White But Not Equal: Mexican-Americans Battle into the Jury System

The common issue Mexican-Americans face is being too Mexican for Americans and too American for Mexicans. There is a constant struggle trying to identify with either culture. They are not black, and they are not considered white by their peers. Therefore, Mexican-Americans are often fighting for their place in the United States.

Mexican-Americans fought for their spot in the jury system in 1954. In Hernandez v. Texas, Pete Hernandez was indicted for murder by an all-white grand jury. Hernandez’ attorneys claimed that Mexican-Americans were barred from the jury commission that selected juries and from petit juries. A Mexican-American had not served on a jury in the county in over twenty-five years. Therefore, Hernandez claimed that Mexican ancestry citizens were discriminated against as a “special class” in Jackson County. The Supreme Court held that evidence warranted finding that individuals of Mexican descent were a separate class, distinct from whites, in the community in question, and there had been a systematic exclusion of the members of such class from the jury service.

 

This case made a shift in Latino identity since there was now a demand for inclusion in the political and judicial system. However, Latinos still face many challenges in the jury system today. There is still little research or data on the Latin juror or lack thereof. There are many studies of “a diverse juror” and “jury diversity,” but these are often focused on race and black jurors.

 

The data is limited when it comes to Latin people, because information about Latin heritage has not always been collected or reported accurately within the criminal justice system. This may be attributed to the history of being asked to check a white or black box for their race on paper. They could not check the black box nor did they confidently check the white box. The signs were clear in the past: “No Mexicans Served Here” and “Hombres Aqui” beside “Colored Men” on separate restroom doors. Even though the research studies do not have specific data for Mexican-Americans, they will often include one to two sentences about them. These normally state that the Latin juror is underrepresented in the jury system, and it is because Latin people are more likely to be incarcerated than non-Latin whites.

 

Therefore, the judicial system does not truly know the impact or effects of having Mexican-Americans on the jury. This is with the understanding of the difficulty for Mexican-Americans to even reach the actual trial as a juror member. However, it is estimated that by the year 2050, nearly one in three U.S. residents will be Latino. Hence, there is a need for more research and studies on the Mexican-American juror.