The United States is a country structured in racism and its effects are evident every single day. It is a structure that upholds white supremacy and creates a racial hierarchy designed by white people. It is very clear that Black people are the most marginalized and the most oppressed globally. Trump encouraged police to increase police brutality, an already huge issue within the Black community. Another population that is heavily targeted through racism is the Latinx community. Mexican Americans are majorly targeted by ICE officers, are often randomly stopped in question of citizenship, are heavily populated in “immigration detention centers” (prison), and often times have huge language barriers as well as other huge obstacles of racism. The Latinx and Black communities must work together to dismantle racism. Ending the system that places one in every three Black men in prison would put a crack in the industrial prison complex that would end putting Latinx families placed in immigration detention centers.
When speaking about the prison industrial complex and immigration detention centers, the numbers are hugely disproportionate against Black and Latinx people. There are an estimated 80,000 families being held within Immigration Detention Centers. Black people make up 13% of The U.S. population but account for 41% of U.S. prisons. Families being held in Immigration Detention Centers are not considered convicted criminals under the fifth amendment. Therefore they are not limited to being detained for any set duration of time. This is extremely similar to Black men being held in prisons awaiting trial, not even convicted of a crime. Immigrant families and Black men in prison are treated very similar, poor living conditions, brutality from the guards, and being told when and where to go at what time.
During the huge Nazi gathering in Charlottesville, the Nazis were chanting, at one point, “One people, one nation, end immigration.” A huge motive for Trump supporters to vote is the concern that white people will become a minority, leading to Trump pushing for building a wall along the Mexican border, increasing targeting of Mexican American neighborhoods, as well as implementing the Muslim ban. It is clear that Mexican Americans and Black people are two heavy targets for Trump and the White Supremacist Nazis. It is important that people of color do not make enemies with each other. The founding fathers of America wanted to divide and conquer each population of color within the United States.
There is an of issue of Anti-Blackness within the Latinx community. There at the bottom line, does not make sense. First off, many Latinx people are black. Afro-Latinx people are a huge population within the U.S., but are often referred to as just Black. They must be accepted in the Latinx community as well, it is vital because they share the culture as well carry the struggles of being Latinx and Black. Latinx and Black neighborhoods are often times neighboring. This means the environmental racism, economic deprivation, and poverty are shared. The two population each have about 25% in poverty, and both the population have account for about 14.5% of the U.S. population each. It is vital that the Latinx and Black communities come together and fight this together. Black and Latinx women also suffer from huge wage losses compared to men. Black women earn about 65% as much as white men and Latinx women make about 58% as much that a white man makes.
I am Mexican American or Mestizo. I grew up largely influenced by both Mexican American and Black culture, as well as white culture, just based off of my friends, family, and people who I grew up with. It is so vital that these Latinx and Black communities find common ground and work to dismantle racism together. Rapper YG has already made head way on this, with his track “Black and Brown people”. We are an oppressed people, power comes in numbers, therefore racism and the targeting of Black and Latinx communities.
