Jack & Jill Politics

How can this be mentioned without pointing to the bastadobbs.com campaign?

Because no one likes to talk about the elephant in the room (if you meant CNN). http://cockroachpeople.com/?p=770

If you meant JJPolitics, don't assume anyone has even heard of bastadobbs. there seems to be a new campaign against Dobbs every week. I thought this was the latest campaign: http://www.dropdobbs.com/

A question, why does not the NAACP reach out more to Latinos? Does not the C in NAACP stand for "colored". To me Lations are the ultimate race of color, as they span the spectrum from whitest white to blackest black and all in-between. To me it would be an unstoppable synergy politically and socially. Not to mention the much needed new juice an initiative like this would give the NAACP. Also, there is much being done in white establishment to ferment discord between Afro-Am's and Latino-Am's. We need to see that for what it is and put a stop to it.

"To me Lations are the ultimate race of color,"

I guess it depends where you live. I also guess I'm old, because that used to be said of blacks. But the rainbow has been taken over by gays, so I guess it's no big deal for the diaspora of 'spanning the spectrum' colorwise to be taken over by Latins/Hispanics/whatever. I'm old.

Can you still be latin if your last name is German? or Irish? (the answer out where I live is, that's what hyphens are for.)

Anyway, anybody read the comment over on Bossip several weeks ago from the Dominican chick who said she didn't have a problem with black people because 'they look just like me''? No? alright. Well, the avatar photo she used (and we all know how those aren't necessarily true) was almost as dark as Wesley Snipes. I don't live out on the East Coast. How bad is the 'I'm not black' among American Africans, Caribbeans and Latin-Americans? Or has that been vastly exaggerated?

Anybody else remember the USA Today news article about the lack of blacks in baseball........................ but if you looked at the photo, there was nothing BUT blacks, just blacks with hispanic instead of irish-scot and anglo surnames? Ok, that was just me.

Where I live, a surname is a powerful thing. Should that be enough? Should shared language? particularly if you don't know any Spanish? What happens to the Latin with the non-Spanish surname who 'looks' Indian? I know what happens out here to the Latin with the Spanish surname who's indistinguishable from 'white'.

"there is much being done in white establishment to ferment discord between Afro-Am's and Latino-Am's."

I don't believe that at all. I don't think whites care... except in the 'if she's pretty enough she can't possibly be completely African American'. But that's a universal, isn't it? But beyond that? whites don't care. At least out here, they have enough problems being a majority minority, and all that entails.

No, I believe any discord between African Americans and Latino Americans is strictly between African Americans and Latino Americans. No help needed from the 'outside'.

But I could be wrong.

Good looking out.

Good question, cause in the beginning of the NAACP, I believe Latinos were on the front lines right along with African-Americans and Native Americans as well.

Not sure how it became black folks only, because that wasn't the intent of the founders, for sho'.

And in California, you really see the dynamic of Blacks and Latinos hating on each other - not too much in Northern Calif, but in the Southland, and both races are so intent on claiming "turf" that they are blind to the game being run on them by the GOP (read: crackers).

Well, the leadership of the NAACP is stuck in a 1960's mentality. Their "vision" for the future is myopic at best. And the the organization is structured to deal with issues in the past not issues of the future.

I don't know why you think it's appropriate to use "crackers" in your post. If Conserv or any other conservative came on this blog and used "niggers" that would be deemed inappropriate. I think you need to consider how that might be offensive to some people and refrain from doing it. People come on this blog for a lot of reasons but to feel alienated is probably not one of them.

"Well, the leadership of the NAACP is stuck in a 1960's mentality. Their "vision" for the future is myopic at best. And the the organization is structured to deal with issues in the past not issues of the future."


Bingo.

Agreed CPL. If the NAACP is about anything at all, they should be jumping into this issue with both feet. Solving the SoCal hatred between Afro-Ams and Latino-Ams or at least shining a light on its cause is something that one would think the NAACP would be chomping at the bit to do.

Some of that mess is gang stuff. There's a generation of blacks and Latinos who spent time in jails and prisons, and they've transferred that animosity to the streets.

