How does this break down by ethnic group (i.e. Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican) and by state or region?
I am Mexican-American and I have lived in Texas for most of my life and I can honestly say I have never seen, heard, or witnessed anti-Jewish behavior or attitudes in my entire life here by any Hispanic person. Then again, there are relatively few Jewish people here - and some of them happen to be of Mexican origin as well. In Mexico itself, there is some pro-Palestinian anti-Israeli feeling, especially in the political left and intellectual circles (in some cases by people who are themselves Jewish) - but I don’t see it translate into hatred against people of the Judaic faith or certainly not any form of “racism”.
“Hispanics” are hardly a monoloithic group, and it includes people of many races and religions including quite a few Jews. Maybe is some other communities there are stronger attitudes.
Now, Spain does have a long history of anti-Semitism, so there is no denying that “Hispanic” culture may carry a lot of baggage from the Inquisition era. But I suspect most of this “Anti-Semitism” takes place in communities where there are also tensions between other groups such as African-Americans, Italian-Americans, and so forth.
Historical inertia would work. Spain was institutionally extremely anti-Semitic for quite a while. You will note that antisemitism among hispanics born in the USA is a good deal lower. Thus, the attitude is not one that is endemic to being hispanic.
Is there something you aren’t telling us, Salvador? Your other post, misposted in GQ, was about the Aztlan movement, and you included a line in there that “No Jews will be allowed in Aztlan,” and that you supported separation movements of all kinds.
Do you want this thread to go into a discussion of Mestizo separatist movements or are you honestly looking for reasons behind whatever Hispanic antisemitism is around?
To address the latter question, I would also add that there are many very devout Catholics amongst Hispanics, and many antisemitic aspects were part of that religion until the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. Some may still be perpetuated. It is just a guess, though.
I would also add that amongst revolutionary movements and left-wing groups, there is wide sympathy for the Palestinian cause. With this comes often accepting certain Arab world misinformation campaigns at face value, which starts to stray into antisemitic territory.
There is a lot that Salvador is not telling us, in particular that he is a white racist seeking to justify his own attitudes by projecting them on others:
Of course you’ve inadvertantly hit on it (as I’ve pointed out elsewhere): “… there are relatively few Jewish people here” … lack of exposure to other than to that filtered through the media and past cultural baggage results in a distorted conception of “The Jew.” Consequently it is easy to hold unrealistic stereotypes both negative and positive alike. Likewise an unacceptable number of Jews likely hold some unrealistic Hispanic stereotypes and are ignorant of much of the depth and variety of the component cultures. We tend to be concentrated in diffferent regions of the country and even in the same cities tend to live in different sections. To the detriment of both methinks.
Hispanics, particularly foreign born Hispanics, are less likely to have attended a university. The same is true of African-Americans.
My guess is that if you normalized for education, the level of anti-Semitism or, indeed, racism would be very close to the same regardless of ethnicity. That is, right around 3% of college educated Hispanics and right around 35% of uneducated Whites would have anti-Semetic views.
While we’re at it, there are plenty of racist Jews out there too. Shameful but very true.
