Mexican Neighborhoods in Chicago

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  • Like most other ethnic groups, Mexicans immigrated from their homes in search of a better life. Their immigration surge has come after that of the primarily European groups. As these European groups have moved up the social ladder and out into the suburbs, Mexicans have moved into the neighborhoods they have vacated.

 

  • The earliest Mexican immigrants to Chicago were able to find jobs in the industrial sector and capitalize on the union boom. As heavy industry declined in Chicago, newer immigrants have taken jobs in the lower-paying service sector and in light manufacturing. Many of these newer immigrants have settled in barrios, where they are able to maintain their cultural traditions 11.

 

  • These barrios suffer from many problems. While tourists may visit to see the colorful murals and authentic cuisine, the inhabitants are forced to live in cramped and unsafe housing. Schools, which are full beyond capacity, are creating a generation of frustrated youth. In the class of 1982, 49.4% of the students at Benito Juarez High School in Pilsen had dropped out (Ethnic, 358). Many of these residents have lost faith in the city government, because "inner-city contexts of racial segregation and concentrated disadvantage, where inability to influence the structures of power that constrains life is greatest....breed cynicism and perceptions of legal injustice." 12

 

Murals in the Latino neighborhood of Pilsen, which is the neighborhood that has experienced the largest Mexican population growth in the past two decades.13