Latino Racism: Do you agree with this article?

Question

Michael Richard's frenzied meltdown onstage at the Laugh Factory.

Black firefighter Tennie Pierce's charges of endemic racism in the Los Angeles Fire Department.

NYPD unloading 50 rounds into three unarmed black men.

Ten black teens and preteens on trial for hate crimes in Long Beach, Calif., after a savage attack on three white women.

We might just be closing in on Christmas, but I'd say: Get ready for a long, hot 2007 if the current climate prevails.

Race relations in America have taken center stage, and once again the fault lines have been highlighted as a predominantly black-and-white affair.

That old paradigm might provide a comfortably familiar dynamic for activists, elected officials and the media to play off, but it conceals the new reality -- and the danger -- of the deepening racial polarization on America's streets.

And some of the most stridently racial rhetoric these days is not being heard from blacks or whites but rather from Latinos.

From street activists to students to professionals, Latinos are stoking ethnic anger as they pander to crowds with blatant stereotypes and use racially charged language to motivate their supporters -- and they are doing so with virtual impunity.

At an October protest in Escondido, Calif., organizer Fernando Suarez de Solar of a group called Aztec Warriors for Peace whipped a crowd of illegal immigrants into a frenzy outside City Hall after the council passed an ordinance that requires landlords to verify the legal residency of their tenants.

"Do not allow yourselves to be intimidated by any blue-eyed 'whitey' that comes to your house and asks you for 'papers,'" de Solar shouted in Spanish. Moments later, when he was giving me an English translation of what he had just told the crowd, he forgot to include the reference to "blue-eyed whitey," perhaps in deference to my green eyes.

Two teenage girls standing in the crowd casually dismissed Anglos as little more than a race of lazy bigots who have stolen everything they have acquired.

"Like, white people shouldn't be trying to do that, like trying to take all of the Mexicans [away]. That's why they have everything," said 16-year-old Norma Sanchez.

Her friend Jeanette Rivera, 17, quickly interjected "Without us, [whites] are nothing."

The uncomfortable truth of just how many immigrant and native Latinos perceive Anglo-Americans through a hard prism of negative racial and cultural stereotypes has not been explored much in the media, though it is brazenly on display at rallies that draw swarms of television, radio and print reporters.

It is clear that many Latino activists feel the coast is clear and experience little trepidation about making outrageous and divisive claims calculated to further racially polarize their base of supporters for pure political gain.

In September, activist Emma Lozano stood on a stage in Los Angeles at a rally marking the convening of the National Latino Congress and proclaimed that the aging population -- Anglos -- is able to survive only as a result of the exploitation of illegal immigrant labor.

"It is because of the undocumented that the [white] people who are retiring today are able to retire. Because of the work, the sweat, the exploitation of the undocumented worker," Lozano shouted at the crowd. "They are getting their hearing aids, their crutches and their pacemakers because of our work."

Like the two teens in Escondido, Lozano merely gave a louder voice to the view now pervasive among Latinos: Anglo-Americans do not enjoy the fruits that spring from a heritage of their parents' hard labor, a legacy of toil and sweat that stretches from John Steinbeck's fields in California's Central Valley to the coal mines of West Virginia. Rather, they are the sole inheritors of pillaged loot, beneficiaries of his

historical crimes against Latinos.

Analogies to slavery are tossed freely about by immigrant activists, with "white privilege" now the new code phrase for white plantation owner.

"What is happening now in America is the dehumanization and modern slavery of all the immigrants," Jorge Luis Macias told students at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, Calif., in September. Macias is an assignment editor at the Spanish-language newspaper La Opinion.

At the same forum, Angelica Salas from the Coalition of Immigrant Rights Los Angeles told students that illegal immigrants were akin to runaway slaves. "So at present we do have an immigration law that many immigrants have to violate when they come to this country," Salas said. "Slavery was a law."

And those comments pale next to the anti-Anglo venom easily found in but a few keystrokes on the Web, percolating forth from a wellspring of Latino and Mexican nationalist movements that depict Anglos as more akin to the Dutch Afrikaners

of South Africa's apartheid regime than Americans.

As the media convulse with the very real stresses and strains between blacks and whites in America, a virulent strain of Latino ethnocentrism is growing in the vacuum. Unless it is confronted honestly, it will set the stage for even greater racial upheaval.

Anglo-Americans -- and particularly the working middle class -- are feeling more denigrated and under siege than perhaps at any time in recent history. And it is the strident debate about illegal immigration that is fueling this sense of isolation.

Pundits might chastise Anglos for their defensiveness and mockingly dismiss their angst about what is clearly a double standard in the public use of race-based appeals, but they will ignore this simmering anger at their peril.

What happens when Kramer's name is Juan? Right now, nothing much at all.

If that doesn't change soon, we'll all be in for a very long, hot 2007 indeed.

Answer 1

I think the "illegal" immigration issues are about to boil over now. Undocumented Mexicans are starting to feel the heat, so they are trying to play the race card. Since past racism mostly had to do with "Black" people, the Mexicans are trying to get Blacks to be on their side by calling themselves brown skinned & calling Whites racial names. Us Black American citizens refuse to side with "illegal" immigrants nor pro-illegals. I am Black & I am a proud American. This is not a racial issue. So... I wish the race card would stop being played. This is an issue that has soley to do with what is legal & what is not. American citizens only want our laws inforced. These groups of pro-illegal protesters are not very bright in my eyes, because they've shown all the cards in their hands. Now that the sh*t has hit the fan, they can't handle it.

