Comments on: Breaking: Black Folks And Latinos Don’t Actually Hate Each Other

By: Rhonda M. Smith

Rhonda M. Smith — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 18:19:00 +0000

As a daughter of Caribbean parents. I am angered by the media's portrayal of black and latinos as cultural and racial monoliths. My parents migrated here from Trinidad and Jamaica, they are immigrants and understand the immigrant experience. It isn't fair to assume that all blacks in this country are from the South or have had their ancestors enslaved on U.S. soil. My ancestors were enslaved on Caribbean soil. They also migrated here with the same optimism as many other immigrants coming to this country. It isnt fair that people like myself and my family are ignored in such a discussion. Illegal immigration angers me because many of my family members have had to wait 10 and 15 years to come to this country. They were crossed examined for years and I see people coming here illegally and getting amnesty. It isnt fair nor just.

In addition more slaves went to Latin and Central America. Countries like Cuba, DR, Pueto Rico, Columbia, Venezuela, Honduras, Belize and other countries which have stong, stong, stong African hertiage and many of the people are black people. For the media and everyone to ignore black Hispanics is ignorant. Many of these black latinos have dealt with a great deal of oppression in these countries, something I would like a lot of latinos commentators and bloggers to admit.

Rhonda M. Smith

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:21:00 +0000

I'm a white reader who cares about race relations in this country. I found this post quite interesting and I generally agree with your interpretation. When claims of long-simmering animosities suddenly make news, in a way that serves a particular political agenda, I take it with a big dose of skepticism. If it's not something I know about first-hand, I'm inclined to withold judgement.

For that reason, I'm compelled to respond to your comment:

"I love that last statistic. A lot of white people don't really care how we get along as long as we're not robbing them, marrying their daughter, or moving in next door."

That's a clever quip but it's not fair. The question wasn't whether they care about blacks or hispanics. One-third of whites said they had no opinion about whether blacks and hispanics get along, which is what I would have said if asked, because I honestly don't know.

Since I have neither relevant personal experience nor your apparent ability to divine what others are really thinking, how could I have a legitimate opinion on this?

By: faboomama

faboomama — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 14:58:00 +0000

At the Obama rally yesterday, I was standing next to 3 black women and this drop dead gorgeous brotha. Then this white lady asked, “What do you ya’ll think about Latinos not voting for Obama?” I just looked and laughed. 2 of the women started speaking, in Spanish. One said, “Well, I’m Mexican and I’m voting for him. And she’s Columbian and she’s voting for him.” And the other woman and the man said, “We’re from Belize and we’re voting for him.”

They all sorta looked at me expectedly. I just shook my head. “I’m from Kansas City…I’m still voting for him, but…Kansas City…yeah.”

As for that conversation…it seems that people have caught on and understand that this isn’t a conversation about blacks and Latinos, it’s a conversation about white people’s perception. Since Rodriguez’ article came out, there’s been so much unity, at least in my corner of Los Angeles and it seems to me that Latinos are almost going out of their way to show solidarity. I spoke to a Black woman the other day and she asked, “Have people around here been telling you how much they love and admire black people?” I said, “Yep, and it knocked a couple hundred dollars off some work I was getting done on the house!”.