Opinion: Young Hispanics and Trump politics

Viewing the perspective of Hispanic pre-teens living in President Trump’s America.

In the gentrifying neighborhood of Bushwick in Brooklyn, New York lies an all girls’ schools dominated by Hispanic students.

The school is fostered by the mission to inspire the young women of today and give them the academic confidence needed to prepare them for high school and also college. Not only has this mission given the environment of the school a great comradery amongst the pre- teens but the school has also become a safe haven for some Hispanic students who are new to the country.

Entering middle school with other students who are experiencing bodily changes and the beginnings of puberty is terrifying enough. But, imagine facing those challenges while being new to the education system and the United States. Seems nearly impossible doesn’t it?

Well, there are some girls who have managed to tackle the hardships of middle school while assimilating themselves into the pre- teen culture and learning the English language. Not all on their own of course, but with the help of their fellow Hispanic peers who can also relate to the difficulty of assimilation and middle school altogether.

Now imagine being a Hispanic pre-teen new to the country and attending school in a gentrifying neighborhood all while living in President Trump’s America. Scary, right?

Hearing “I’m going to build a wall” along Southern America to keep “rapists, drug dealers and other criminals out” could be a logical response to prevent illegal immigration and these other dangers from entering the United States if only the intention is purely to keep citizens of the United States safe rather than implying that all Mexicans coming into the country are criminals who are here to harm other United States citizens.

Instead the intentions behind building a wall are solely bigoted. This is evident in the rhetoric President Trump preaches that is most often included with stereotypes and alternative facts.

For these middle school Hispanic students, President Trump’s promises are of great concern. But often, they don’t understand the political practices, as most children don’t, and they aren’t usually current in the political arena.

However, be it child or adult, when the President of your country decides it’s a good idea to hinder a whole nation of people who may or may not choose to immigrate to the United States, a nation where you and your family have origins and where your relatives and friends reside, with only the ignorant assumption claiming “some of them maybe good people,” you become forced to be politically in tuned.

Despite these bigoted promises being the center of President Trump’s campaigns, people of Mexican origin account for two-thirds of the United States’ Hispanic population at an estimate 35.3 million. The total Hispanic population in the United States stands at 57 million which makes Hispanics the nation’s second fastest growing ethnic group right after Asians. Today, Hispanics account for 18 percent of the United States population up from just 5 percent in 1970 according to the Pew Research Center.

Hispanics are the youngest of the major ethnic groups in the United States according to the Pew Research Center. The median age of the Hispanic population is 28 years of age, just about a full decade lower than that of the United States median age at 37 years old. In 2014, 14.6 million Hispanics were millennials, meaning they were in the age range of 18 through 33.

Millennials account for almost half of the Hispanic electorate at 44 percent in 2016. “Hispanic millennials will likely continue to drive growth of the Hispanic electorate, given the median age of the U.S. – born Hispanic is only 19. In addition, in any given year, more than 800,000 young Hispanics turn 18,” according to the Pew Research Center.

Two thirds or 64 percent of Hispanic voters identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party while 24 percent of Hispanics voters identify with or lean to the Republican Party. And about a fifth or 22 percent of all Hispanics do not lean toward either party.

The Pew Research Center says, “Compared with the general public, more Hispanics tilt toward the Democratic party or identify with neither party. Foreign- born Hispanics are less likely than those born in the United States to express a party affiliation.”

So what do all of these statistics mean?

It means all future democratic presidential candidates should absolutely be able to relate to the Hispanic population in order to increase their chances of winning the popular vote like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in our past election.

According to a survey conducted several months before the presidential election of last year by the Pew Research Center, representatives of the Hispanic ethnicity were asked to cast their votes as if the elections were currently being held. The survey revealed that 61 percent of Hispanic men were in support of Clinton while 30 percent supported Trump. 71 percent of Hispanic women supported Clinton while 19 percent supported Trump.

Of Hispanic millennials ages 18 through 35, 71 percent supported Clinton and 19 percent supported Trump.

It is very likely that the fear and concern residing in the hearts of these Hispanic girls doesn’t end here, but there are a number of young Hispanic men and women who, just like other minorities, haven’t a clue about what their future will look like and the future of all Hispanics under the leadership of President Trump.

Howbeit, one thing is for certain, in the very near future when millennial Hispanics become more adept in the world of politics and as they become one of the dominant ethnicities in the United States their prominent dominance will be asserted at the polls when elections role around.

Moreover, when the children of this generation (generation z) come of age to vote and understand the political system, they will remember a time such as this when their hearts were burdened with worry for their communities and the people of the Hispanic ethnicity. They will become active voters to assure protection against any political threat as a result of bigotry, stereotyping and the racism they themselves were once faced with.