edged in the middle and considered "brown". To Latinos who are used to terms like "Negro" and "blanco" to denote skin tone, "in the same way they use 'moreno' for a person with brown skin color and 'trigueno' for a person with tawny skin." (Rodriguez 2001 2) With Latinos these designations were not considered "racial". So, it has become difficult to be considered a "minority" with all the baggage that minorities have, as seen by a white majority.
Yet, many of these Latinos do not consider themselves "immigrants", believing they have been here for some 400 years and have as much "right" to live in any part of the New World as anyone. And, at the same time, these Latino men who are newcomers "want to assimilate and to remain separate, to be part of the mainstream and to retain their own identity. (Since the 1960s) Hispanic immigration expanded beyond the traditional Puerto Ricans, Mexicans and Cubans to include other people of the Caribbean, Central and even South America." (Weyr 1988 2)
The idea of assimilation does not come easy, and it does not present the priority for Latino men who escape the poverty of their native lands to arrive in the U.S. Except in Southern California, and in the Haitian, Dominican,. and Cuban enclaves in Miami, newcomers, illegal or otherwise, are not as readily accepted by the community because of two basic reasons: the general assumption by the community- even Latinos who have emigrated earlier, is that, because most of these male newcomers are illegals, they call attention to the many other illegals who have lived in the U.S. for many years.; and second, they are new competitors for low paying jobs, and, again because some are, and many others are assumed to be illegals, these men are willing to accept far less than the official minimum wage. "A planned increase (in the minimum wage)àwould make hiring more illegals willing to work for $2 or $3 an hour almost irresistible, no matter how harshly th...