Tomás R. Jiménez: Mexican-Americans have deep U.S. ties
[Tomás R. Jiménez is an assistant professor of sociology at Stanford University and an Irvine Fellow at the New America Foundation. He is also author of the forthcoming book, "Replenished Ethnicity: Mexican Americans, Immigration, and Identity" (University of California Press).]
Just about any celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 - October 15) will highlight the diversity among Hispanics.
They come from different parts of the Spanish-speaking world, have settled in various areas of the United States, have distinctive customs and come in all shapes and colors.
But an often overlooked difference among Hispanics relates to how many generations back they trace their roots in U.S. history.
Hispanics are not just immigrants or the U.S.-born children of immigrants. They are also Americans with deep family histories in the United States. This is especially true of the Mexican-origin population, the largest Hispanic subgroup and one that has been continually replenished by immigrant newcomers for a century.
Truly knowing what it means to be a person of Mexican origin requires understanding the experiences of the nearly 3 in 10 (8.5 million) Mexican-Americans who were born in the United States to U.S.-born parents.
These later-generation Mexican Americans' experience in the United States, though rooted in a distant past, is nonetheless deeply affected by current and uninterrupted immigration from their ancestral homeland...
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Just about any celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 - October 15) will highlight the diversity among Hispanics.
They come from different parts of the Spanish-speaking world, have settled in various areas of the United States, have distinctive customs and come in all shapes and colors.
But an often overlooked difference among Hispanics relates to how many generations back they trace their roots in U.S. history.
Hispanics are not just immigrants or the U.S.-born children of immigrants. They are also Americans with deep family histories in the United States. This is especially true of the Mexican-origin population, the largest Hispanic subgroup and one that has been continually replenished by immigrant newcomers for a century.
Truly knowing what it means to be a person of Mexican origin requires understanding the experiences of the nearly 3 in 10 (8.5 million) Mexican-Americans who were born in the United States to U.S.-born parents.
These later-generation Mexican Americans' experience in the United States, though rooted in a distant past, is nonetheless deeply affected by current and uninterrupted immigration from their ancestral homeland...