TNR has an article about Obama’s standing among Latinos, that includes a survey that indicates that many have some pretty unflattering views about black folks.

In Mindiola’s surveys of racial attitudes in Houston, they asked Latino respondents to describe blacks. Some of the terms that most often came to mind were “noisy,” “loud,” “lazy,” “dropouts/uneducated,” “hostile,” “complainers/whiners,” “bad people,” “prejudiced,” “aggressive,” “angry,” “disrespectful/rude,” and “violent.” Only 54 percent of U.S.-born Latinos and 46 percent of immigrant Latinos approved of their children dating an African American. 41 percent of U.S.-born Latinos thought blacks had “too much power.” Half thought that “most government programs that are designated for minorities favor African Americans.”

In some ways, I think that “Latino” really does a poor job of explaining the cultural diversity of Spanish-speaking people, similar to the way “black” fails to take into account the diversity of people of African descent. The Latino population in Houston is probably mostly Chicano, while in New York there are a lot of Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Cubans; in short, Latinos who unlike Chicanos, share an African heritage.

Although that doesn’t seem to have helped to much in Florida:

This hostility of Latinos toward blacks has sometimes showed up in political behavior. While both groups–especially if Florida’s Cubans are excluded–generally vote Democratic, there have been instances where Hispanics, faced with a black Democratic candidate, or with a white Democratic candidate closely tied to the black community, have voted Republican.

I grew up in DC, where I saw some black-brown tension but mostly I saw people keeping to themselves (maybe that’s indicative of more tension than I’d like to admit.) In New York, I spend most of my free weekends in the South Bronx drinking and playing dominoes (and yes, Wii, I admit it) with my Boricua friends. This degree of tension hasn’t been my experience, but it certainly sounds very real. Also, my experience is probably mitigated by the fact that I can pass for Puerto Rican.

What do ya’ll think? Do you see this on a daily basis? Those numbers were pretty shocking to me.

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