VIVA LA RAZA SPRINGBOARDS®

SEEDS OF HATE

Copyright © 1972 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Al l rights reserved.

PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION

When the northern lands of Mexico became part of the United States, some Anglos used guns, threats, and tricks to take the land away from its Mexican owners. In the years since then, many businesses in the Southwest have refused to hire Mexican-Americans. Those businesses that have hired Mexican-Americans often kept them in low paying jobs. Until recently, Mexican-Americans were often not allowed to eat in Anglo restaurants, attend Anglo schools, or use Anglo barber shops and swimming pools. Chicano soldiers had seen members of La Raza die for the American way of life and they found these things hard to accept.

These practices are all examples of prejudice and discrimination. Prejudice is an irrational feeling of hostility toward some people because of their sup-posed undesirable characteristics. Discrimination is treating one group of people unfairly or differently than other groups of people. Though coming face-to-face with discrimination is ugly and painful, discrim-ination is impersonal. By understanding that these feelings of hostility are part of a large pattern of attitudes and behavior, perhaps we can limit or control our own prejudices.

WHAT IS A STEREOTYPE?

The "Good Guys" and the "Bad Guys" When people think of cowboys, they think of the

old American West. The popularity of our cowboy legends can be seen in the great number of Western

movies and television programs. In these shows, it is usually the Anglo who is fast with a gun and good at handling a horse. The brave Anglo is the "good guy" who righteously battles all the "bad guys." When a Mexican appears in a Western, he is more likely to be sitting against a white adobe hut with a sombrero pulled down low over his eyes. If the Mexican isn't sleeping, he is often stealing. He is the "bad guy," the evil foe whom the "good guy" will defeat. Either peons or bandits—this is how too many Anglos thought of the Mexicans in the American Southwest.

How true are these stories about the old West? Why are Mexican-Americans pictured as peons and bandits? How fair is it to picture them in this way?

Combatting Stereotypes

A common form of prejudice is called sterotyping. To stereotype a group of people is to say that all members of the group are alike-that they all share certain undesirable characteristics. In Anglo society, for example, laziness is considered to be a bad char-acteristic-an Anglo must work to get aheda. He cannot be lazy. But an Anglo may secretly desire to be lazy. He often cannot admit this desire, and so he will work very hard. Sometimes, without knowing it, the Anglo thinks of the Chicano as having this un-desirable characteristic of laziness. He sees the Mexican-American as a peon sleeping against a wall. But he does not admit to himself that he, too, has a secret desire to sleep against a wall.

This is the way stereotypes are formed, stereotypes that are almost always unfair and untrue. They make us judge people before we even meet them. They make people distrust one another—people who would find the world a better place if they could understand and get along with one another.

WHAT IS PREJUDICE?

Dinner Conversation

Senora Garza called to her son, "Pedro, supper's ready." Six-year-old Pedro took his place at the table, and he peeked at the food as Papa gave a brief blessing. It was a special night because his father had brought a friend home. He was Seiior Gomez, who worked with Pedro's father at the meat-packing plant.

The meal was good. Pedro's fatheY and Seiior Gomez talked about all kinds of things—especially about what was going on at the plant. Papa said, "Walters is after the new foreman's job. He's been playing up to the boss. Jose should get it. He's been there years longer than Walters has."

Serior Gomez nodded, swallowed, and said, "Jose will never get it. Why, Walters didn't even take the break with us today. I saw him go into the boss's office."

"I bet he'll be hard on his workers, even his old friends, if he gets the job."

Sehor Gomez paused a moment to point up what he was going to say. "Walters thinks only of his bank book. You know the Anglos—anything to get ahead."

Papa agreed. "At least I know Walters." After supper Pedro watched his mother wash the

dishes. He thought for a while. Then he asked, "Mama, are all Anglos bad?"

His mother looked up. She was somewhat sur-prised. She bent down and patted his head. "No, no, my child. What ever gave you that idea?" Some Things to Think About

This story illustrates some things about prejudice. First, people are not born with prejudices. But prejudices usually appear in children by the time they enter the first grade. Second, prejudices grow with age. The longer a person has bad feelings about others, the harder these feelings are to change. Finally, prejudices are not always taught on purpose. They are learned unconsciously. Pedro did not come to the dinner table to learn prejudice. His parents and their friend did not think to themselves, We are going to teach Pedro to not like Anglos. They did it without thinking. Yet, they taught prejudice anyway, and Pedro learned. Prejudice is learned from the feelings and comments of people around you.

WHAT DOES SELF-IMAGE MEAN?

An Evening With the Boys

A group of Anglo boys leaned against cars near the open door of a bar. They were drinking cheap red wine and listening to the roar of hard rock music. The largest of the boys, Big Ed, yelled, "Gimme another drink, man. I'm in for a big drunk tonight."

