Throughout history the practice of pitting two racial or economic groups against one another in an attempt to ensure the oppression of both has proven successful. During the slavery of Africans in the United States, overworked field slaves were made to be embittered and mistrustful of the favored house slaves who often times enjoyed more comfortable living situations. During South African apartheid African and Indian communities were torn down the middle when the government decided to dictate housing conditions not according to family structure, but according to such minimal factors as the coarseness of each individuals hair. From South America to Europe, lighter skinned citizens are often times given preferential treatment, while the darker majorities are accepted on a more intimate level with their peers. Jealousy ruptures under these conditions, leading one race to believe that they are in fact made up of two opposing factions.
The same fractural practice seems to be working, whether purposely or as a result of a too long established pattern, in current relations between African Americans and Hispanics living in the United States. Minorities are forced to compete for the limited jobs and resources existing in poor urban communities. **** erupts as a result of competitive tension; quiet possibly worse is the absence of communication, which retards the growth of any progressive understanding. If African Americans and Hispanics were to communicate and realize that they are struggling against the same socio- economic hurdles, they could work as one to render these hurtles flat.
As an African American youth growing up in a predominantly Hispanic community, I was confused by the disparity that existed between my own race and the race of my surroundings. I was amazed that two cultures with such similar history could be so much at odds. Did African Americans pay tribute to Martin Luther King any differently than Hispanics pay tribute to Cesar Chavez? Was being stolen from the soil of your native land really any harder than having your native land stolen from beneath your feet? Was the amount or type of hate crimes enacted upon each really important compared to the fact that the hate crimes had been enacted at all? As the consciousness of my surroundings grew as I did, I became aware that not only were the past struggles of African Americans and Hispanics similar, but that current negative factors were ingrained almost identically on either side.
In urban Hispanic and African American neighborhoods, ****, crime, and gang activity are often so prevalent that it is sadly more surprising when they are absent. **** enter homes and render often irreparable damage to the families that they infect. Young men enter criminal institutions at a young age and are lost to a cycle of repeated incarceration. Young women become pregnant while still in their teenage years, many becoming too occupied with motherhood to dedicate any substantial energy to their futures. Neighborhoods are crippled at their roots as their young people, meant to be the strength and the pride of their communities, are instead engulfed in the negativity around them. According to the National Center For Educational Statistics, approximately one in every ten African Americans will not graduate from high school. For Hispanics, the drop out rate is epidemically close to one student in every four. Though the percentages of African Americans and Hispanics attaining higher education is on the rise, numbers are still well below the national average. Perhaps the most hurtful and pressing of all is the racial profiling and discrimination suffered by minorities all over the United States, leading them to feel like unwanted intruders in their own country.
Despite current situations, I believe that strengthening the ties between African American and Hispanic communities can be completed if each community dedicates itself to the mutual respect and support of the other. When there is a rally led by Hispanics to combat injustice or a benefit held to improve the quality of life, African Americans should already be joined in the fight. If an African American is the one organizing a protest or a fundraiser, upon turning they should meet with a Hispanic working alongside them. Ensuring that the fight of one race is the fight for both guarantees not only unity, but an increase in the gains of all endeavors.
To further this unity, instead of narrowly pushing for better conditions in ones own neighborhood, Hispanic and African Americans must demand a rise in greatness for both. If a new community center is being built for an area that is predominantly African American, the expectation following should be that the same raised standards of life be applied to the Hispanic community nearby.
The respect shown toward a cause, along with the rate of accomplishment achieved by the cause, has always been directly relative to the unity of purpose, organization, and sheer number of its proponents. Not only will solidarity among African Americans and Hispanics garnish more productivity, but an even distribution of development will decrease the tension caused by the struggle to obtain resources.
I believe that unifying as a result of inequalities or struggles is important, but I also believe that this unity can be broken if not strengthened on a level of friendship. Therefore, I propose an immediate increase in block parties, cultural fairs, and local music concerts, with unlimited invitation to African American and Hispanic communities alike. Why not share styles of dance and hilarious jokes, home cooked meals and new clothing styles? Music is one of the strongest expressions of culture; current collaboration between Hispanic reggaeton artists and African American hip hop artists have produced some of the most uniquely diverse and overwhelmingly popular songs on the radio today. Often these songs are a blend of lyrics in both English and Spanish, mixed with traditional Hispanic and African beats. The benefits of collaborations such as these are irreplaceable; ones own cultural creativity is expressed at the same time that the cultural creativity of another is appreciated.
In fostering unity between African American and Hispanic youth, it is important that they are aware of a continuance of their cultural endeavors on a higher level. In any community, whether it be cultural or vocational, universities act as a qualification and justification of the smaller endeavors pursued at home. Young musicians who have reached the apex of their ability have the promise of a university music department to expand and heighten their talents. In the same way, it is important that African Americans and Hispanics have the opportunity to continue their cultural pride at an institution of higher learning. Historically Black Colleges and Universities ensure young minorities that taking pride in ones culture, respecting the cultures of others, and being dedicated to the pursuit of unity extends beyond individual neighborhoods and into a larger network that values the same ideals.
