Hispanics and Their Rise Through the Social Ranks

I found the projections that Hispanics will become more widely accepted as whites, and only a little below “real whites” in the social hierarchy a little surprising. At this point in the country, I would say Hispanics are as mistrusted and disliked by racists as black people are. They also carry some heavy stereotypes. By the general white population, Hispanics are considered to be stupid (often because they do not speak English), most are automatically assumed to be undocumented workers, they are seen as a very homogenous group (even Hispanics from different countries), and they are thought to perpetrate more crimes and join more gangs than other races. They are also discriminated against in that they are overlooked in the mass media, paid very low wages, and hate crimes are often performed against them. They are also hated for “stealing American jobs.”

Perhaps the only reason that Hispanics are projected to have overcome this racism is because they are also projected to significantly rival Caucasians as the majority race in America by 2100. As Malcolm Gladwell explained in his final anecdote in Outliers, in areas where an oppressed group of people becomes the majority, they tend to be less discriminated against. Gladwell tells of how blacks greatly outnumbered whites in Jamaica, and how blacks there could expect greater rights than those in areas where whites outnumbered blacks. Perhaps this is a natural human way of avoiding revolt by an oppressed majority, but whatever the reason, it seems to be a pattern. With Hispanics on the rise, the only way for whites to retain control of the country is to allow them to move up on the social ladder.

Another factor is that blacks have been discriminated against for much longer than Hispanics. Blacks were originally brought to this country hundreds of years ago with the intention of making them property. Although this is no longer the case, blacks are still seen as lower-class citizens--not legally or officially, just as a social construct. Major Hispanic immigration is a relatively new phenomenon in America, and so Hispanics have no danger of being enslaved. They have less history of oppression in America, and this will continue to hurt African Americans and benefit Hispanic Americans.

Although these things could all be factors as to why Hispanics will climb the social ladder and be more widely considered white, the most important factor is the actual color of their skin. Hispanics are much lighter than African-Americans but slightly darker than whites. Their coloring directly correlates with their projected status in America. Whatever the reason, Americans still cannot disconnect skin color from personality or ability to succeed. Because African Americans are the darkest skinned, they will always occupy the bottom of the partially hidden social hierarchy lines that are nevertheless obvious in today’s America. Hispanics, with their lighter skin, will be able to rise through the ranks to the “almost white” order.