A few weeks ago I sat through four hours of CNN’s Latino in America in verbal horror (and by verbal I mean yelling at my television and my poor husband about the television) watching every caricature my scholarship and my pedagogy about Latino/as seeks to undermine.
Both two-hour segments begin with the theme of illegal immigration, reminding Anglos, in case they had forgotten, that for many the word Hispanic and illegal are always uttered in the same breath. On night number one, CNN shockingly depicted to heated debate on illegal immigration without mentioning their own Lou Dobbs, one of the most public voices vilifying illegal immigrants who is the subject of many Latino/a campaigns demanding CNN fire him. On night number two, the United States’ “wet land dry land policy” for Cubans (who are allowed to stay in the U.S. if they touch dry land) was contrasted with Central American illegal immigrants, who are detained and often sent home. The privilege of being Cuban was contrasted to the marginalization of other Latin Americans attempting to enter into the United States.
In this documentary success stories are the exception and not the rule. Pregnant teens, low riders, illegal immigrants, victims of gang violence, and Latino/as who seemingly refuse to learn Spanish are the norm. As a Latina with a Ph.D., I did not see one Latino/a in this documentary with whom I remotely identified. In fact, in four hours only one Latino/a intellectual was consulted. I kept waiting for the writers, the scholars, the artists in our community to appear on the screen. This documentary did not reveal the beauty of our culture, the diversity of our culture. As a Cuban-American who lives in Miami I realize that as a resident of the gateway to Latin America I am fairly sheltered regarding the rampant racism and prejudice against Latino/as in the United States. But after watching the CNN documentary I am overwhelmed with the urge to never leave Miami, because clearly the majority the United States clearly hates Latino/as. In addition, I finished the documentary thoroughly depressed. Is this really who we are? NO! I want to scream.
Latino/as in religion, or more accurately, Christianity, were discussed the first evening of the documentary. Here the rich and vibrant religious traditions of Latino/as were reduced to Pentecostalism and Catholicism. All other Latino/a religious expressions were ignored. The growth of Pentecostalism globally and among Latino/as regionally was briefly emphasized. The documentary than turned to bilingual Catholic parishes in the St. Louis Missouri area. In one parish, Latino/as are the saviors of the community, bringing in numbers (and I suspect dollars) to support a failing community. In the more substantially covered parish Latino/as are marginalized by Anglos in their community. One member goes so far as to question the need for mass in Spanish. The fact that the universality and diversity of Catholicism is the pathway to its deep unity is lost on this woman.
The segment shows two churches housed in one building: one in Spanish, one in English. This mirrors the documentary as a whole, which depicts Latino/as in America but not of America. The Catholic Church is the quintessential example of this marginalization, where Latino/as are essential to the survival of the Catholic Church in the United States but not in any way contributing to Catholicism. There was nothing positive about Latino/as contribution to the ecclesial life of Catholicism. If I didn’t know better, as a Latina Catholic, after watching that segment I might go check out my local Pentecostal church too.
The issue of language saturates the four hours. The Spanish language is depicted as the strongest bearer of Latino/a culture and simultaneously the source of their alienation here in the U.S. It is clear, at least from CNN’s perspective, that our language marginalizes us from dominant U.S. culture and yet if we lose it, we are condemned to assimilation and the loss of our own particular cultural values. There is no middle ground.
And yet there is. Millions of Latino/as live their lives bilingually fiercely proud of their Latin American heritages yet equally proud of their U.S. citizenship. But CNN did not tell those stories, I suspect because CNN cannot speak “Latino/a.”
Dr. Maldonado,
As I read this, I start thinking you have a point, but then I start to wonder what you want? As a nation we don't like the rich, and we don't like the poor. We have our arguments with the Catholics and scientologists and mormons and Christianity is driving a wedge between conservatives and liberals. Americans are almost always against the French, and now many of us are pissed at Sweden and or Norway because of Obama's peace prize. Obama is showing us if we make a little progress on one of our prejudices, our insanity also grows in lockstep. The LGBT vs hate threads here also seem to be showing us that. The American Indians are using this time to make sure we remember they are still upset. After losing pensions and health care and homes and jobs, we are starting to feel like giving up, except the faithful who see hope in the potential for more war bringing end times and rapture and are feeling inspired. We didn't build our supercollider, and now our space program is in shambles. We won't be able to fly to our international space station for several years and will be relying on the Russians for transport, so we are thinking of maybe just sinking it in the ocean. Closer to home, we are starting to wonder if football causes too many concussions, and conservative people are stocking up on guns and ammo. The one positive in America is we currently enjoy a massive head start over the rest of the world in deploying drone aircraft, so we can now do precise killings of people we don't like anywhere in the world from our office buildings in Nevada with before and after closeup video.
Michelle, welcome to the list.
I think they should go out the country or the authority should arrest them. But as long as they can comply to their obligation there must be a consideration I think. For instance, the American Recovery Capital loan program through the Small Business Administration, or an unpaid furlough (though they must be done legally) can prevent a layoff and maybe provide a little debt relief.
Well.. how do you ask them out?
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=2154254
Michelle Maldanado makes several great observations, although many of them have to do with the way in which news and "features" are covered. As for Lou Dobbs and CNN in general, although Fox may decry CNN as "liberal," Dobbs and Wolf Blitzer sound more and more like strident, screaming students of talk radio every day. CNN is not always a home to civil discussion. As someone who has spent a good deal of time in South Florida, the very notion of a cultural monolith called Latino is ridiculous. Those who claim Spanish as their native tongue in this country are very diverse culturally, economically and religiously. Maldanado is right: much more needs to be done to explore the rich diversity of our Spanish speaking Americans.
Did anyone mention that the by rights the USA should return Florida, Texas, Arizona, California and New Mexico to Mexico from which sovereign nation they were annexed (= stolen) in 1849?
After the restoration, all the non-Hispanics could go to the parts of the USA where they really belong or apply for citizenship in Mexico provided they spoke adequate Spanish.
problem solved.
The US offered to buy those territories from Mexico, but Mexico wanted to fight instead. So we fought and Mexico lost.
English law is arguably better than Spanish law or the Code Napoleon.
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