Christina Gómez

The Continual Significance of Skin Color: An Exploratory Study of Latinos in the Northeast

Previous studies have shown that skin color matters for Latinos’ life chances. Most of these studies have focused on Latinos in the Southwest, specifically Mexican and Chicano males. Using the 1994 Boston Social Survey Data, this study examines the effects of skin color for Latinos in the Northeast, specifically Puerto Rican and Dominican men and women. This exploratory study suggests that having dark skin negatively affects wages for men; however, this was not the case for females in the sample.

Purged: Undocumented Students, Financial Aid Policies, and Access to Higher Education

This article examines how the denial of financial aid constrains undocumented students from pursuing higher education and discusses the interlocking relationship between federal immigration and higher education policies. Reporting on research data identifying that undocumented students pay for their education through work, family contributions, few scholarships, and strategies such as working more and taking fewer classes, this article also links the stress placed on undocumented students and their families to Latino retention and graduation rates. Este manuscrito examina como el negar ayuda financiera constriñe a estudiantes sin-documentos para continuar su educación superior y discute las relaciones eslabonadas entre inmigración federal y políticas de educación superior. Basado en información obtenida en investigaciones identifica que estudiantes sin documentos pagan por su educación a través de trabajo, contribuciones familiares, algunas becas y estrategias como trabajando más y llevando menos clases. Este manuscrito también liga la tensión puesta en estos estudiantes y sus familias de bajos recursos con la taza de graduación y retención Latina.

Assimilation Versus Multiculturalism: Bilingual Education and the Latino Challenge

This article analyzes the public rhetoric during the November 2002 vote over bilingual education in Colorado and Massachusetts. We argue that the neoassimilationist views displayed in both states represent a new step in the evolution of assimilation theory and ideology—one that has adapted to both the current immigrant environment and to multicultural criticism. In Colorado, where the bill English for the Children failed to pass, the print media reveals a far greater tendency toward assimilation; in Massachusetts, multicultural values are used far more often as a defense for bilingual education programs, even though the bill overwhelmingly passed.

Brown Outs: The Role of Skin Color and Latinas

Skin color has long been a topic of discussion among non-white groups in the United States. How dark- or light-skinned an individual is has been linked to beauty, self-esteem, and life chances. This desire for light skin has become so ubiquitous that a cosmetic product marketed across Mexico called “White Secret” guarantees lighter skin through a process of skin bleaching. These findings suggest that preferences for light-skinned women continue within the Latino community. The issues of skin color and discrimination against dark-skinned women of color have persisted in the Americas, as well as other regions. Latina women are one of the most marginalized groups in the United States; but not all Latina women are the same. This study hopes to begin a discussion that will broaden our understanding of racism and prejudice, how it is practiced, and what some of the consequences might be.