrant groups precisely because the Spanish were the earliest and the most extensive European force at work in the New World, especially south of what is now the United States.