Linguistic discrimination......



There are so many things that as a hispanic man I internalized and just accepted as reality. One of those things was linguistic discrimination. Among the greater hispanic(I the Caribbean and South American Hispanic nations) community there has always been a ranking of which hispanic nations speak the "better" spanish. It is something that I just internalized and accepted. Dominicans were always at the bottom of the linguistic totem pole, but that isn't the part that gets me heated or upset; I accepted it. Now after learning about how languages evolve, change, grow, and adapt over I feel like an idiot for never questioning this convention. There is no one way to speak spanish. Every nation has developed their own standard and within that that standard there exist different dialects. O but before I continue what is "good" spanish anyway. Not many have been able to give me a precise answer but the closest I have been given is a spanish that is close to the original spanish from Spain. That is interesting since within Spain there are slight variations of Spanish. Why are so many obsessed with labeling everything that is considered "good" that which is most similar of to the things of our conquerors?

I was having a conversation with one of the people I will be interviewing and it is fascinating to hear her perspective. Due to the fact that she obviously looks black she has always identified as Afro Cuban, but she has cousins that may be lighter in skin and acknowledge don't  heir racial roots. For many Latino people, their racial identity has been robbed. They can not answer that question since the idea of race is so tied up to nationality that it does not allow the consciousness to accept that which is so plainly obvious(unless it is). While many Hispanics/Latinos  have troubles articulating a racial identity, it seems much easier to articulate racial discrimination based on the idea that white is right(Dominicans better than Haitians because they have more white blood. Soap Opera stars always been white in skin tone not reflecting reality, creams to lighten the skin, being told to reproduce with a lighter skin spouse in order to refine the race). For many(from what I have seen) in Spanish speaking countries the idea of race is internalized. Racial relations may not seem to be as divisive as it his here, but I believe that is because many have just accepted that inequality based on "race" is just a fact(how do we determine, mostly on obvious looks).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e6ChgL1EC4

I believe this basic documentary is on to something. Instead of embracing our multi racial background, when push came to shove most picked white. My religion(Catholic) came from Spain. My language came from Spain. I do not hate my White identity or influences but I equally embrace how my African culture has infused my food, music, art, dance, etc. For my own personal racial identity I am proud to embrace my bi-racial identity.....I feel for my Cuban friend who was told by another Cuban that she was not Cuban because she was too black.....Blacks, Native, Whites all inhabited these lands We fought. We mingled, and yes we produced a wide variety of multi-racial people.

For my project, I reached out to all the people I want to interview and started to develop my framework for how I want to tackle this project. I am reading a lot and watching a lot of documentaries, interviews, case studies that will inform my interviews.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7p30a4auyA

But Mister no one sees race.......

 I have the fortunate pleasure of being able to be a mentor in a very special program at the high school that I work in. I cannot go into too much detail about the conversations that occurred in the group since it is a confidential program. However, what I can say is that having conversations about race is more important than ever. Many students are uncomfortable to discuss anything about race. They assume that mentioning or discussion in a serious way is what is racist......It takes a few questions, but it is clear that they have very strong opinions and impressions because of race. The issue of race is one that is apparent is one were to just glance in the cafeteria. The issue of race is not something that is going to go away and by refusing to acknowledge it, we give power to those who use it for divisive purposes. How do people know what racism is if they are never allowed to recognize it? Many Americans try to full themselves by thinking we live in a post racial society when the reality is that we don't. Should we strive for a color-blind society? No, I don't think so because then by definition we would all have to be a standard. Anyway, I am getting off-topic. Hearing a young black student describe being white as a good thing and being black a bad thing is what answered this question for me. If this student never had the opportunity to to express his feelings, he never would of realized that he had internalized so many negative things about his race. People may read this and think that it is ridiculous that people could think in this way, but the reality is many of our minority students are bombarded with negative messages that they internalize. This internalization can lead to disastrous results. So, it is important to talk about race because it is the only way we as a society can finally start dismantling the inequalities that exist. 

I believe that there is a great majority of people who really want equality under the law, but they for whatever reason are passive. It is the job of those of us who care for social justice to be the constant voice for equality. We have to persuade that vast middle ground to stand with us and not allow injustice to continue or prevail. It does not have to be grand march or demonstration......it starts by having simple conversations with other humans beings. That is what it is about....seeing our common humanity and the richness of our differences.

Did I answer any questions? Sigh I think I rambled....