La Raza United

La Raza United

For many centuries individuals from all over the world have fought to be seen as part of the American community but little did they know that the fight for equality was not going to be easy. Mexican-Americans are among those who are underrepresented therefore not being able to communicate with the rest of society resulting in negative consequences like being taken to jail. ManyMexican-Americans find themselves in custody for many obvious reasons but I question whether those accusations are just and fair in our justice system.

During the 1950’s migrating to the United States meant that certain Constitutional provisions were going to get stripped for many Mexican Americans. The Fourth Amendment; right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, The FifthAmendment; the right to be apprised of one’s constitutional rights during interrogation, The Sixth Amendment; the right to counsel, and the Fourteenth Amendment; the right to serve on juries, are all the restrictions on anyone who looked Mexican and suspicious. Although these restrictions were nonsense and racist it still served as an important role in the historical development of importantconstitutional rights, primarily the justice system. The first case ever to reach the U.S Supreme Court, Hernandez vs. Texas (1954), reached deep issues within our Constitution and questioned whether these acts were just. In this landmark case a Mexican American challenged his state court conviction of murder just because Mexican Americans were unconstitutionally excluded from the Equal Protection Clause ofthe Fourteenth Amendment. Pete Hernandez argued that without Mexican Americans in the jury, he was denied a constitutional right to be judged by a jury of his own peers. On May 3, 1954 the Supreme Court favored Hernandez and decided that all Mexican Americans and all other racial groups in the United States had equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment. This case was a victory and astepping-stone towards equality but it was the beginning for la Raza to start working together so they too are seen as civilized people.

According to the book Mexican Americans and the Law many Mexican Americans and Latinos are purposely arrested, charged and jailed in comparison to the numbers of the overall population. Statistics have proved that in 2000 Latinos and Hispanics made up 11% of the totalU.S population whereas they constituted 16% of the total prison population. These is due mainly to the reason that many Latinos continue to receive harsher penalties and longer sentences for crimes in comparison to non-Latino whites. Even after 50 years of constant fighting for equality there is still more prejudice than ever mainly because of the idea of superiority. It is disturbing thatLatinos are represented to be one of the most racial groups to challenge the judicial system but is it important to know why this is happening and what is causing all these imprisonments. Some challenging issues on why this is happening include racial profiling, prosecutorial discretion, mandatory sentencing, the death penalty and the persistent problem of inadequate counsel in courts. Problems in theAmerican criminal system are not new but we have kept on persisting to challenge the court system and rights that have been given to every individual living here. These challenges have only united Mexican Americans to unite so underrepresentation does not happen and have somebody there to fight along the way.

For many decades now Mexican Americans have struggled maintaining citizenship andbeing accepted in the American community because of the idea that Latinos are criminals. Society has created a stereotype for Hispanics and Mexican Americans because of the incarceration rates our race has. During the time period between 1991 and 2007 the number of Latinos convicted of federal crimes increased from 8,000 to nearly 30,000. Out of the 30,000 people charged half of the crimes committed...