The Forgotten Kids: Latino Veterans’ Recollection of School Micro-Aggressions and Military Recruitment Micro-Affirmations

• In Event: Sunday Roundtable Session 11:25 am
  In Roundtable Session: From At-Risk to Bien Educados: The Educational Experiences of Latino Men (Table 6)

Abstract

This work explores the military recruitment experiences of Latinos through a Critical Race Theory framework. The experiential knowledge of twelve Latino veterans is shared via semi structured interviews about their experiences as recruits. Interview data was analyzed via multiple levels of coding that resulted in findings which demonstrate that while in school, participants experienced three major forms of racial microaggressions: i) educators’ apathy, ii) deemed unfit for college, and iii) presumed criminal. Contrastingly, their experience with recruiters was more positive and perceived as the microaffirmations: i) personal acknowledgment, ii) promise of prestige, and iii) fit for college. However, many of the recruiters' claims proved to be unsubstantiated. Thus, concluding that their approach exploits commonly experienced racial microaggressions for recruitment.

Authors

• Pedro Martinez, California State University - Fresno

• Luis Fernando Macias, California State University - Fresno