by Ulises Silva
Depending on whom you ask, being Latino means many different–and oftentimes awful–things
Being Latino means that, unless you’re a young intern who saves a senator’s life, you’re not going to be invited to Jan Brewer’s next BBQ. It also means that, on your way to another Arizona BBQ, you might get pulled over if you commit the grievous offense of looking too brown.
Being Latino means you wake up knowing that you’ll see or hear at least one thing today that’ll make your blood boil, be it a state’s descent into xenophobic madness, or someone’s idea of good-natured humour.
Being Latino means that you’ll have to endure courageously anonymous comments on message boards about how you’re a stupid third world culture that’s accomplished nothing—ironically written by people who’d lose in the first round of a 2nd grade spelling bee.
Being Latino means that you’re the scapegoat de jour, the same way the Irish, Italians, Chinese, Japanese, and so on, were blamed for corrupting the very fabric of not only American identity, but the space-time continuum. So despite the fact that you’re a big spender and wield buying power to the tune of $1 trillion, you’re somehow bleeding the country dry.
Being Latino means that you’re expected to fail because you’re more interested in being a gangster than in being educated.
Being Latino means that you’re a work in progress, because while you hate being discriminated against by white people, you might still look down upon blacks, you might still be a homophobe or a machista, and you still might dislike other Latinos because they hail from a different country or island. You also have the highest high school dropout rate, so you know you’ve gotta address that.
But being Latino also means that you’re a sleeping giant, a political force of tens of millions that has yet to awaken. And when you do, no politician will be stupid enough to propose another SB1070 ever again.
Being Latino means that you have to fight tooth and nail for what others are given, but the fight makes you stronger. That chip on your shoulder gives you the fire to prove your doubters wrong, and your eventual achievements will feel that much sweeter.
Being Latino means that your brain might be in better shape than most if you know and speak Spanish despite being told to “Speak English or die” by folks who unwittingly prove that study so very true.
Being Latino means that you’re a Nobel laureate, a Supreme Court judge, a revolutionary musician, a rising filmmaker and a brilliant actor who could be Oscar-bound, a philanthropist, and more. (I could go on, but there’s a word count to heed.)
Being Latino means that you’re now nearly 50 million strong, and you have the opportunity to create a powerful legacy in this country—preferably one that shows all those folks afraid of you that they have nothing to fear because you love this country too.
The horrible truth about being Latino (horrible for those at Jan’s BBQ, anyway) is that we’re here. And we’re here to stay. We’re on the rise.
And our finest hour is yet to come.
To learn more about Ulises, visit Digital Decaf.
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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those
of the author and should not be understood to be shared by Being Latino, Inc.
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About Being Latino Contributors
Great great great blog! It took me on a journey. It built me up with the criticism (I was ready to react) and then took me to that place where you’re motivated to just show the world how much you’re worth. Very nice!
Well done sir… Poignant piece! I love it and it couldn’t be more true!
Latinos, are their own worst enemy. If you don”t beleive me, look how Mexico has become. Yes, were here to stay, but educate yourself and don’t pretend your latino friends will help you they won’t. Been there done that.
Very true and well written
Bravo!!!!! Stood up and cheered!!!! Great job!!! And Pete, thank you for proving his point. I suggest you get help for your self-loathing.
Although I enjoyed your blog, I do not like the fact that you pretty much describe latinos as being brown when in fact we come in every color–white,black, brown, yellow…and speak various languages—spanish, portuguese, native languages.
We’re comingggggggg!
Yes.
IMHO Americans of every background should focus on coming together based on class not identity politics multiculturalism. I argue for a frank recognition of conflicting class interests in the spirit of Plato and Machiavelli (not Marx), and for the need to resolve such conflicts in ways that promote genuine scientific technological, and economic development through energy intensive capital investment in technology an broad enhancement in standards of living.
To scapegoat “white racism” as the cause of latino discontent and of the race problem in America is counter intuitive. White racism alone, and not slums, low wages, wretched schools, nonexistent health care, and unemployment. In the 60s, the Kerner Commission report was the voice of the white and inept US ruling elite scapegoating white workers and the white middle class for its own sorry record.
