VivirLatino

We Are a Part of the Latino Nation

09:36 H | Topics: Controversia - Immigration - Race

White Americans, and black Americans too, are going to have to get used to sharing this country -- sharing it fully -- with brown Americans. Things are going to be different. Deal with it.

At least Washington Post op-ed columnist Eugene Robinson wasn't afraid to tell it like it is yesterday. Now while all Latinos/Hispanics (pick a box and move on) are not brown, we sure as hell ain't white, at least not according to the United States race system which makes as much sense as the Homeland Security color coded warning system. The current immigration debate isn't being so hotly debated because people are worried about those Canadians coming over the border. While people want to say its just about U.S. citizens losing jobs or wages being driven down, or safety, or U.S. services being overextended, its also about race. Why else the calls for protesters to carry U.S. flags and wear white? We, as Latinos, are expected to make ourselves more palatable to the mainstream, make ourselves less scary so we'll be embraced.

The fact that Congress chose to go on vacation before settling the immigration issue should prove that the U.S. government is in no rush to welcome Latino immigrants in or even to kick us out. They love what we do for them but that doesn't mean they love us. Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since the 1917 Jones Act and yet Congress stalls and flip flops on solidifying the status of la isla del encanto. It's easier to have a colony, an entity in limbo, that it can use at will, than it is for the U.S. to make a firm decision. The current immigration issue, in my opinion, is no different. Robinson wrote :

To put it another way: an America in which whites join the rest of us as just another minority. That's already the case in our two most populous states, California and Texas, according to the Census Bureau, with others including New York, Arizona and Florida likely to follow soon. Don't freak out, folks. It's not the end of the world. You might ask your black neighbors for advice on how to cope.

Or better yet ask, the Native/Indigenous community, where many Latinos have our roots. After all, they dealt and are still dealing with the original illegal immigration.

Via / The Washington Post (Registration required)

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