So the Obama administration wants to keep the promises made to Latino Voters on immigration, but they want to work with Latino groups to help build public support behind amnesty for illegal aliens before taking the fight to Congress. Since Latinos are being sold as face of illegal immigration I guess the diplomatic approach would be to engage Latino US citizens in the solution.
This makes exactly as much sense as engaging Asian Americans in developing a solution to our massive debt to China. Or engaging Arab Americans in developing a solution to terrorism. First, Asians... Arabs... Latinos... are not "A People". Those words are labels whose only constructive use is to give police sketch artists a head start. Second, a US citizen may identify with some ethnicity, but on economic issues he is probably going to have the agenda of a US citizen. Third, the various groups that overlap with and make up a mythical ethnicity may have competing goals that make appealing to their constituencies and harnessing their energies impossible.
To demonstrate, I'd like to simulate a conversation between the Obama Administration's director of Latino Policy and a curious small business owner from Newark, NJ.
Q. What is a "Latino"?
A. A person of Hispanic descent living in North America.
Q. Spanish is a race? I thought it was a language.
A. Spanish is the language spoken by the Hispanic people.
Q. So Spaniards are Latinos?
A. Well, they are Hispanic, but not Latino. Latinos descended from people who first migrated to South America.
Q. What about Mexicans? That's North America.
A. You're right! OK--Latinos are immigrants or decendants of immigrants from South of the USA border.
Q. What about Puerto Ricans? They are US citizens. They don't consider themselves immigrants and the Puerto Rican Newarkers i know are to the right of Lou Dobbs on immigration because they feel their jobs are most threatened by illegal aliens.
A. Yes, of course Puerto Ricans are Latinos. Bad word choice with "immigrate". Latinos include anyone who migrated from South of the border.
Q. So are Jamaicans Latino?
A. No, Jamaicans aren't Latino. They are Caribbean. But they face the same issues that non-Puerto Rican Latinos face with regards to immigration, so when we say Latino immigration groups, we really mean Latinos and Caribbean Islanders that are pushing for immigration amnesty. Latino is just a convenient shorthand.
Q. What "same issues"? Cubans are Caribbean and the Cubans I work with look at immigration as a political rather than an economic issue. They also claim that Cubans are not Latino. And an immigrant from South America that has to get through Central America and Mexico to get into the USA has a lot more at stake than a Mexican immigrant both in getting here and staying here.
A. Latino has nothing to do with a stance on immigration. It's a culture. And your last "Q" wasn't a question. It was a statement. More specifically, hearsay.
Q. Culture? I'm thinking that most of these so-called Latinos have as much culture in common with each other as the Germans and the Italians. I bet many immigrants never had contact with Latinos from another culture until they came to the USA. And if Latino has nothing to do immigration, why are "Latino Voters" considered a monolithic demographic whose main issue is immigration?
A. Well, aside from Puerto Ricans and Cubans I really think most Latino Voters are looking for immigration amnesty.
Q. Aside from Puerto Ricans and Cubans how many Latinos actually have the right to vote in this country--and actually exercise that right?
A. Good question. Probably a very disproportionately low amount. We don't ask for race in the voting both, but we have done some polling.
Q. So you are basing your policy on polling results which require people to first identify themselves with an ethnicity with an ever-shifting definition? Then you ask people who may be terrified of deportation whether they are a US citizen and you expect them to believe that their answers are held in confidence? Do you really believe that the Latinos who came here legally have no issues with Latinos from other countries who came here illegally and are threatening their jobs as well?
A. Those questions sound rhetorical--point taken. Cubans speak Spanish so from our standpoint they are Latino but, you're right, we don't waste our time discussing illegal immigration with a Cuban audience..
Q. So what about Brazilians? They speak Portugeuse?
A. Sorry, my bad. Brazilians are Hispanic because they have descended from Hispania, the ancient country composed of Spain and Portugal. And Hispanics living in North America are Latino.
Q. What about Argentinians? Argentinians are as likely to be ethnically German or Italian as they are Hispanic.
A. Look, Brazilians, Argentinians, Colombians, Venezuelans, Chileans...if your ancestors came from South America and their ancestors came from Europe, you're Latino. But immigrants from those countries are not a problem for the USA. In fact, the Brazilians in Newark have been returning to South America where the economy is better, and their apartments and jobs are being taken over by Ecuadorans, Newark's largest Latino group.
Q. But the Ecuadorans ancestors were predominantly indigenous to South America, not Europe. Are you telling me those Ecuadorans are not Latino?
A. Yes, they are Latino, but I guess they aren't Hispanic. OK--now I got it. Latino actually means from Latin America, which includes Mexico, Central America, South America, and Spanish speaking Caribbean countries.
Q. Newark's fastest growing South American immigrant community is from Guyana. They speak English and trace their roots to India. You're not going to tell me they are Latino, are you?
A. No, actually, I'm going to tell you to get the hell out of my office.
