Hispanics are fawned over for one month -- and ignored the rest of the year
SAN DIEGO -- How does America disrespect Hispanics? Let me count the ways.
The reckoning comes in the midst of Hispanic Heritage Month, which lasts from Sept. 15 to Oct 15. This is the fifth commemoration since Donald Trump entered the political sandbox in 2015 and ushered in the modern rendition of the Dark Ages.
Over the next few weeks, companies, universities and organizations will hold festivals and put on forums that advance the fairytale that the nation's nearly 60 million Hispanics are about to take over.
Back in the real world, we're being taken apart. The idea that Hispanics are on the way up frightens those who want to keep them down. So, America's largest minority -- a title it assumed from African Americans in 2003 -- gets ignored, forgotten and passed over. We're the children who are told to leave the room, so the adults can talk about us behind our backs.
The Sunday news shows, which originate from New York and Washington, are stuck in the outdated black-and-white paradigm of the 1970s. You don't see all-male panels of pundits dissecting the #MeToo movement. Yet, it's normal to have panels of whites and African Americans speculate about how Trump will do with Hispanic voters in 2020.
Hollywood has never had much use for Hispanics. White studio heads have decided we don't have the skills to even play ourselves. Introducing Marlon Brando as Emiliano Zapata in "Viva Zapata" in 1952, Natalie Wood as Maria in "West Side Story" in 1961, Armand Assanti as Cesar Castillo in "The Mambo Kings" in 1989, Madonna as Eva Peron in "Evita" in 1996 and Ben Affleck as CIA agent Tony Mendez in "Argo" in 2012.
The political world is also largely a Hispanic-free zone. Introducing Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke as a Hispanic running for president. The Irishman from El Paso -- who according to The Associated Press speaks his "native Spanish" at rallies -- is the preferred choice for many white liberals who don't know what to do with the real thing.
Indeed, O'Rourke's fellow candidate, Julian Castro, is a proxy for the disrespect that many Hispanics put up with every day. His campaign staff must wonder: qué pasa? The media keeps ignoring their candidate, except when they go out of their way to scold him for being mean to former Vice President Joe Biden -- even though they ignored earlier attacks on Biden by Sens. Kamala Harris and Cory Booker.
One of my lecture agents told me some years ago that he has trouble booking Hispanic speakers -- even during Hispanic Heritage Month, when black or white speakers get booked more easily. Why is that, I asked. You folks don't raise hell, he said.
Good point. I'm not usually a fan of blaming the victim. But, in this case, the victim bears some blame.
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