According to a recent poll commissioned by the Associated Press and Univision, Hispanics feel they are the most discriminated group in the US and are viewed as such by others.
The AP-Univision poll compared results of attitudes of 901 surveyed Latinos to non-Hispanics polled in a separate AP-GfK survey. In the joint findings:
- 61 percent of people overall said Hispanics face significant discrimination, compared with 52 percent who said blacks do and 50 percent who said women do.
- 81 percent of Latinos said Hispanics confront a lot or some discrimination; 59 percent of non-Hispanics said so.
- 40 percent of Hispanics said they had experienced much discrimination personally; 13 percent said they had dealt with it a lot.
Additionally,
- Hispanic women are more likely than men to say Latinos suffer discrimination.
- Hispanics from cities and rural areas are more likely than those from the suburbs to say Latinos face a lot of prejudice.
- 55 percent of Hispanic Democrats and 38 percent of Hispanic Republicans say there is a lot of discrimination against Latinos.
- Hispanic Democrats are more likely than Republicans to feel that they have personally been affected.
More attention is being paid to the issue of discrimination against Latinos since the state of Arizona’s recent passage of a strict anti-immigration law. The measure, which goes into effect this summer, will give local law enforcement wide authority to stop anyone they suspect of being undocumented and requires immigrants to carry proof of legal status with them at all times.
Critics of the law, from President Obama on down, express fears that this will allow for racial profiling aimed exclusively at Latinos.
Matilde Martinez, 59, a Puerto Rican-born New Yorker, said in Spanish, “It causes me a lot of pain. These people (Mexican immigrants) come to work and they do work that the Americans won’t do for the little pay they get.”
According to Lisa Navarrete, vice president of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the findings suggest that wherever people stand on the issue of immigration, “they’re recognizing that this community has been singled out and targeted.”
Recent Comments