A short time after my cousin Manuel (Martinez) came to this country, he was
asked about the "racial situation" in the Dominican Republic. "En La
Republica Dominicana, racismo no existe," proudly proclaimed Manuel to an
interested Anglo (who understood Spanish). I sat beside both of them with an
ironic expression on my face, knowing full-well that the Latino form of
racism is alive and well (See: "The Blond, Blue-Eyed Face of Spanish TV").
Fast forward to some recent union negotiations between the company I work for
and our union. As I sat in our break room and tried to speak of the near
total disregard for working men and women (of any "race") by folks in the
upper levels of the upper middle class and the wealthy elite (of any "race").
I was met with tolerant amusement by both "black" and "white" fellow
employees.
Both situations recall to me the fundamental blind-spots of Latinos and
Anglos, respectively -- and also some tremendous potentialities.
In our own countries, we Latinos tend to gloss over physical and "racial"
differences among each other, so long as we speak Spanish and are roughly in
the same socioeconomic class. Thus, my good friend, Charne Roman Pena (who is
in my lower-middle class level but who looks like a central Italian), and I
tend to gloss over our physical differences and focus more on our Dominican
commonalities (and, I assure you, I don't look like a central Italian). There
are some caveats here, however: (a) with Latinos of the upper classes, all
bets are off: brown-skinned Yours Truly is not looked upon as an equal; (b)
there are some folks in the same economic situation who can and do decide to
be color-struck; (c) Latinos entering the U.S. who can pull it off often "go
"white", often incorporating Anglo notions. However, there is a genuine
feeling of commonality of Latinos of many and varying colors, especially in
the middle of the economic spectrum. Moreover, there is much more of a
willingness by Latinos to be selectively ambiguous (translation in plain
English: "Hell, I don't remember what his 'race' was, he was just a
muchacho, you know"). Our blind spot, of course, is our tendency to gloss
over the actual discriminations and pecking orders which come about in
Latino societies, for there can be no mistaking that there are color
gradations in all Latin American countries, with the top social levels
predominately occupied by those folks with Iberian (caucasian) features and
a disproportionate percentage of persons with Indian, Mestizo, Mulato or
African features at lower levels. Thus, it is not surprising to countenance
Mulata or Mestiza Dominican women avidly watching and identifying with
"telenovelas" featuring caucasoid female leads. This somewhat explains the
nascent level of "racial" protest in Brazil by darker people, who, above all,
identify as Brazilians.
On the other hand, North Americans are conditioned to see themselves as their
"racial" designation first, nationality a distant second. As far as economics
are concerned, there are African Americans in droves who really believe that
all "whites" are well-off and all "blacks" are poor. Moreover, "whites" are
conditioned to focus on their advantages on being "white", whether they are
working class or not (the Ku Klux Klan, etc. recruits from working class
"whites"). North Americans are extremely specific when it comes to "race"
(although in isolated pockets -- like here at IV -- there is some
flexibility). In attempting to rectify "racial" discrepancies over the
years, some powerful legal safeguards have been established. Moreover,
among both "whites" and "blacks" there is a high awareness and
consciousness of "racial" justice (something that Latinos -- sorry to say
-- need some serious education on). The Anglo blind spot, or course, is the
tendency to see everything as color-based and ignoring economic dynamics,
particularly the trends present in U.S. society which have seen more and
more economic inequality since 1973. One of the most humorous moments I
ever had in teaching was when a "white" lady with a $35,000 yearly salary
told me she felt sorry for Oprah Winfrey (net worth $400 million) "because
she was 'black' ". When I translated what she said to the Mexicans to whom
I was teaching English, we laughed about that one all week.
What do the two groups have to offer each other?
If my Aladdin's Lamp had two wishes, I would wish for the following two
things:
(a) That Latinos could impart to Anglos the ability to see nationality as
having importance over "race"; to develop an ability to see people in
"racially" ambiguous modes ("racial" non-specificity) and to look at
"intermarriage" as normal.
(b) That Anglos could impart to Latinos the ability to face head-on and
discuss inequities of color and the guts to say, "Yes, we have a problem!"
I have faith in God that (a) and (b) can happen and will eventually happen.
Just looking at some of the correspondences here at IV over the years lets me
know that people are growing and growing by leaps and bounds.
William Javier Nelson, Ph.D.
I am going to give you two completely different conversational scenarios and
make an attempt to tie them both into a coherent statement of my feeling of
what Latinos and "Gringos" (English-speaking U.S. natives) need to
learn -- from each other.
Also of interest by William Javier Nelson:
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