Two Hispanic Republicans’ Comments on African-Americans Reflect a Cultural Experience Not Prejudice
Hispanics Are Understandably Sensitive to Their Cultural Image
Two officials in the New Mexico Republican party were removed recently for comments relating to government dependency and Afro-Americans.
Didi Lima, the Clark County GOP communications director, who was a volunteer unpaid advocate, serving as liason for the Hispanic community was critized for saying “We don’t want (Hispanics) to become the new African-American community,” Lima told The Associated Press. “And that’s what the Democratic Party is going to do to them, create more programs and give them handouts, food stamps and checks for this and checks for that. We don’t want that.” and “I’m very much afraid that the Democratic Party is going to do the same thing that they did with the African-American culture and make them all dependent on the government and we don’t want that,” (as reported in the Las Vegas Sun).
Fernando C. Baca, a county Republican chairman, was asked to leave after saying “Hispanics consider themselves above blacks” and won’t vote for Obama (as reported in the Las Vegas Sun).
On first glance, it might easy to say that these represent prejudiced comments from individuals out of touch with current social realities but it is possible that they may in fact represent something else. The Pew Hispanic Center recently published a study that showed that at least 50% of Hispanics in the United States feel insecure in America. They have seen both Democrats and Republicans build a fence on the southern border of the United States ostensibly at least in part to protect against terrorism while nothing has been done to make entry of terrorists from Canada ( three of the 9/11 terroists walked across the Canadian border). Barack Obama advocates that they should always carry an official identification and undergo a mandatory screening whenever they apply for work. The candidate who received the vast majority of the Hispanic vote was ridiculed publicly by Barack Obama in his now infamous “Annie Oakley” speech and in many states recent changes in caucus rules of which many Hispanics were unaware resulted in popular votes for Hillary Clinton being rendered invalid. To many Hispanics caucuses may seem less Democratic than open elections. They have memories of living in countries where secret meetings are held and then fake elections to “legitimize” the selection.
Republican extremists have wrongly convinced the American public that the country is swarming with illegal aliens from Latin America who are stealing jobs, killing innocent citizens, sucking the welfare funds dry, and perhaps even planning to turn the United States into Mexico. Official government statistics tell a different story that Hispanics commit less crimes than other groups and contribute much more in taxes than in benefits they receive.It is no surprise that Hispanics would be on the defensive about these claims. Barack Obama has given out mixed messages on these issues. Barack Obama told the New York Times his main goal with Hispanics was to communicate with them on Spanish speaking television as if none of us speak English. He further contributed to a cultural divide in the United States when he suggested that all Americans will have to learn Spanish (a message that a Hispanic take over is coming).
Undocumented workers in Maryland, Florida, Texas, California, Chicago and else where are increasingly becoming the target of violent crime. Their fear of putting money in banks has become well known in the criminal community so that they are increasingly become the target of home invasions and street muggings by street gangs. Obama’s admittedly soft attitude on the use of drugs and his wanting to decriminalize prosecution of drug dealers as described in his book, The Audacity of Hope, smacks directly against Hispanics who have seen Mexico, Columbia and other countries consumed by the drug trade.
The growth of the Hispanic community in many of America’s cities has meant that in local elections Hispanic candidates are more and more being put against candidates of other ethnic groups in traditional neighborhoods. In addition, one of the hallmarks of the growing Hispanic presence is their propensity to develop small businesses. The key to Hispanic success in the United States was recently revealed in part to be due to the amount of symbiotic networking that occurs between native born Hispanics and immigrants. This inherent advancement by enterprise strategy which has been the key to success for Hispanics is threatened by government dependency. The majority of Hispanic immigrants come from a socialist country, Mexico. In Mexico, Hispanics have experienced the dismal failure of a birth to death welfare state exuding corruption, monopoly, and lack of economic mobility in the classes. They understand perhaps better than anyone the damage this type of government can bring.
The statements made by these individuals were inappropriate for anyone in a public position. They could be interpreted to be reflections of personal prejudice but they also could be interpreted to be a warning based upon a cultural experience of how government can have a very negative influence. They have lived in countries where soldiers come to your house to force you to vote in fake elections, labor unions take large amounts of your wages and give them to cronies, and housing or food is rationed by government decree. When they come to the United States and see public housing in the ghettos and food stamps it is a reminder of what they tried to leave. It is not a criticism of African-Americans but rather a complaint of what America has done to them and a hope that the fate of Hispanics will not be the same.
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