DISCRIMINATION AGAINST HISPANICS: A Review of Literature

Discrimination Against Hispanics: A Review of Literature

Carlos Campos
University of Texas at El Paso

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST HISPANICS: A Review of Literature

Abstract
The purpose of this report on Discrimination against Hispanics is to give insight and background
information regarding this issue of discrimination affecting immigrants of a Hispanic background
in America. This is a serious issue that has not been address properly by the media outlet nor the
officials in charge of making and enforcing the laws of the people to ensure their amendment
right to feel secure and pursue happiness. The main objective of this report will be to address the
issues that Hispanics have as to how the media influences the way that public is perceiving them
as criminals, with a focus on how media depicts Hispanics as criminals, in addition an
exploration of the different policies that need to be put in place to prevent the racial profiling of
Hispanics due to the media having an effect on the way the public perceives Hispanics as
criminals and determine who are the major stakeholders influencing the portrays of Hispanics as
criminals.

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST HISPANICS: A Review of Literature

Discrimination against Hispanics: A Review of Literature

Discrimination is a well know topic that in rare occasions hits the media and gets people talking
about it. In other instances its kept under the carpet and ignored by many. Discrimination
towards Hispanics is the issue at hand that has been building up through time in the United States
and it has become the eye of attention of people. This issue prevents thousands of Hispanics to
reach for higher grounds to succeed as individuals and pursue their goals due to the struggle they
have to go through by people of other ethnicity and race. They are denied jobs due to their
names, provided misleading information, subjected to racial profiling due to the way they look
and due to the recent events of the presidential elections the entrance to a country they were
already living in because of them having a different ethnicity.
The issue at hand has various factors that affect this behavior towards Hispanics. They are broad,
but there are mayor points where the influence of this issue is mainly focused on. Media anchors
could be one of the most influential people, due to the fact that they deliver the news to an
audience that is willing to hear. What media has is a power of influence and people are easily
influence by information they are presented in media. This information being presented has a
negative theme, and it is a trend that it is seen often in media. The way Hispanics are affected by
media is by the way media presents them to the public, to the audience that media has. Hispanics
are depicted by media towards their audience as all the same, they generalize based on the action
of one to depict everyone else. This action have a great impact in the lives of Hispanics.
This issue will be covered through these four questions:
1. Does the media affect the way the public perceives Hispanics as criminals?
2. Does the media portray Hispanics as criminals?
3. Who are the major stakeholders in the way the media portrays Hispanics as criminals?
4. What policies need to be in place to resolve the issue of whether the media affects the
way the public perceives Hispanics as criminals?

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST HISPANICS: A Review of Literature

An analysis of this issue of Discrimination against Hispanics shows the struggles as well as the
challenges they face due to media stereotypes, generalizing a whole group of individuals,
discrimination by other races of people because of this. When not everyone is the same but
Hispanics deal with this racial profiling by others. It is most astounding that people do not know
the differences between races, ethnic groups and Hispanics/Latinos since they believe all Spanish
speakers are Mexicans.
Does the media affect the way the public perceives Hispanics as criminals?

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST HISPANICS: A Review of Literature

Regarding the answer to this question, there are many different opinions about the answer
for this question that say yes, media does in fact affect the way Hispanics are viewed by nonHispanics and no media does not affect in any way how Hispanics are viewed by other as
criminals. In order to answer
this question, research on this
topic is needed, and the
finding are in favor of yes, it
does affect Hispanics portray
to non-Hispanics. There is a
research done by Latino
Decisions who surveyed over
nine hundred people on their
opinion based on media news
outlets, and their results show that 71% of people view Hispanics/Latinos as criminals, as shown
in their table. (How media stereotypes, 2012). The media portrayals of Hispanics can diminish or
worsen stereotypical negative opinions about them. Latino Decisions also show that people are
certain of stereotypes to be true about immigrants, in this case Hispanics/Latinos
The findings indicate that in indeed media does affect the way Hispanics are viewed by
non-Hispanic people due to the media influencing their views. But to cover this question in an
extent way, the other side must also be covered. The way Hispanics are viewed by non-Hispanics
is in any way affected by the media. To back up this statement, there is an article done by NBC
News titled How A Local New Jersey Latina Became Mayor, Rising Political Star, where they
cover a Hispanic woman living in New Jersey working at a bank, that broke the believes and