Answer 2

I think it is sad that people say they hate a particular race and have never met a person to get to know them. Although I am HIGHLY displeased with the overflow of illegals in this country, I make it a point not to say I hate a race of people.

However I do not like what our government is allowing to take place. I don't support a comprehensive immigration program. It WILL not fix the wages for our American workers nor will it help our hospitals and schools. Whether the people are Hispanic, Oriental, Cuban, etc., if they aren't supposed to be here in this country, then they really need to leave this country and do the proper documentation.

And I don't care if they have been here 10 years they are breaking the law everyday they have been here and continue to do so. Just because they come here and have a child should not give them the right to stay here. Its sad I know too many people who truly need the help and assistance the illegals are getting over Katrina victims. And this is a FACT!

Hispanics can't play the race card. Blacks were brought here against their will. They on the other hand are coming of their own free will. We are headed to Third World status by allowing all of these countries poor into our country as they search for the "American Dream".

Answer 3

Here's the thing. The second you call someone a racist, you portray yourself as a victim. Most of these people who are shouting racism are the biggest racists in the country.
P.S. If the Anglos are what we are because of the Mexicans, why don't the Mexicans do the same thing for themselves in their own country? Why would you want to keep building someone else up when you think they're tearing you down?

Answer 4

The extra the media cognizance in this , the extra gas will inflame the idiots available in the market ... It's approximately time we stopped targeting our variations & approved that we're all aspect of the only nation ... Some can bemoan the truth that the Australia of at present is significantly specific from what it was once like 50 years in the past however that difference was once inevitable if we have been to develop & prosper ... Personally I include the difference & love the variety ...

Answer 5

First of all race relations have always been more heated and violent between whites and blacks....than say between Asians or Hispanics. Blacks were being lynched by the KKK and unfairly jailed by the hundreds in the last century....that's why all the focus is on them. And if some militant Latino activists are out there talking "racial rhetoric"....how about the white nationalists, and white skinheads who talk about killing and shooting minorities and immigrants??? Honestly I think you're a wannabe KKK member in disguise.

Oh and Loretta, stop lying.. I don't know of any hispanic women who hate white women and I don't know of too many hispanic men who prefer white women over their own. And who cares what the KKK think...they are a bunch of backward loonies with their silly, goofy Halloween outfits.

Answer 6

Pull anything out of your pocket and point it at a cop and you won't like the result. I don't care what color or nationality you are. Those guys have every right to go home to their families - and the "victim" was a known felon.
I live as far away from the Southwest as one can get - and I'm VERY pleased with that fact - even if I - up here in the frozen North - which apparently, in some peoples' minds was stolen from the Native Americans, the French and the British (twice), have to "ENTRADA" my local Wal-Mart.
What a pile of b.s.
Maybe if I changed my name and complexion I could commit a multitude of crimes and get away with it by screaming racism in the street. I would also have to demand that all signage be in ENGLISH!!
Could it be that ILLEGAL aliens are more apt to commit violent crime because law abiding employers won't give them a job? And, of course, we are REQUIRED to support them once they first break the law to sneak over here.
I don't hear too many African Americans demanding we speak THEIR native language(s) and posting ALL messages and documents in those languages. This p.c. crap brought you what you saw in California. (Which we bought, by the way - we didn't STEAL it and you are entitled to NOTHING- just as I would not expect YOUR government to support me. They'd just send me back home. - If I was lucky - I'd probably be shot in the back while trying to "escape.")
So go home and demand that YOUR government provide you with the services you have the gall to demand from us. Their answer is "ship 'em to the good ol' USA" bleeding heart liberals. They won't do the job they were "elected" to do - but are too busy living off the public t-t. Scream invectives at your local Federales and see where you end up - probably a hole in the desert.

Answer 7

Your mindset and those like you is the root of the problem. The entire premise of 'racism' is the problem. I cannot speak for you, but I belong to the HUMAN race. Categorizing people and separating them into groups based upon how they look or believe simply creates hatred and division.

As far as Mr. Richards is concerned, he had every right so say anything he wishes (pesky little thing called the Constitution, the greatest enemy of liberal leftist extremists). The fact that he cowered to a real super-bigot (jesse jackson) makes me want to barf.

You also clearly demonstrate your intelligence by some of your statements, such as "NYPD unloading 50 rounds into unarmed black men". Utilizing your logic, if i run over a friend of yours then try to run you over, i am simply an innocent victim if you defend yourself against me. Mindless!

Answer 8

No, Blaming racial issues on one group in particular based on skin color is racist by definition. The author/s of this article clearly do not realize that no body asked the Latinos to migrate here and slave away for a better future like all Americans have.
When most people who are not considered Caucasian make a racist statement It is usually dismissed. There is a double standard for Caucasian people who make a public statement. In this case an author might be using racial propaganda to further there own personal political agenda.

Answer 9

if it wasn't for us white Americans the idiots wouldn't have what they have now. the Mexican woman hate white woman because their Hispanic men prefer the white females over them. they are fat short and very ugly. all they are doing is slowly stirring up the KKK. who eventually stopped going after the black race, and went after the illegals.

Answer 10

i think those hispanics in that article make the rest of us look bad cuz i dont hate all white people.