Indigenous Mexican Americans facts for kids

Indigenous Mexican Americans or Mexican American Indians are American citizens who are descended from the indigenous peoples of Mexico. Indigenous Mexican-Americans usually speak an Indigenous language as their first language and may not speak either Spanish or English. Indigenous Mexican-Americans may or may not identify as "Hispanic" or "Latino".

Demographics

California is home to a large and growing population of Indigenous people of Mexican birth or descent. 200,000 people in the state are descended from one or more of Mexico's over 60 Indigenous groups. Many of these Indigenous Mexican-Americans hail from the indigenous people of Oaxaca, with California being home to between 100,000 and 150,000 indigenous Oaxacans. 50,000 are estimated to be Mixtec, an indigenous people from the La Mixteca region of Western Oaxaca and nearby portions of Puebla and Guerrero.

Discrimination

The slur "Oaxaquita" ("Little Oaxacan") is sometimes used as a derogatory term that is used by Spanish-speaking Mexican-Americans against Indigenous Mexican-Americans. The term carries the connotation that being from Oaxaca is negative and is often used against any Mexican-American who is short or fat. The slur "indito" ("little Indian") is also used against Indigenous Oaxacans. Indigenous Mexican-Americans have been subjected to ridicule, derision, stereotyping, teasing, bullying, and other forms of discrimination and abuse by non-Indigenous Mexican-Americans. Dynamics of racism and discrimination that exist within Mexico also exist within Mexican-American immigrant communities.

Discrimination against indigenous Oaxacan and Mixtec people can also come from Mexican-Americans who, although also coming from an indigenous Mexican background, have stopped speaking a Mixtecan or other Indigenous language. Those who have assimilated by adopting the Spanish or English languages may look down upon Indigenous people who have preserved their language and culture.

Notable people