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST HISPANICS: A Review of Literature

misconceptions of Hispanic women, as well as men, and became the Mayor of Perth Amboy in
2008. Following the article, it covers her life experience going into the position of Mayor of
Perth Amboy, New Jersey and how it was for her to become the citys first ever female Mayor
(How a local, 2015). For the other side of this questions answer there is another article from
NBC News demonstrating that media does not influence the way Hispanics/Latinos are viewed
as criminals. This article titled Latinas Think Big Summit: Helping Women Take Careers to
Next Level where they show how a group of influential Latina women that want to help others
get to that next level through connections, mentoring, and inspiration (Latinas Think, 2015). This
is a good example because it shows media demonstrating that they dont depict Hispanics as all
being criminals to the public. The article goes to show that Latinas Think Big seeks to advice
women to go further in their careers and goals, their mission is to help the community to
succeed. This are clear examples of media showing another side to the Hispanic/Latino
community where they seek for greatness of their community. They show that the Hispanic/Latin
has tremendous potential to create opportunities and successful careers (Latinas Think, 2015).
Does the media portray Hispanics as criminals?
Based on the findings answering the second question of this Literature Review, a clear idea is
given on the influence that media has, in regards to the way Hispanics are portrayed and the
effect this has, on the public eye to view Hispanics a certain way. The question in here goes hand
in hand with the previews questions and it is asking whether or not media, for the major parts
covered on Hispanics, does portray Hispanics as criminals. The answer to this question is can go
in either way of yes, or no, in order to answer this question the information for both sides needs
to be taken into account. In this is the case, the answer to this question backs up the previews
answer, because the reason why Hispanics are viewed in a certain way it is because media

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST HISPANICS: A Review of Literature

portrays them that way and media has large amounts of influence over peoples views and
opinions. First off, the yes portion to this question can be answered with an article, which during
this year the Huffington Post released titled Why The Media Pays Less Attention To Police
Killings Of Latinos. This article can help better answer this question with a yes. In the article it
talk about how three men were all unarmed and died by the hands of police officers and how it
raises protests questioning whether the killings were justified. But there is one difference, one of
those men was Hispanic and not much coverage of his death was covered on the news media.
The information talked on the article goes on to talk about how major television networks, which
play a major role in setting the national news agenda, cover police violence cases in which the
victims are Hispanic. (Why the Media, 2015). Based on this the conclusion is that in fact the
media under covers Hispanic killing by the police. More information is given showing that the
death of that Hispanic man was only the latest of many other killings of Hispanics but none of
them were covered by news channels like Fox News nor CNN. More finding are shown based on
a study done by the Columbian Universitys Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Races that
stories about Latinos comprise less than 1 percent of all main news media coverage, and the
majority of these stories feature Latinos as lawbreakers. (Why the Media, 2015). All this
information is fact that media under covers Hispanics/Latinos and when they do, they show case
them as criminals, as lawbreakers. Media has the influence, and that influence is guided to
Hispanics/Latinos in a negative way to portray them as criminals.
Although the findings indicate a strong leaning answer towards a definitive yes, this is not
always the case. The other side to this answer indicates that it is a no, the answer to this question.
To back this up, the Huffington post released a news article titled Prominent Dreamer Joins
Bernie Sanders Campaign where they talk about a young Hispanic/Latino activist that joined

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST HISPANICS: A Review of Literature

Sen. Bernie Sanders campaign for the presidency and is a cofounder of the Dream Action
Coalition (Prominent Dreamer, 2015). This article clearly depicts this Hispanic/Latino man as an
ambition person who is interested in politics and wants to make a difference through obeying the
law. This types of news help back up the answer of No, the media doesnt portray
Hispanics/Latinos as criminals. Another example of this is Fox News, they released an article in
the same topic of Sen. Bernie Sanders where his campaign hires another Hispanic/Latino activist.
The title to this article is Sanders campaign hires another high-profile undocumented
immigration activist. The article talks about Erika Andiola, who is an advocate for
Hispanics/Latinos speaking directly on behalf of the campaigns commitment to fight for
immigrants, Latinos and working-class Americans in every community across the country
(Sanders Campaign, 2015). This two examples show that no, the media doesnt portray
Hispanics as criminals, and in this two cases it helps to show that both individuals are law
obeying citizens that are involved in politics and are not criminals. They are fighting and doing
the right for the Hispanic/Latino community through the law.
Who are the major stakeholders in the way the media portrays Hispanics as criminals?
There are various groups of people, besides the media, of great influence that many people
follow what they say even if it is wrong. One example of this is the candidate to the presidency,
Donald Trump, who over the past year has let his opinion be heard loud and proud regarding
immigrants, more specifically Hispanic/Latino immigrants. His view on Hispanics/Latino has
given him quite the numerous attention since his opinion on them are negative and diminishing.
He views all of Hispanics/Latinos as criminals, rapists, and drug lords that come to the United
States to destroy the country. With his statements, which are a wrong representation of
Hispanics/Latinos, have been picked up by his followers and supporters, so much that hate

