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Daniela Ortega
Professor Batty
English 114A
20 October 2014

Nothing Is ever Forgotten

Society is always hiding or sugar coating things like we wouldn't be able to
handle the truth or maybe its something else? Racism is one of the many things society
tries to hide but its completely useless because everyone is already aware of all the types
of racism but choose not to do anything about it. One form that society tries to hide
racism in is through political cartoons. When I researched political cartoons based on the
anti-Mexican sentiment; I found that there are a lot of judgmental people out there. Some
portrayed that Mexicans during the Great Depression era were useless, they had no ability
to progress over time and many other things. When in reality Mexicans are really
hardworking and have evolved a lot throughout the years. The anti-Mexican sentiment
brought upon all the hate and judgement because of negative propaganda. There really
isnt that much of a change from then and now. The only significant change that I've
noticed is that Hispanic people aren't being lynched or beaten for speaking and loving
there culture. I just don't understand how this world can revolve around constant
discrimination?
The anti-Mexican sentiment was a war between the U.S. and Mexico over land that
Mexico owned and the U.S wanted it. The anti-Mexican sentiment act happened because
of the Great Depression. A lot of people were left out on the street without anything.
They lost there homes and there stable jobs. The congress at this point had no hope for
the U.S. to recover economically so they sought to get rid of some of their population in

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order to provide some aid to those in need of it . Those populations were Mexicans
because they were considered Illegal and unwanted. They began to make new acts like
the immigration act in 1929; which was made for all illegal residents but the U.S. was
only out to get the Mexicans. The depression hit Mexicans the worse because not only
did they lose their jobs but they were also evacuated to leave the country. It didn't matter
if they were documented or not if you were Mexican you were out
Society sees Mexicans as a waste of space. I say this because in an article written
by Richard Delgado he states that the U.S. would lynch Mexicans for being a loss to their
wealth.No one bothered to try and stop the lynching; not even the police force showed
compassion. They would participate in some of the lynchings or brutally beat hispanic
men and women. One Cartoon that i found was an American way of portraying a
Mexican; which was in a big hat with the engraving spelling out Mexico, with a hunched
back and torch in his hand.The artist puts this Mexican on an ongoing treadmill
running to the sunset that signifies all the process that mexico has made. The picture is
underlying that Mexicans are on an endless treadmill running towards the sunset. In
other words that they haven't made any progress all this time they just keep running and
will continue not to make any progress at all. The drawing does not draw a face for the
Mexican. The Mexican has his back to us and there is a dog running right next to him.
This image made me angry because i hate how everyone sees Mexicans. They make
stereotypes that we all wear big hats and dress like cowboys and all these other things
that obviously arent true. Everyone is always so discriminating and making assumptions
that Mexicans are a waste of space and do the impossible to get rid of them instead of just
working things out. The U.S. put up a wall to keep out Illegal Immigrants because just

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banning them from the country wasn't enough for them. The wall has been up for many
years and till this day it continues to be up. The wall was built in the early 2000s but the
border patrol has been up and running since the mid 1900s. Another cartoon that helps
prove how racist some people are is Mike Keefs Border wall cartoon. In his drawing
there are a few white constructors in the background by a truck. The truck the are
standing around by has Border Wall construction written on it. It looks like the Workers
are trying to pull out things from inside the truck. There is one worker that is also white
that has dialogue above him asking the boss that looks a lot like Uncle sam and asks him,
Can you get me some huddled masses yearning to bust their humps for five bucks an
hour? The cartoon is real discriminating; it made me feel angry because like I've said
before i just really hate stereotypes. The artist pretty much drew this cartoon and said that
Mexicans in huge groups would work for a quick buck and not question it. As long as
they were making money they would obey even if it was working to build the wall to
keep themselves out. Which is completely untrue because even if that were true
Hardworking people know how to read. Its not like being Mexican means your incapable
of reading, writing or doing anything else that any other normal human being can. Even
though they put up a wall to keep Immigrants out; nothing is impossible, there will and
always will be another way in.
One of the most Gruesome things the U.S. would do was lynch hispanic woman
and men just because they talked spanish too loudly or they showed any form of their
culture in front of any American. Anglos would also Punish the women if they wouldn't
let themselves be sexually assaulted. hispanics have always been mistreated because of
their culture. Just like in Gloria Anazalduas book she mentions that people are always

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trying to Tame a Wild Tongue. When tot hurt me, talk badly about my language.
Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity- I am my language. Until i can take pride
in my language, i cannot take pride in myself(Anzaldua 22). What Gloria is trying to
state is that your culture and language are part of you. Also that she wont take pride in
herself until she takes pride in her language. I relate to her because just like in her book a
lot of people tried to change her to only speak english but she didn't. I didn't either and i
am proud to say that i am bilingual in both spanish and english. Gloria Anzalduas
proves that no one should feel ashamed of there language or get punished for it it is in our
nature and like how she mentions our language is what makes us. There have been many
things that have happened to the Mexican race but this race has held strong and survived
all those painful and gruesome things that racists have done to them. Society has tried so
Hard to extinguish this race but they've fought through every obstacle that has been
thrown at them.
Racism has always been an issue and continues to on till this day. the antiMexican sentient was just the start of all the racism thrown at every Hispanic race. From
the anti-American sentiment act to the immigration act to the border being built up the
Mexican race has yet to given up. There are many forms of racism that still goes on today
like the border wall and the immigration act but in the past the things racists would do
was unbelievable and hostile. The things that they did to Mexicans were cruel.They
would murder a lot of Mexicans for loving their culture. The lynching and beating
stopped to some extent. There are still private groups till this day that go around trying to
protect America from Illegal Immigrants from crossing over. I know that not everyone in
the world is racist but the things that the U.S. did will never be forgotten.