Cuban Americans Essay

Cuban Americans are the third largest Latin American ethnic group in theUS. Unlike Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans, Cubans basically immigrated to theUSnot only because of economic reasons but also because of political concerns, mainly after Castro’s regime was established inCuba. As a result, many Cuban Americans are well-educated though many still have to fulfill semi- or low-qualified job, while educated Cuban Americans tend to join the middle class which though is not large and hardly exceeds the share of middle class among Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans (Mohammadi, 1995, p.377).

However, unlike Puerto Ricans and Mexican Americans Cubans are more politically active but often their political activity is targeted against the ruling regime in Cuba since many immigrants attempt to continue their struggle with Fidel Castro’s regime after their immigration to the US.

At the same time, their religious traditions, being quite strong, are not so dominant as in Mexican American and Puerto Ricans communities. Even though Cuban Americans are Catholics but not so many of them pay as much attention to religion as Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans, while their family traditions are still as strong as among the two ethnic groups mentioned above and they are based on Christian tradition and moral norms (Kyambi, 2002, p.218).

Their native language is also Spanish and similarly to Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans, many Cuban Americans are bilingual and gradually English tends to dominate among younger generations of this ethnic group.



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