Then there is the assumption that Latinos are now the group in La-La Land, while blacks are on the outs. Huh...

There was a lot more camaraderie and less wariness in Los Angeles between young Blacks and Latinos during the 1940s, 50s and 60s than exists now. I think that you are right about prison culture playing a large role in this turnabout.

During the Zoot Suit Riots, blacks were helping Latinos to fight back against the sailors and police. They were even saving their lives, protecting them from getting beaten up. Or they were even giving them encouragement.

That was back in the day. This is now.

What a shame.

You are correct on the gang issue. Lets not mistake a bunch of black and latino gang members who be killing each other anyway as a representation of race relations between the two groups.

Um, did I say, did I mistake?

Meanwhile, there are some sections of L.A. that are a joy to be in, because of our contributions.

Thank you for the article on 36 (?) year old Brent Green. I'm glad he wasn't afraid of his neighbors.

---------------------
"Being involved, meeting people," said neighbor Laura Franklin, "it can just transform the place where you live." In fact, overall crime in the area is down nearly 30%. It's made LAPD officer Erid Mollinedo's job easier. "The changes have been dramatic. It's a lot safer. You have kids walking up and down the streets instead of prostitutes strolling the streets now."

That's nice, Officer Friendly. But what does that say about the LAPD's own efforts in FAIL?

I'm hoping the Soledad explores the Cuban immigration dynamic, and how most White-looking Cubans were able to defect and thrive in Florida, while the vast majority of Black Cubans were left behind.

I'd also like to see her explore the "purchase" of Mexico after the war in the 1840's, and how Latinos and Chicanos view immigration from that perspective.

If she goes there Pat Bukkkanon head would explode and Lou Dobbs would have a stroke on the air

All the more reason for her to do it.

heh

Watching those two charter Klan members having their heads explode, followed by a stroke would be "Must SEE TV".

I wonder how Lou's Latina wife deals with him? Must be the cheddar, cause any other Latina would be breaking cans of whipass on him every night when he sets a foot in the door.

I do believe you'll be disappointed. I don't think she's going to tackle the anti-Black Latino racism issue in the least.

That WOULD be a shock...

No, no, never! This issue will not be discussed. The Cuban government, yes, the same Cuban government who former leader once spent the night in Harlem - has imprisoned and threatened black Cubans who dare to raise this issue. Non-Black Latinos, for the most part, don't want to discuss this issue at all.

How come I'm not surprised?

The reaction of the Cuban government or, more accurately, segments of the Cuban government, stems from a fear that reports of stories of racial discrimination against darker-skinned Cubans works to undermine the revolution and gives aid and comfort to its enemies who, by and large, have even less regard for black Cubans.

There was a segment about issues with the catholic church.The older whites were complaining about services conducted in Spanish.When Soledad told them that Latin was the official language of the church one of them said "Well that's fine if you are in the country of Latin"My wife and I turned to each other and at the same time said WTF.I guess prejudice breeds ignorance.

No, it's the reverse: ignorance breeds prejudice.

The mass used to be all in Latin

Short memory span...and it was John XXIII and Paul VI who helped instigate Mass in the language of the people so as to make it more accessible to the believers...

I guess Latin as the basis for most of the Romance languages as well as for English isn't taught in schools any more.

Prejudice about outsiders.

Ignorance about their own history. And so it goes.

When I was Catholic, there were Spanish and English services at my church. There was a time when I took in a later service in Spanish. Thing is, I could follow the service with all those genuflections...it was essentially the same but in Spanish.

Which makes me wonder about Americans who claim that they can't follow English subtitles at foreign movies...can they read?

Reading is for uppity Negroes. Real Americans don't read. That is all.

delete

Yeah, her mom is Afro-Cuban--basically like Celia Cruz and her husband Pedro Knight. Look at a pic of Celia and her husband and if you didn't know they spoke Spanish, you'd think its like your family members. Black people are all over the Spanish Caribbean b/c of slavery as well, especially Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela also have a number of people of African descent as well. Not to mention Brazil which has the largest black population outside of Africa. Slavery was a big part of Spanish America so loads of black people there.

