Race & Identity in Latin American Revolutions and Today

Out of all the revolutions in Latin America, besides Haiti, Mexico was the first to declare independence and fight for their freedom. The Mexican revolution, although the declared independence in 1810, didn't end until 1821, 11 years later. What is very ironic about this whole revolution was the that they declared racial equality, yet, certain groups of people followed certain leaders. They all wanted the same thing but they were all separated by race. It all started in 1810 when a man named Miguel Hidalgo, a catholic priest, issued the "Cry of Dolores." It called for equality, but, what was funny was that only native Americans and mestizos followed him. No one else would follow him. Eventually, he was captured and executed after his troops were defeated when trying to take Mexico city. In the end, royalists were the ones who brought independence. They promised Mexican revolutionary reforms and they only did it because they wanted to keep their high status in Mexican society. It's very ironic how they claimed they wanted freedom and equality, yet, they were only doing it because they wanted to still be above everyone else. As you can see race and identity played a huge roll because in the beginning mexico was not united because of race and in the end they only united because they were lied to be Mexican conservatives who wanted to keep their status.

 "78% Say Politicians Play 'Race Card' Just to Get Reelected - Rasmussen Reports™." 78% Say Politicians Play 'Race Card' Just to Get Reelected - Rasmussen Reports™. Web. 2 Dec. 2014.

A summary of the article is that it talks about how politicians play the "Race card" so that they can get more votes and be reelected. It says that 78% of Americans believe that politicians use the "race card" to get reelected, and these are not just a single group of people, blacks and minorities also agree. Out of all Americans, only 9% think that politician use the "race card" to talk about real issues and 13% don't know. Race plays a huge roll in politics. For example, a kid robbed a store and got shot in Ferguson and 3 white house officials attend his funeral. Yet, veterans and other good people die everyday and they get no recognition. I would totally agree that the cop who shot the kid should go to jail but what makes me side with the cop is the fact that this kid robbed a store and for all the cop knows this guy could try to attack him. A lot of the time Americans are worried and outraged so much about race that they overlook the facts and make up things that never happened.