Joel Spring- American Education Chapter 4

Quote 10
"In California, Mexican Americans were classified as Caucasian until 1930 when California's Attorney General Webb categorized them as Indians.  He argued, "The greater portion of the population of Mexico are Indians."  Therefore, according to the California school code, Mexican Americans were segregated based on the provision the "governing board of school district shall have power to establish separate schools for Indian children, expecting children of Indians...who are the descendants of the original American Indians of the U.S.."  Mexican Americans were not considered "the original American Indians of the U.S.."(Spring p.89)

Just because one culture looks similar in some ways to another, doesn't mean that they should be deemed the same ethnic name.  Every individual is their own person and should be treated that way.  We are all free in America and shouldn't be given a name based on the population of a certain country.  In this quote I chose I thought it was wrong for the Attorney General to make this opinion on the basis that "the greater portion of the population of Mexico are Indians."  How can someone make a judgement based on this information?  Every ethnic background has their own name and culture, so we cannot begin to say people are the same because they look alike or because the majority of their population is of a different ethnic background.  This is like saying all Americans are black because the majority of the population is black.  That's not right!