His friend Smiley teased him. "Dotty kiss ya' off again, Big Ed?"

"Don't get wise. That dirty Perez flunked me in math and called my old man. He lit into me when I got home. He's been after me all week. I just walked out of the house. Nobody's telling me what to do."

Grabber, a huge high school wrestler, joined in. "Perez put it to me, too. I gotta go another summer 'cause of him. Really makes me mad. Man, tonight I'm hot for some action."

"Let's cruise the south side. Catch a Mex and tear him up," Big Ed said. He pounded his fist on the roof

of his car as he opened the door. Grabber replied, "Ya, ya. Remember the Alamo.

Let's go!" "But, Ed." Smiley tried to stop them. "Shut up! I say let's go, man." They piled into Big

Ed's old car. Grabber raced back to the bar and came out a

minute later with a big package under his arm: "Got more juice. We can go now," he said as he climbed into the front seat. The car roared out of the lot onto the street. More Things to Think About

Big Ed can tell us a great deal about people. All people need to enjoy their relationships with others. They also need to feel that they have accomplished something. Above all, people need to like themselves and to feel good about themselves. This is called having a good self-image. Ed has failed in many ways. He is failing in school. His relationship with his father is poor. He rebels against control or authority.

Since Ed has failed in these ways, he has become angry. But he cannot hit his teacher or his father. So he aims his anger at another target-a minority group. Ed's anger has turned into prejudice against Mexican-Americans.

Ed probably does not have any long-range goals to become, say, a mechanic, a teacher, or a businessman. He does not know who he is or what he wants to be. But he knows who he is not. Like many people, Ed tries to raise his own self-image by looking down on others. In effect, he says, "I'm not black, I'm not a Mexican, so I'm not a nobody." In other words, Ed defines himself by what he isn't.

DO YOU REMEMBER? (Do not write on this sheet unless instructed by your teacher.)

Part I: Words to Know

prejudice discrimination irrational hostility impersonal righteously stereotype unconsciously self-image

disliking a group of people for unfair reasons treating a group of people unfairly foolish reason for doing something a feeling of hate or unfriendliness not thinking of a person as an individual being sure you are doing the right thing feeling that a group of people are all alike not being aware of what you are doing an idea of who you are

Part II: Write the letters for the answers you think are correct

1. Mexican-Americans have been discriminated against in all of the following ways except: (a) not being allowed to eat in Anglo restaurants; (b) not being able to work for Anglos; (c) not being able to join the army; (d) not being able to attend Anglo-run schools.

2. This story says that Western movies and TV shows too often picture Mexicans (a) doing back-breaking work in the fields; (b) fighting for their land; (c) sitting around in the sun; (d) driving cattle to market.

3. According to the story, Anglos are thought of as "good guys" because (a) they helped poor Mexican farmers; (b) they worked hard for Mexican ranchers; (c) they were never too busy to teach a Mexican cowboy how to use a lasso; (d) they were always on the right side of a fight.

4. The Mexicans were treated as peons and bandits because (a) they were poor; (b) Anglos thought of them that way; (c) they were lazy; (d) they liked to think of themselves as that way.

5. Stereotypes are formed because (a) people don't like to think they are being unfair to others; (b) people see their own hidden desires in others; (c) people often don't see the best in others; (d) all of these.

6. The dinner conversation at the Garza's house was about (a) how to pack meat; (b) Pedro's school; (c) what they were eating; (d) what was going on at the meat-packing plant.

7. Prejudice is something that (a) people are born with; (b) parents work hard at trying to teach their children; (c) is learned from the people around us; (d) children grow out of.

8. Big Ed was mad that night because (a) his mother had told him to stay home; (b) he had flunked his math course; (c) his girl friend was going out with someone else; (d) Smiley wanted to use his car.

9. Part of having a good self-image is (a) being respected by other people; (b) being proud of yourself; (c) knowing you are liked by your friends; (d) all of these.

10. When anger can't be taken out on the person one is angry at (a) a person aims his anger at another target; (b) it leads to a good self-image; (c) a person stereotypes others; (d) a person usually tries to forget stereotypes.

AUTHOR: Robert Finkbine, American history teacher, Arcadia High School, Scottsdale, and Arizona State University.

CONSULTANT: A. P. Diaz, Director of Instruction, Cedar Rapids Community Schools, Iowa.

PHOTO CREDITS: (p. 1, both illustrations) The Bettman Archive; (p. 2) David Valentine; (p. 3) David Valentine. NOBLE AND NOBLE, Publishers, Inc. 750 THIRD AVENUE, NEW YORK, N. Y. 10017 Z516-5