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The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is a Latino anti-discrimination organization. It was established on February 17, 1929, in Corpus Christi, Texas, largely by Hispanic veterans of World War I who sought to end ethnic discrimination against Latinos in the United States.〔 LULAC was a consolidation of smaller, like-minded civil rights groups already in existence. With a goal of achieving assimilation, the organization initially admitted only American citizens as members. The organization has a national headquarters, active councils in many states, and a professional staff.〔Gutierrez, David G. (March 1995). ''Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the Politics of Ethnicity''. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-20219-1, p. 9〕 ==Philosophy== LULAC follows an assimilation ideology which emerged among ''cholos'' groups around the time of the Great Depression in the United States. During this time, the population of Mexican descendants in the United States went through a demographic shift. The government deported an estimated 500,000 Mexican nationals and Mexican Americans (including some American citizens) during the Great Depression in order to reduce competition with American workers. The proportion of native-born Americans among those who remained made up a higher proportion of the ethnic Mexican population than had been the case in previous decades, and they grew up in United States culture. Benjamin Marquez asserts, "This demographic shift favored the rise of a more assimilated political leadership".〔(Marquez, Benjamin. Constructing 3)〕 Unlike earlier organizations, such as the mutual-aid associations (''mutualistas'') and labor-based groups (which emphasized the pan-Mexican cooperation among recent immigrants from Mexico, Mexican national residents, and Mexican Americans to combat economic, cultural, and political discrimination), LULAC admitted as members only ethnic Mexicans who were United States citizens.〔(Gutierrez 75)〕 LULAC promoted the full adaptation of its members into the dominant European-American culture, in the belief that this strategy would be the most successful way to combat discrimination. The organization claimed that discrimination was caused by racism, not by the economic or political systems. LULAC promoted capitalism and individualism; its leaders believed that, through hard work and assimilation into American culture, Mexican Americans could improve their socio-economic standing.〔(Marquez, Benjamin. Constructing 3-15)〕 As a method of increasing assimilation, LULAC emphasized American patriotism. It asserted that Mexican Americans should disavow any allegiance to Mexico, remain permanently in the United States, and commit fully to democratic ideals.〔(Marquez, Benjamin. LULAC 23)〕 This patriotism is evident in the structure of the organization. The league's official song is "America"; its official language is English; its official prayer is the "George Washington Prayer". Its constitution is modeled on the United States Constitution. Because of LULAC’s assimilation ideology, it advocated immigration restriction. LULAC's central means of achieving equal status with European Americans was dependent on promoting the image of Mexican residents as conforming to the cultural norms of the United States. Even though the league was ultimately concerned with the status of Mexican-American US citizens, it recognized that the dominant society did not distinguish among immigrants, citizens, and naturalized persons of Mexican descent. (For example, during the Great Depression, the United States deported both non-citizens and United States citizens to Mexico.) New immigrants from Mexico resisted this strategy, as they had stronger ties to their native culture, limited English proficiency, and were willing to work for low wages. Mexican Americans knew that they would be lumped together with the recent immigrants and also be seen as "un-American", "backward", and "poor," and would be discriminated against. The league shared the fear of many working-class Americans that the new immigrants, willing to work for low wages and contributing to job competition against Mexican Americans due to their numbers, would economically harm Mexican American citizens.〔(Gutierrez 134-6)〕 A focus on education was likely also related to the assimilation ideology. Benjamin Marquez asserts, "Segregated schools, inferior equipment, and the lack of qualified teachers were seen as the primary obstacles to the full economic and social assimilation of the Mexican American".〔(Marquez, Benjamin. LULAC 28)〕 LULAC believed that the public-school system, with the aforementioned issues corrected, would serve as a central instrument in the assimilation process of children, and thereby the Mexican-American community as a whole. Through formal education, Mexican Americans would learn how to function in American institutions, socialize with European-American children, and gain education to qualify for higher skilled jobs. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「League of United Latin American Citizens」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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