Of course, everyone knew that the attack on Pearl Harbor was the start to a war. However, there were two sides to the perspectives of Mexican Americans. The first perspective was from those who opposed being American and fighting for America. When some Mexican Americans heard what had happened at Pear Harbor their first reaction was to oppose fighting in a war for a country that was not their own. Some even thought about going back to their homeland or being deported on purpose, with the intend of not being drafted to the war. The reason why so many Mexicans refused to fight in WWII was because at this time, there was still a lot of discrimination going on. Mexicans were looked down upon and were discriminated. This led many of them to hold a grudge towards American and led them to a mentality of 'why fight for a country that does not treat me like one of its own?'
The other perspectives were form those who believed that at their roots they were Mexican but they also held the American culture close to heart. While some Mexican Americans opposed to fight for America during WWII others took it as an opportunity to show the Americans that they themselves were just as American at heart. Many took it as a way to demonstrate their patriotism in hopes of finally ending the discrimination against Mexicans. Many Mexicans went to war and in honor of those soldiers, a song called "soldado razo" became very popular in describing how Mexicans felt during this time period.
Very nice description of the Mexican Americans during WWII, and I like how you broke up this group of people into two perspectives. It was interesting to hear that some tried to get deported in order to avoid the war. This blog actually reminded me of the Japanese-Americans in internment camps who had pretty much the same outlook. Like the Mexican Americans, some resented fighting for a country that had took away their liberties (internment), while others wanted to prove their "Americaness" by fighting in the war.
ReplyDeleteSource: pg. 931 in "Give Me Liberty"
This was a super interesting post and your formatting made it easy for me to understand the two perspectives. This story is similar to the one we read in Double Victory about African-Americans wanting to achieve two types of victories. This seems to be the same for Mexican-Americans too. It is understandable that some refused to fight for a country that harassed them (zoot suit riots for example). It is also understandable, however, that some felt more attached to America and wanted to take this as a chance to fill the race gap that blocked them from being recognized as a true American.
ReplyDeleteI thought your blog was very interesting because we didn't learn much about the Mexican American perspective regarding World War 2. I wrote a blog regarding Native Americans and the beginning of World War 2, and I think the similarities and differences are fascinating. The Mexican Americans basically had 2 reactions, as you said, while the Native Americans almost fully supported the war. While they both faced major discrimination from the American people and the US government, there was still support for the Americans in World War 2, which I was shocked to hear.
ReplyDeleteThis source details more about both Native Americans and Mexican Americans and their reactions to the beginning of World War 2:
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_war_democracy_latino.htm