The reaction on the net I noticed was extremely against the series. In fact, one prominent Latino on twitter, created a spot for all Latinos to come post their very own Latino Success Stories, a lot of people were turned off or did not watch it all. I feel rather torn. Yes, it was depressing to watch. Yes, I was brought to tears by the child imprisoned because she was here illegally. Yes, the racist, ignorant comments killed me. One guy said illegal immigrants took jobs away from Blacks, while another woman said Latin masses would be fine if they were in Latin. Where is that place called Latin, my friends?
To ignore them or to paint a rosy picture of Latinos in the US would be a huge disservice to the marginalized, invisible individuals who have no power to make their voices or their plight heard. It's only through programs like this that these issues are brought to the forefront and into mainstream society and became part of the discourse that hopefully leads to an awareness and then a solution.
If we are so successful why is it that Chef Lorena Garcia can't get a primetime food show on American TV because of accent or that Daisy Fuentes, who does have one, is slated at 9am on a Saturday, which is no-man's land for TV shows?
How come our only major success stories, with the exception of Sonia Sotomayor, are all either actors, musicians, or athletes? Where are our scientists, our leaders and thinkers, our movers and shakers, our billionaires? If you can name some and most people I polled can't... How come they aren't household names?
You want a dose of reality:
Race/History/Evolutiion Notes took the 2009 Forbes 400 and broke it down by ethnic origins
Here are the results:
His current estimate of the ethnic breakdown:
Northwestern European 52.75%
Jewish 35.25%
Italian 3.5%
East Asian 2%
Middle Eastern 1.5%
Eastern European 1.5%
Greek 1.5%
Indian 1.25%
Hispanic 0.5%
Black 0.25%
That's not a typo:
Hispanic (2/400)
277 John Arrillaga 1,400 72 Palo Alto real estate [Basque ancestry] (considers himself American)
395 Arte Moreno 970 63 Phoenix lboards [Mexican descent, born in Arizona]
Black (1/400)
141 Oprah Winfrey 2,300 55 Chicago television
His full list is staggering. Go take a look at it and then come back and tell me who is it that is so successful right now...
Posts
Great points! Just discovered your site and enjoying it very much!
ReplyDeleteIsn't the owner of Univision among the wealthiest?
ReplyDeleteI disagree with your comments. The show focused on failure and despair as if this is what it means to be Latino. Furthermore, I think it's sad that your only gage of success is the Forbes 400.
ReplyDeleteHow about the Nobel Prize? Dr. Mario Molina, a Mexican-American scientist was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry. Why didn't Soledad O'Brien interview him? Because he doesn't fit the stereotype of the illegal, dropout Mexican that she spent two nights promoting.
What about astronauts Jose Hernandez, Daniel Olivas, and Ellen Ochoa? What about Johns Hopkins brain surgeon Dr. Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa? And I'm sure there are many other successful Latinos all across America that we don't know about.
People need to get out of the mindset that actors and entertainers are the epitome of success. They aren't.
On another note, I did think that her coverage of Luis Ramirez was done well, and long overdue.
Re: "Where are our scientists, our leaders and thinkers, our movers and shakers, our billionaires? If you can name some and most people I polled can't... How come they aren't household names?"
ReplyDeleteBecause the racist media ignore them. Two American astronauts of Mexican descent were on the space shuttle this past summer. Did the media show it? Of course not.
Here, get informed:
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/hernandez-jm.html
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/olivas.html
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/ochoa.html
http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/ochoa.html
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1995/molina-autobio.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/18/assignment_america/main2827109.shtml
Jim: The owner of Univision is not Latino.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all your comments. I am informed I know these names. In fact, that's the whole focus of my blog. Unfortunately, a lot of people aren't familiar with those names.
ReplyDeleteAnd, by the way this is not my ONLY gage of success. I'm just demonstrating that statistically whether financially or when it comes to other data sets Latinos are usually on the bottom unless it's a bout imprisonment, drop-out rates, unemployment and then Latinos are on top of the top of charts.