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Daniela Ortega
Professor Batty
English 114A
12 December 2014

Nothing is ever forgotten

Society is always hiding or sugar coating everything like we wouldnt 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. In reality Mexicans are really
hardworking and have evolved a lot throughout the years. The anti-Mexican sentiment
brought upon all the hate and judgment 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 lead a war between the U.S. and Mexico over land that
Mexico owned but 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 their 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 (Rosales98).
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. In the
cartoon there is a man with a big hat with the engraving spelling out Mexico. He is
hunched back and has a gun in one hand and a torch in the other. Unfortunately I was not
able to find the artist. 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. The sunset is the
goals Mexicans are trying to attain and the picture is underlying that they are never going
to reach them. 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 and keep running on that
endless treadmill. The drawing does not draw a face for the Mexican. The Mexican has
his back to us and there is a dog that is running right next to him. This image made me
angry because I hate how everyone sees Mexicans. Society makes stereotypes that we all

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wear big hats and dress like cowboys and all these other things that obviously arent true.
Everyone that is racist towards Hispanics are 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 out the problems they have. The U.S. put up a wall to keep out
Illegal Immigrants because just 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 some people point out racism instead of just
bluntly drawing racist cartoons is Mike Keefs Border wall cartoon. In his drawing there
are a few white constructors in the background by a truck. The truck they 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 discriminating; and it made me feel angry because like I've said before I
just really hate stereotypes. The artist drew this cartoon and said that white people portray
Mexicans as being in in huge groups and would work for a quick buck and not question
it. As long as they were making money they would obey even if it were 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. The artist is also trying to point out how racist the U.S can be. Even though they put

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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 essay, How to Tame a Wild Tongue, she
mentions that people are always trying to Tame a Wild Tongue. She states in her
essay that, If you really want to 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(Anazalduas 22). What Gloria Anazaldua is
trying to state is that your culture and language are a part of you and there is no escape.
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 Anazalduas proves that no one should feel ashamed of their language or
get punished for 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

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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.

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Appendix

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Work Cited
Rosales, Francisco A. Testimonio: A Documentary History of the Mexican American
Struggle for Civil Rights. Houston, Tex: Arte Pblico Press, 2000. Print.
Keefe, Mike. "Border Wall." Cartoon. The Denver Post. 29 Mar. 2006. 8 Dec. 2007
Anzaldua, Gloria. How to Tame a Wild Tongue Reading Context. Ed. Gail Stygall