Race quotas, preferences, set-asides, offsets and the rest of the dismal apparatus of multiculturalism amount to a sophisticated and insidious counterinsurgency strategy which fosters the co-opting of talented black, Hispanic, and other organic leaders into an artificial stratum of clients of the ruling oligarchical elite. Multiculturalism, it must be stressed again, has not lead to economic development or to broad-front improvement in the condition of any ethnic group. Multiculturalism is tokenism. Black and Hispanic ghetto victims have no been helped by this approach. Multiculturalism has delivered material advantages for the few, and has betrayed the hopes of the many. In the world of education, the irrationalist attempt to justify quotas and discrimination has debased the quality of intellectual and cultural life, which cannot escape the face that the hopes of the majority of all ethnic origins have been betrayed.
Tell me, how would Mexico feel if millioins of illegal Chineese invaded? How would they feel if the Chineese refused to embrace Mexico’s culture and language? How would they feel if the Chineese further separated themselves by naming their stores and places of business Asian this and Asian that. How would they feel if the Chinnese called them racists for speaking out against the invasion? How would the Mexicans feel as they watched their culture being further diluted every day? How would Mexico feel if the Chineese gleefully reminded them that they would soon take over what the Mexicans created? You can take the United States, but you can never have the United States. For when the day comes that you take it, it will no longer be what WE (yes, WHITE PEOPLE), created. It will be no more than the same 3rd world hell holes that your people created and you were trying to escape. Your only legacy will be the overthrow and complete destruction of a once great nation. I hope you all enjoy it.
Andrea: go to hell, you racist, self-righteous pig. You speak nothing but nonsensical dribble. Have fun at your next Klan meeting.
And by the way, Andrea: thanks for adding to Ulises’ comment total…you’ve made him the most popular article of the week. Make sure your sheets are clean for the meeting.
@Andrea
I guess you just couldn’t pass up the chance to spread your self righteous ignorant rhetoric on here sounds like you’re related to Governor Brewer of AZ. This is a latino blog and we don’t have any room for ignorant white supremacists like yourself coming on here and spreading your idiocy. America is a nation of immigrants and most people these days seem to forget that with their anti-immigrant sentiment everyone who is here has descendants from some where even you the only real americans here are the native american people. Have fun at your next supremacy mtg
I’m really tired of all this bullshit purest “Race” propoganda! Everyone… Black, White, Tan, Or Otherwise… WAKE THE HELL UP!! What does it matter where you were born? We are ALL THE SAME RACE!! Despite your regional background, despite your chemical composition, no matter WHAT GENERATION OF YOUR PEOPLE CAME TO THIS COUNTRY…. This Land was NOT OURS TO BEGIN WITH! Whether it was Colon (AKA Your pal Columbus for you ignorant folk), the Mayflower, the English Navy, Or that Rag Tag Group of Brits they call “The Founding Fathers” WERE ALL IMIGRANTS! We’re all fighting b/c some people think that the place they were born, gives them some magical power to think their shit don’t stink and that they aren’t just as stupid as they claim their victims to be. Because while we’re fighting amongst ourselves, the REAL people in power are laughing as they fuck each and everyone of us over! We have REAL geological and galactic problems staring us in our faces and nobody’s seeming to get that all this crap that is going on in our Earth, is Dooming us All! We walk around saying, “Oh that’s sad maybe I’ll txt $5 to redcross, maybe I’ll just go out and get waisted, it’s not like that’ll ever happen HERE.”
The universe is shifting, physically changing around us, and we are caught in the dead center of it all. While everyone is busy talking shit about people who come from different countries that happen to speak a same language that was only enforced over them by another immigrant dictator (Spain just in cases you missed your history class), whose lineage on this continent far supersedes any so-called “American Race”, who are Human Beings with the same intellectual capacity as any other person on this planet… The very fabric of our livelihood and existence is in jeopardy. The very people who are spitting this rhetoric are the ones that have all the money, and don’t want to have to give it back to the very same country they are claiming to be helping. Meanwhile, the rest of us whose education has been diluted to the point it has us like mindless sheep following the gullible heard joygasming off the latest techno gadget and Jersey Shore marathon, don’t realize that those fat cat millionaires are betting and waiting on the sheep to slaughter each other, so they don’t have to. But just in case… They push us on by creating false systems of loop holes that go against everything this country was supposed to stand for.