Fun fact about Soledad: She was commenting on the Louisiana JP story and noted that her parents were supposed to be the test case for what became Loving v. Virginia. Her parents couldn't get married in Maryland, where they were from I think, but her mom and dad didn't want to wait until the Supreme Court ruled in their favor to get married so they got married in DC instead where interracial marriage was legal. So, I think that's why she identifies as African-American and Latina: her family's history straddles both.

Correction.

Brazil was Portuguese, not Spanish. It was later part of a united empire with Portugal at one point, because after Napoleon stomped all over Europe, the Portuguese royal family decamped to Brazil to wait out his overthrow.

Actually there are Black people in EVERY Latin-American country including Mexico. My partner's family is from Guerrero, Mexico they are clearly "Afro-Mexicanos."

Cool background info on Soledad. Don't forget that the actual test-case cited by Justice Warren in Loving v. Virginia was Perez v. Sharp (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perez_v._Sharp), a California case that recognized that interracial bans on marriage violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution. It's a strange case of a Mexican woman and a Black man who were denied a marriage license because Perez's race was listed as white on the application (as Mexicans were required to do back in the 1940s).

Mexico has a large black population that has been ignored.

Not just ignored, but actively persecuted. Did you know they have "black face" characters on stamps in Mexico? Step n Fetchit on a n envelope... SMH

You're thinking of Memin Penguin, yeah it was a scandal ten years ago. I wouldn't call that "active persecution" by Mexican standards. I'd call it ignorant, insensitive and racist. Mexico has a weird relationship with afro-mexicans. they are mostly ignored as Sepia said, but on the other hand there is a fetishization of them too. I have heard Mexicans say glowingly when I've noted the African-American contribution to the US culture, that "we have blacks too (translation)!" Active persecution is having your family murdered and/or dissappeared by paramilitary death squads. You really have to be Indian in Mexico to enjoy that kind of attention.

They still make Native Americans buffoons, too.

Someone had to school me about the Indian servant girl in Like Water for Chocolate being a figure of ridicule--it didn't translate for American audiences who laughed on cue at her Butterfly McQueen-type utterances. I was appalled.

Afro-Mexicans
http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/1...of-costa...

Blacks in Mexico - A Brief Overview
http://www.afromexico.com/brief.htm

african presence in mexico
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3LDePpz4e8

Columbia has the 3rd largest population of black people outside of Africa. The US is #2.

Wow that's cool. I knew Brazil was #1.

didn't know that.

hmmmmmm

I an watching because they taped in CLT so I have to see if I am on the tape

Now exactly how is Soledad AA? Her mother is Cuban and her father is Australian. Somebody help me out with this...there is a piece missing.

Oh, I've got it: Soledad's mom is Estella; she is Afro-Cuban.

The term Afro-Cuban refers to Cubans of Sub Saharan African ancestry, and to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community. The term can refer to the combining of African and other cultural elements found in Cuban society

One of my friends went to her wedding (friend of the groom) and he thought she was Jewish.

I assume Soledad is going to do a "White in America" and "Asian in America" series as well?

Right after their "Balloon Boy In America" series.

LMAO!

I dont have a lot of faith in CNN....will try to keep an open mind about it.

I don't have a lot of faith in CNN either; that's why I'm not watching it.
The first "Blacks In America" soured me, so I'm not wasting my time.

so far, I know that Latinos speak Spanish, cook, dance, don't graduate high school and 1 in 7 teens contemplate suicide.

Yeah, what did we learn except that not all Latinos are Mexican--that's a "stereotype." You forgot the other bit of CNN breaking news: Latinas like to have babies at a young age.

Actually I think it's important to know that not all Latinos are Mexican. Some people were running around calling Justice Sotomayor "Mexican" and making little cartoons depicting her as Mexican. A lot of real Americans(tm) don't know that.

Sure, but I doubt that many of the folks who would need to know such basic information would actually be watching a documentary about Latinos on CNN.

yes, I forgot that one. babies - lots of babies at young ages.

just awful.

Latinos in my extended family, so I'm down. But just as with Black in America, I'm not having the buffoonery, border jumping and Mariachi serenades.

Keep it real, Soledad.