About four years ago, I sat down with my grandmother in undergraduate school to learn about the civil rights movement. She told me about my mother, a woman who was among the first Black females to integrate a catholic school. I heard the pain in my grandmother’s voice as she spoke about her daughter crying as she arrived home. I heard her pain as she spoke about the other children's resistance to change, the resistance to approve of her little girl that came to their school and asked for their acceptance. They spurned that little girl, jeered her, and played jokes on her. One of the most appalling parts of this integration was the idea that these students were supposed to have been among the best educated, not only academically but also morally, and they still rejected my grandmother’s little girl because she looked different. This story is only one of many similar stories of the pain and the difficulties caused by discrimination.
While the official basis for the civil rights movement seems to have passed, the movement is still here, necessary, and helpful to thousands of disadvantaged Blacks and Latinos. Now, the Hispanics of the United States, are similarly as ostracized as Blacks have been. My wife, a Latina from Mexico, commonly struggles with hidden discrimination. While she greeted customers and asked for their orders at a cash register, a female customer look past her, no, through her, and gave the order to another employee working behind the counter. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, people should be measured by “not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
Blacks and Hispanics are in common circumstances, commonly treated differently by their appearance. They are both from minority groups (although the Hispanic population has been rapidly increasing in the U.S.), and they are both among the most financially disadvantaged groups in the United States. Together, Blacks and Hispanics would be better able to address their common circumstance of being disadvantaged, minority groups. Together, they would have more strength as a voter base and more financial strength. Together, they would be part of stronger minority community that could affect the politics and the collective efficacy of their communities.
Bringing these groups together presents its own challenges, however. Sometimes, Blacks often do not trust other Blacks. My wife told me that her manager, who was also Black, said that the preferred not to hire Black workers because they are lazy and they don’t want to work. Also, the media commonly displays Black as criminals, drug abusers, and long-term welfare recipients. This view of the societal norm for Blacks may influence them to feel that committing crime, using ****, or being on welfare is normal and, therefore, acceptable.
Hispanic groups, although much more cohesive, have their own differences. Some Hispanic professionals who are here legally may not want to associate with poorer Hispanics who might be here illegally. Also, the higher percentage of illegal immigrants in the Hispanic population may make some illegal immigrants hesitant to become socially and politically active. Hispanics also are commonly shown as criminals and socially dependent for health care.
These intra-group and inter-group views are not universally accurate. Many Blacks—like Dr. Benjamin Carson, arguably the greatest child neurosurgeon of the 21st century—have come from difficult childhoods and difficult circumstances, yet they have persevered and become outstanding members of their community. They are very supportive of providing opportunities for minorities throughout their community. Also, Latinos have done amazing things. Venus Gines, the founder of Dia de la Mujer Latina (Dia de la Mujer Latina, “Day of the Latina Woman”) and a personal friend, has been a inspiration to me in her support for health care in the Latino community. Every year she helps provide hundreds of Latinos and other minorities with free mammogram screenings so that the disadvantaged will be able to know if they have **** cancer. These are only two examples of thousands of Blacks and Latinos that are doing great things. These examples should be televised, and brought to the attention of the Black and Hispanic communities. This, alone, may change some of the common misconceptions, and possibly foster similar changes of norms, for Blacks and Hispanics.
Along with encouraging pride for Black and Hispanic accomplishments, we should support the production of more community organizations, foreign language and foreign culture classes, and festivals both in the Black and Hispanic communities, but also across them. Community organizations and culture classes and festivals would facilitate an understanding and celebration within each culture, along with an interaction and appreciation of the other culture. Also, although foreign languages require time and energy to learn, they are, in my opinion, one of the best ways for getting an appreciation of other cultures. Additionally, Spanish is very marketable in job searches, so both Blacks and Hispanics may receive some financial benefit from becoming bilingual. We should support our own community, Hispanic or Black, and support the larger community with our skills, our work, and our time.
I close with a personal realization that I had while I was in the U.S. military. I was deployed to Sarajevo, Bosnia, and in the base camp the international community celebrated Oktoberfest. Oktoberfest is a festival where many people sit around and drink, talk, and sometimes dance. I was hesitant to go to the festivities, for I knew alcohol would be there in large quantities. When people get very ****, they loose their inhibitions, and soldiers have some very aggressive people among them. I walked to the gym, where the drinking occurred, expecting to find each country’s soldiers corralled around an arbitrarily-established territory, or to be fighting verbally or physically. As I stepped into the gym, I realized that most, indeed, were ****. But, to my surprise, there was no fighting, nor were there groups of soldiers positioned suspiciously away from the others. When I walked in, I found that all of the soldiers were together in one group, learning a simple Turkish dance. It was an inspiring experience, and I remember thinking, “maybe there is hope for us, after all.” I tell this story because I realized two things: Together, we can a difference, and together we have made a difference.
