From the Right

/

Politics

Hispanics are fawned over for one month -- and ignored the rest of the year

Ruben Navarrette Jr. on

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The Sunday news shows, which originate from New York and Washington, are stuck in the outdated black-and-white paradigm of the 1970s.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.

 

By one measuring stick, Hispanics should be knocking down doors left and right, getting hired and promoted in every field, and enjoying the admiration of our colleagues. We work hard, defer to authority and put others first.

But by another measure, we don't have what it takes to get ahead. We're passive, humble and content with what life gives us. We're not good at telling our own story, and even worse at tooting our own horn. We are the last people to protest or complain. We don't make demands, or make waves.

That's a problem. The meek may inherit the Earth, but they don't get to first base in this country. Just look at who's president. If we could buy Donald Trump for what he's actually worth, and sell him back for what he thinks he's worth, the profit could pay off the national debt.

Baby boomers who run the media, the universities and the entertainment industry seem to have burned out on diversity. They went through the '60s, and they got somewhat sensitized to the plight of African Americans. They lived through the 1990s, and they got "woke" to the challenges facing the LGBTQ community. And now Hispanics show up?

Hispanics did not show up. We were here to greet you. The Spanish founded St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565. The English didn't show up in Jamestown until 1607.

This year, for Hispanic Heritage Month, let's skip the bouquets and the baloney. Give Hispanics the one thing they really crave, and the one thing America seems intent on denying us: respect.

========

Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com. His daily podcast, "Navarrette Nation," is available through every podcast app.

(c) 2019, The Washington Post Writers Group


 

 

Comics

David M. Hitch Lee Judge Steve Benson Pedro X. Molina Ed Wexler Lisa Benson