Gringo’s Travels
Puerto Rico viewed from a gringo’s perspective
Latinos, Blacks, and Politics
Author: The Gringo4 Apr
I was watching Bill Maher’s “Real Time” this past weekend that I had Tivo’d. He has a segment where he goes to an area and interviews them on who they are going to vote for and teases them on their reasoning. This episode he was interviewing Hispanics in a “Mexican area” I believe in California. Everyone Maher interviewed was going to vote for Clinton except for one person.
Here is a segment from the transcript from the show.
MAHER: Do you think there’s a problem between the Latino community and the black community? A lot of people say that they don’t vote for Barack Obama because they just wouldn’t vote for a black guy.
WOMAN #1: Yes, but that does knock into racism.
MAHER: I mean, if you brought home a black guy, what would your parents say?
WOMAN #1: I mean, they’d be okay with it. But my grandparents would be a little…you know.
MAHER: Right. What if it was Barack Obama himself?
WOMAN #1: [she laughs]
MAHER: He’s so successful. Nice looking.
WOMAN #1: “Okay, go ahead. Have a good one.”
MAHER: You could be First Lady. Or you could marry Bill Clinton, you’d be Third Lady. [laughter] Whenever there’s a boxing match, like between a Latino guy and a black guy, there just seems to be an extra-
MAN #1: [overlapping] That’s a whole different - that’s a whole different thing.
MAHER: [overlapping]-amount of hatred going on there. When it’s Sugar Shane Mosley and Oscar de la Hoya, it’s a blood match.
MAN #1: Well, you know what? You’ve got to go with your own. I’ve got to go with my own on that.
MAHER: [overlapping] I always vote for the Irish guy. I do.
MAN #1: Oh, well.
MAHER: The Hispanics just don’t like the black guy. Come on, why can’t someone admit it?
WOMAN #2: [overlapping] I do. I-
MAHER: [overlapping] I’ve been here all day. No one will admit it.
WOMAN #2: [overlapping] No, I like him. It’s just-
MAHER: [overlapping] What is it with the Latinos and the blacks? What is this blood feud? Why can’t we just get along?
WOMAN #2: No blood feud. It’s just-
MAHER: Come on, little “Juno.” [laughter]
WOMAN #1: Who are you voting for?
MAHER: I’m going to vote for the black guy.
WOMAN #1: Really? And why is that?
MAHER: He’s cute. [laughter] [applause] [cheers]
Maher brings up an interesting point that I see all around me in Puerto Rico.
Latinos in general have an untold racism with blacks. When it comes to politics, the reactions I get while talking politics here are -
Prefer McCain “Because he is a Man.”
Prefer Clinton “Because I don’t think (then they stop talking)” then say “I don’t know.”
“I don’t care.” “I don’t get to vote anyway.”
- Tags: latino community, latinos, puerto ricans, Puerto Rico, racism
12 Responses for "Latinos, Blacks, and Politics"
There is a myth that racism dosnt exist in Puerto Rico, but it does, not to the levels it exist in the USA but its still here, even though every family on this island has relatives with black skin, white skin and everything in between.
Anyway, I still don’t know why but I am going to vote for Obama (once I move to Texas), I see Hilary as “the same thing as every other politician” but Obama feels different, I hope he wins.
That is an interesting observation, especially considering the claim that Puerto Rico normally lays to racial integration and harmony. Can I throw an idea out there? Is it Caribbean blacks that Puertorriqueños have a bias against, or are we mostly talking about North American blacks here? If it was mostly American blacks, the divide would make some sense, as Puerto Ricans in the continental US are a second low income sub-cultural group with a different culture and history from American blacks, a largely different approach to interaction/integration with the (white) mainstream, and plenty of potential for conflict overall.
By this logic, of course they would not support Barack Obama simply because he represents US blacks, a group they may see themselves being in some sort of conflict with. But this logic would not extend to Puerto Rican or Dominican blacks. Which would make sense, considering that by US standards of “blackness” this would include a majority of Puerto Ricans.
This is just an idea– I can’t claim deep knowledge of Puerto Rican society. I think it would also be interesting to see the orientation towards a candidate with a Mexican background– would a common language be the important factor, or would Puerto Ricans react negatively to a candidate representing a rival latin group which in general they view themselves as having little in common with?
In the end though, down with false categories and divisionist politics. Up with tolerance and integration.
Matt
The Accidental Linguist
I can’t really add much to this other than a story from today.
I had lunch at St. Germain in Old San Juan today… good lil deli/bistro. Expensive as fuck, but worth it.
Anyway, as I walked out, I got stopped by these tourists from Barstow, CA (redneck California)… they ask me where can they get a good taco and tequila.
I laughed and said, “wrong country… you can find the tequila at any bar, but there isn’t a single good taco in Old San Juan if you’re coming from California.”
They gave me a funny look.
@DarK SouL… I’m doing some work for the local Obama campaign. If you’re still here on Jun 1, you should vote in the primary.
@Rob
I wont be here by Jun 1st, I leave on May 29th :(
Why do we get to vote on the primary’s? First time I heard of that!
We get to vote for the democratic primary, but that’s because of the Democratic Party’s rules.
I don’t believe the Republican Party did so.
This is why the primary process for the Democratic Party is taking so long and why many are bitching about it.
But don’t worry, our votes will be mute as Puertorican delegates have two voting powers: delegate and super delegate. Which means that with their super delegate vote they will vote however they like.
Which is after all why the American popular vote has always been a sham like most everything else they do.
We Americans got rid of one King and appointed over 500. LOL! Wouldn’t you like to have the ability to give yourself a raise? :)
So, what you are telling me is that we vote for someone that is going to vote for us?
WTF?
Dark Soul, I don’t understand your question.
Can you rephrase it? Because I am the one now thinking WTF?
From what I’ve gathered, the delegates/superdelegates have agreed to vote based on the results of the popular vote, which if it holds true, is quite groundbreaking here.
@ Nelson,
We vote for a delegate, that is going to vote for of us, hence, we vote for someone that is going to vote for us. isn’t that kind of… backwards? *sigh*
Either way, once I am in TX I will vote for Obama!
DarkSoul,
That is what our system really is.
It’s called government by representation.
A representative government of the people. So we vote for a representative/senator and that person can vote as he/she wishes once they are in power.
Rob, that is incorrect. There was a list out in January that was posted by El Nuevo Dia and the other media outlets telling us who the super delegates were and who they were voting for.
hmmm, the way I understood after reading this:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j7ZnrN6l4FlR0ioIgtKAdBSCSokAD8VK6D2G0
was that the 55 PR delegates would vote the will of the people, and the 8 superdelegates (63-55=8) would vote as they see fit.
I didn’t get that they would vote the will of the people from reading that article. But the article did mention December as the month that the DNC made the approval for the election and when the local media printed the information as to who the super delegates were already committed to vote for (I mentioned Jan, but it could have been in Dec).
Hey, I am all for these clowns to vote the will of the people, but I know better.
“At the 2008 Democratic National Convention the superdelegates will make up approximately one-fifth of the total number of delegates. The closeness of the race between the leading contenders, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, has increased the chance that the superdelegates will play a decisive role in selecting the nominee, a prospect that has caused unease among some Democratic Party leaders.”
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