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST HISPANICS: A Review of Literature

crimes have started to happen one after the other, even though not all of Hispanics/Latinos are
criminals and they are just like anyone else that tries to have a normal life out of trouble. Fox
News released an article titled Latino groups warn Trump's immigration rhetoric could inspire
more hate crimes which gives the statements of National Latino groups saying that Donald
Trump has inspired a backlash against Hispanics, as prove of this the article gives additional
information on a homeless Mexican man, age 58, that was beaten by two men in Boston who one
of them, according to the police report, said that both of them were inspired by Donald Trump.
(Latino Groups, 2015). The article also gives the statements of both presidents of the National
Hispanic Media Coalition and the League of United Latin American Citizens were both agree
that the Donald Trump is solely responsible for the hate crimes that have been sparking recently
and he is also responsible for creating the kind of atmosphere that will lead to future hate crimes
against the Hispanic community. (Latino Groups, 2015). One statement given by the President of
the League of United Latin American Citizens regarding this issue is It is obvious that Trumps
vision of making America great does not include Latinos. In conclusion Donald Trump is one
stakeholder responsible for the way that media, as well as people, portray Hispanics as criminals.
But, not all stakeholders influence media portrayals of Hispanics/Latinos as criminals. A clear
example of this is Bernie Sanders, who was discussed in the previews question. He is a
stakeholder trying to portray Hispanics/Latinos as good citizens of the community and not
criminals by employing Hispanics/Latinos in order to work with him to help the Hispanic/Latino
community be viewed as no different from anyone else (Prominent Dreamer, 2015).
What policies need to be in place to resolve the issue of whether the media affects the way
the public perceives Hispanics as criminals?

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST HISPANICS: A Review of Literature

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Actions regarding this issue should be taken to put an end to discrimination. In a survey done, as
a primary source, to provide more information on what people believe should be done, half of the
people answered a question on politics, should the government take action to prevent
discrimination against Hispanics/Latinos, and they answered yes, the government should take
political action to prevent this issue. Several actions can be taken such as placing policies, or
more conventional actions like raising awareness. This different ties of actions work in favor of
Hispanic and Latino people to stop unjustified and unnecessary discrimination against them. It is
a crime against Hispanics and Latinos without a doubt. The Acton of placing a policy to stop this
issue needs to be in the direction of the media. The reason for this is, based on the information
gathered, it is already known that media has a great influence over people and a large audience
that follows, as well as believe without a question, what the media says. Based on this, policies
with specific regulations should be put on the media in order to prevent discrimination towards
Hispanics and Latinos. The act of discrimination can be put as any and every action that is
aimed, directly or indirectly, at a specific ethnic group of people in order to give negative
propaganda to diminish that group or give a bad image to that group of ethnic people. If only
negativity is shown by the media to represent an ethnic group then a policy should be put in
place to stop those same action from ever happening.
Since media already covers, meaning that they only dedicate less than one percent of their time
to talk about Hispanics and Latinos in general, as shown in the study of the Columbian
University, sixty six percent of that one percent is negative news about Hispanics and Latinos
(Latino Gap, 2015). The media is obviously discriminating the Hispanic and Latino society from
appearing in the media, and when they do show case Hispanics and Latinos, is by a major part,
negative coverage. The policy would stop this by allowing Hispanics and Latinos to appear more

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST HISPANICS: A Review of Literature

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often in media, to show more

diversity since media lacks it, and
show the good they have done. To
show that not all of Hispanics and
Latinos are criminals and only people
that cross the border to break the law.
Conclusion
Based on the research and findings it can be concluded that Hispanics suffer great discrimination
by non-Hispanic people as a result of media outlets showcasing, for a major portion, crimes that
few Hispanics have done, causing the public to generalize all of Hispanics as criminals, and
some large influential stakeholders that add wood to the fire by their statements of Hispanics
being all criminals. The media makes the statement and the major stakeholders give support to
their statement by affirming it with their own opinion on the matter since they are very
influential and the people believe their statement causing this issue to be worsen.
References
How media stereotypes about Latinos fuel negative attitudes towards Latinos. (2012,
September 18). Retrieved October 23, 2015, from
http://www.latinodecisions.com/blog/2012/09/18/how-media-stereotypes-about-latinos-fuelnegative-attitudes-towards-latinos/

Reyes, R. (2015, November 16). How Local New Jersey Latina Became Mayor, Rising
Political Star. Retrieved November 17, 2015, from http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/njlatina-her-citys-first-woman-mayor-n451586

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Mendoza, K. (2015, November 17). Latinas Think Big Summit: Helping Women Take
Careers to Next Level. Retrieved November 17, 2015, from
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/latinas-think-big-summit-helping-women-take-careersnext-level-n464776

Planas, R. (2015, February 24). Why The Media Pays Less Attention To Police Killings
Of Latinos. Retrieved October 24, 2015, from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/24/police-killings-latinos_n_6739448.html

Foley, E. (2015, October 22). Prominent Dreamer Joins Bernie Sanders Campaign.
Retrieved November 17, 2015, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sandersdreamer-cesar-vargas_562950fee4b0ec0a3893defa

Sang, L. (2015, November 2). Sanders campaign hires another high-profile

undocumented immigration activist. Retrieved November 7, 2015, from
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2015/11/02/sanders-campaign-hires-another-highprofile-undocumented-immigration-activist/

Muntaner, F. (n.d.). THE LATINO MEDIA GAP. Retrieved November 18, 2015, from
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cser/downloads/Latino_Media_Gap_Report.pdf

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Llenas, B. (2015, August 21). Latino groups warn Trump's immigration rhetoric could
inspire more hate crimes. Retrieved October 25, 2015, from
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2015/08/21/latino-groups-warn-trump-immigrationrhetoric-could-inspire-more-hate-crimes/

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