Nativist Policies that Encourage Covering and Passing among Hispanic Communities

Abstract

In recent years, anti-immigrant and nativist attitudes gained momentum in the United States. Nativism is not a recent phenomenon. Since the founding of our nation, anti-immigration views influenced policy making. In an effort to escape or hide from these perceptions or resulting actions, immigrants found it necessary to adopt behaviors that would allow them to “cover” their true cultural identities or to “pass” as a more socially acceptable caricature of themselves. This thesis analyzes the ways in which the law legitimizes and encourages the idea of “covering” traits among Hispanics in order to fit into mainstream America. The terms “covering” and “passing” were borrowed from Kenji Yoshino’s book “Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights”. His study focuses on the ways that non-heterosexuals “cover” or “pass” as straight in order to fit into the mainstream. Furthermore, he analyzed the way in which the law reinforces “covering” and “passing”.