Be Proud To Be HISPANIC

In the last unit of Rhetoric which was called Unite, I studied political speeches to learn how to inspire and unite others for a good cause. I learned rhetorical skills and devices to analyze political issues that are going on today. For the last action project I had to pick a political issue and create a piece of art explaining how I felt about the issue and bringing out more awareness to this topic. What I enjoyed about this project was creating the artwork and how it came out. What I struggled with was picking a issue to talk about and to make an artwork about it.

Created by JV, Bracelet Sketch 2015.

I am JV and my topic is immigrant status, specifically tied to discrimination against Hispanics in the US. I chose to create art about this issue because of how much it literally hits home for me. I am both Mexican and Puerto Rican, and at one point my grandmother and great grandmother were immigrants themselves in the US. Both families members faced discrimination for being a certain race and also because they were both immigrants. After arriving in the US, my grandmother and great-grandmother both had a hard time finding jobs and getting around Chicago because neither of them knew English. People would make fun of them because they were Hispanic and new to America.

Even more personally, I have very strong feelings about anti-immigration attitudes towards this topic because I myself have experienced discrimination from other races despite being a US citizen. I wanted to show how Hispanics are a race that suffer greatly from this kind of racism and prejudice. Did you know that the most discrimination Hispanics face is at their workplace? 11% are treated unfairly, 10% are being mistreated by police, and 9% get mistreated by the health care system along with unfair treatment while they’re dining at a restaurant. This Gallup Poll was conducted June 15-July 10, 2015,using a random grouping of 508 Hispanics, aged 18 and older, who lived in all 50 U.S. states. (Discrimination Statutes Among Hispanics, 2015.)

Created By JV Bracelet, 2015.

I decided to make a bracelet that represents hispanics and how we should be proud to be hispanic and not let anyone bring us down because of our race. We should be proud to have really good food and big loud families. We should be proud of our dark or light hispanic skin, and everything that comes along with being hispanic. I chose to make a bracelet because anyone can wear it, even if the person isn’t hispanic and just wants to support stopping discrimination.

The colors that I picked for my bracelet fibers are: red because it represents passion and love; green represents safety; yellow represents happiness; purple represents independence, and pink represents inner peace. I wanted red and green to be the main colors because red is in both the Mexican and Puerto Rican flags. I wanted the other colors to be peaceful and calming. All theses colors are what I want my Nation to have we need peace and stop hurting each other. 

I designed my bracelet in a braid style and spiral friendship pattern, to show how people can unite together.

Created by JV Bracelet, 2015. 

My bracelet has pathos through the passion and pride it shows towards Hispanic culture. It also shows alludes specifically to Mexico, since when I think of this part of my heritage, I think of lots of colors, especially the ones that I chose to use in my bracelet. The logos displayed through my bracelet is the colors and facts behind it, people should stop hurting each other just because of their race. We should all stand together and be pride of what we all are.

If I had the chance to publish my artwork I would want it to be worn on people’s wrists or ankles, so that way it is visible to everyone. I would first make it for family and friends to help me support my idea, then eventually other people will start to notice and would want to help stop discrimination.

Materials:
-a ruler
-scissors
-tape
-embroidery floss
-cotton string
-safety pins
-wrist to measure

Citations:

"Immigrant Status Tied to Discrimination Among Hispanics." gallup.com. Justin McCarthy. 20 Aug, 2015. Web. 15 Oct, 2015. 

"Understand The Meaning Of Colors." empower-yourself. N.P. N.D. 2010. Web. 20 Oct, 2015.