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Victimizing Hispanics
Looks like the recent South Florida convention hosted by La Raza and attended by leading Democratic Presidential candidates has brought out the demagogues. Actually, this whole mess started last month when the immigration bill flopped, with many Democrats, Hispanics and Hispanic Democrats decrying that the U.S. is hostile to Hispanics. For this, look no further than Hialeah's own Raul Martinez (a Cuban American Dem), who made some despicable statements on Polos Opuestos last month basically alleging that Americans are generally racist against Hispanics.
Then you have Barack Obama and his statement at the La Raza convention which is covered in the post below this one.
It appears that the Miami Herald's Latin American issues columnist, Andres Oppenheimer, took Obama's words to heart, because he responded with a column in Sunday's paper urging that "It's Time to Hit Back Against Anti-Latino Bigotry".
His column bothered me enough to leave a lengthy comment on his blog - in Spanish. Spanish so that those who think like Oppenheimer, Obama and La Raza can understand exactly what I'm saying.
I'll paraphrase what I wrote to Mr. Oppenheimer. I basically wrote that as a Cuban American fortunate enough to have been born in this country and proud of his roots, I disagree totally with your column. There isn't an anti-Hispanic attitude in the U.S., but more of an anti-illegal immigrant attitude. There's a big difference between the two. Oppenheimer's comparison to the African-American and Jewish-American struggle shows a lack of understanding of U.S. history on his part.
How can one explain the presence of TWO Spanish-language TV networks, countless Spanish-language radio stations nationwide, all of the Hispanics serving in Congress and the Senate as well as in local and state offices across the nation, and allege that there is racism or bigotry towards Hispanics in the United States? No one can give me a good explanation to counter that.
I believe it's more than a lack of understanding. I think it's a fact that Mr. Oppenheimer is demagoguing the issue. Doing so does nothing more than make all Hispanics look like a bunch of malcontents and ingrates to all Americans and LEGAL immigrants.
All Oppenheimer has to do is to look out his Miami window and see an example of what Hispanics can do when they apply themselves to improving themselves and their communities. They enjoy the same fruits that all other Americans enjoy.
It doesn't surprise me that groups such as La Raza takes advantage of these false sentiments to pander to Democratic politicians who are more than willing to buy into it in exchange for votes.
I closed by stating that La Raza President Janet Murguia hasn't focused on fighting Hispanic bigotry in this country because, quite simply, it doesn't exist, at least in a systematic sense.
Then you have Barack Obama and his statement at the La Raza convention which is covered in the post below this one.
It appears that the Miami Herald's Latin American issues columnist, Andres Oppenheimer, took Obama's words to heart, because he responded with a column in Sunday's paper urging that "It's Time to Hit Back Against Anti-Latino Bigotry".
His column bothered me enough to leave a lengthy comment on his blog - in Spanish. Spanish so that those who think like Oppenheimer, Obama and La Raza can understand exactly what I'm saying.
I'll paraphrase what I wrote to Mr. Oppenheimer. I basically wrote that as a Cuban American fortunate enough to have been born in this country and proud of his roots, I disagree totally with your column. There isn't an anti-Hispanic attitude in the U.S., but more of an anti-illegal immigrant attitude. There's a big difference between the two. Oppenheimer's comparison to the African-American and Jewish-American struggle shows a lack of understanding of U.S. history on his part.
How can one explain the presence of TWO Spanish-language TV networks, countless Spanish-language radio stations nationwide, all of the Hispanics serving in Congress and the Senate as well as in local and state offices across the nation, and allege that there is racism or bigotry towards Hispanics in the United States? No one can give me a good explanation to counter that.
I believe it's more than a lack of understanding. I think it's a fact that Mr. Oppenheimer is demagoguing the issue. Doing so does nothing more than make all Hispanics look like a bunch of malcontents and ingrates to all Americans and LEGAL immigrants.
All Oppenheimer has to do is to look out his Miami window and see an example of what Hispanics can do when they apply themselves to improving themselves and their communities. They enjoy the same fruits that all other Americans enjoy.
It doesn't surprise me that groups such as La Raza takes advantage of these false sentiments to pander to Democratic politicians who are more than willing to buy into it in exchange for votes.
I closed by stating that La Raza President Janet Murguia hasn't focused on fighting Hispanic bigotry in this country because, quite simply, it doesn't exist, at least in a systematic sense.
Labels: Hispanics, Immigrants, Oppenheimer
posted by Robert at 1:30 PM
2 Comments:
I don't have a strong opinion on Oppenheimer's or Obama's suggestions one way or the other. However, as a "non-Hispanic white" (a category I was unaware of until relocating to south Florida), I have encountered palatable anti-Hispanic bias among both Black and white Americans which has nothing remotely to do with immigration. Specifically, I reference policies, casual comments, and economic issues confronted by Puerto Rican communities in northeastern cities such as my native Philadelphia, as well as Cleveland, New York, Wilmington (DE), and Hartford (CT) where I've performed community work.
I don't know why this is even controversial. To paraphrase Mike Royko, bias by one ethnic group against another is American as baseball and cheating on income tax.
Steve,
It's probably not controversial as it seems. It just struck me as being incredibly naive at best, and grossly inconsiderate of this country at worst. Of course there's personal biases against other groups. That will exist as long as there's humans on this earth. But the message I believe Oppenheimer is sending is that there is a systematic bigotry against Hispanics in the U.S. for the mere fact of being - well - Hispanic. That's the message behind the "C'mon Hispanics Get Out There And Denounce Bigotry" campaign he appears to be promoting.
It's a waste of time and energy, and is degrading to Hispanics.
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