So everybody asks what the founding fathers would’ve wanted… Well considering they didn’t have greencards either…. They’d be just fine with it….. And by the way…. I’m not Mexican, and my first language is English There’s more to Being Latino American than what lies below that imaginary line along Texas and Arizona… And what’s that other one? Oh… NEW MEXICO… That’s not just a coinkydink folks… That WAS ALL Mexico at one time…. But I digress… :::steps off soapbox:::
Andrea, I would love to debate the matter with you, perhaps by demonstrating how this U.S. culture that you “created” is essentially an amalgamation of many immigrant cultures, and how immigrants (including those dastardly “Chineese”) actually built the infrastructure and cultural enclaves that now form the backbone of the U.S. of A.
But I won’t. It’s hard to take you seriously when you can’t even spell “Chinese” properly.
But yes, we’ll enjoy building our legacy, thank you very much!
Thanks, Yazmine!
Thanks, Jazmin!
Pete, I agree, we are our own worst enemies. We, like most of humanity, are burdened by petty jealousies and irrational prejudices (case in point, Mexicans vs. Guatemalans…for some reason or other). And, yeah, we all need to educate ourselves. It can be done. Just because we haven’t helped each other in the past doesn’t mean we won’t some day. All of us are a work in progress, after all.
Thanks, nycgirl!
Thanks, Nick!
Martina, you’re right, I should have said “bilingual” in that segment about languages.
And yes, we all come in different colors (I myself am light-skinned), but I think it goes without saying that it’s the darker skinned Latinos who face the biggest challenges in places like Arizona, which is what I was trying to convey. I didn’t say that we’re all brown, but rather, those who are will be the ones more easily harassed by racist laws like SB1070.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
I agree, class warfare is a whole other subset of conflicts that have probably been exacerbated (or distracted) by race politics. And as long as petty racism keeps us apart, I think most across all race lines will fail to recognize the similar struggles we find ourselves in. Instead of poor whites and poor Latinos, for example, recognizing their very similar struggles, they’re instead pitted against one another by a political and social apparatus designed to maintain wealth in the hands of very few.
Multiculturalism, like “political correctness,” I agree is a mixed bag. But it’s better than nothing, because knowledge and education is paramount to mutual understanding. Multiculturalism is the beginning of a dialogue that must take place, I think.
If you ever watch Telemondo the people that appear look like your typical
American. Who are illegally crossing the border are squatty-body, uneducated
people who have been living miserable lives in Mexico. Go to an upscale hotel
in any Mexican resort city other than the folks doing the grunt work they all look
like me. You cannot blame the Squattys for wanting to leave a hell hole of a
corrupt and crime ridden country run by criminals. But it is their fault for not
revolting against the Mexican goverment to better their life in their own country.
Instead they sneak in to the USA invading a country without firing a shot and
bring thier problems here for us to deal with such as crime, emergency medical
care and bankrupting our schools because they are not literate in Spanish let alone
the English. I live in a state that caters to illegals. There is not a day when an illegal
has not commited a crime that is reported in our local newspaper. Stay home and
build your country of origin and quit bring your problems to our door step.
Hey Nick is that all you got!! Only an ignorant person who has no clue would
answer by marginalizing someone by calling them names instead of a rational
discussion. No doubt you dislike white folks as much as you claim all white folks
belong tothe Klan. White Klan not Brown Klan such as “The Race”. Now have a good
day and do a good job on the lawn.
“Being Latino means that you’ll have to endure courageously anonymous comments on message boards about how you’re a stupid third world culture that’s accomplished nothing—ironically written by people who’d lose in the first round of a 2nd grade spelling bee.”
here we go another ignoramus spreading their so called knowledge ignorance is bliss
Stay on point. Your generalities won’t make it. Refute any
of the above.
Honcho, did you make a point to refute? Really? I must have missed it behind all that drivel about illegals and crimes and want-not (because clearly they’re the only ones to ever commit a crime or, say, blow up a federal building). Let me know when you make a point in well substantiated, articulate, and intelligently argued manner, and then I’ll gladly refute it.