That (the thread subject) was the headline of a front page article in today’s San Jose Mercury News.
my bolding added.
I usually don’t get too worked up about these so-called “reverse discrimination” issues, but I was just appalled that a major newspaper could print something as overtly racist as this, without condemming it. And it actually gets worse:
One simply could not imagine an article that would take a statement at face value from someone who said “I’d like to vote for Bustamante, but Arnold is white so I think he’d represent my interests better”. Such a statement would only be included in an article with the headline: “Racism Strong Among White Voters in This Election.”
I will acknowledge that the article did have one small paragraph stating that “Latinos don’t necessarily vote as a bloc”. But the tone of 95% of the article was to offer voting along skin color lines as a natural and acceptable behavior for “Latino” voters.
It’s not parallel IMHO. There has been considerable prejudice against electing minorities to top executive positions. In our entire history, only one President was other than a white, male Protestant. I cannot think of any past California Governor who was Hispanic or black or Female or Asian or Jewish or known to be gay or an atheist. Electing a Hispanic Governor would be meaningful to every Hispanic in the state. Electing another white Governor would mean nothing in particular to white Californian.
Of course, electing Ahnuld would be meaningful to every immigrant in the state.
There is unfortunately a lot of anti-Hispanic bigotry in California today. A Hispanic Governor would be a symbol of the acceptibility of Hispanics for executive positions. He’d be a symbol to show the wrongness of discrimination and bigotry against Hispanics.
I understand that if Latino voters feel this way one could argue that the paper is just “reporting the facts”. However, as I stated in the OP, I think we can all be sure that had this been an article about white voters changing their minds about voting once a white guy entered the race, that it would be reported differently.
This just hit a raw nerve with me for some reason. It’s not particularly unusual, but I found the whole attitute of those quoted
Got any facts to support this? I’ve lived here a long time and “Hispanics” are seen everywhere in all types of authority positions. I don’t by the bigotry angle.
As a Hispanic born and raised in California I have voted in every election since I was of age to do so. I read, I listen and I vote for the person who evidences to me the best potential for the issues important to me. Through no fault of their own, these candidates are Hispanic or non-Hispanic.
I would feel a bigot if I voted for a candidate based on ethnicity just as I would feel a fool if I voted for a candidate based on physical appearance.
Unfortunately, there are a few folks who would ballot a “Gomez” over a “Sinclair” - even if the Gomez in question was a corrupt lying ass and the Sinclair was a dedicated public servant. But I also believe the same was true, historically, in parts of the country when a Sinclair ran against a O’Mally, SIlverstein, or D’Angelo.
At the same time I know some Hispanics who think Hispanic politicians are probably more corrupt as well.
I wouldn’t vote for someone automatically just because he was “Hispanic” (I am Mexican-American). Last year, in Texas, we had a Democrat who’s main message, at least for local voters in my neck of the sand seemed to be “vote for me, I am Hispanic and my opponent isn’t”. I didn’t vote for him.
But if Cruz Bustamante was indeed a capable leader (I know little about him) I would definite choose him over a bodybuilder/action star. Schwarzenegger’s politics may have more to do with Hispanics supporting Bustamante than his ethnic origin. If he is indeed pro-choice and socially “liberal” but economically conservative, he may alienate both liberal Hispanics and the burgeoning conservative Hispanic vote.
And honestly, non-Hispanic California does have a reputation for being unfriendly to Hispanics, compared to Arizona, New Mexico, or Texas. It is probably impossible to quantify bigotry and give empirical evidence that California really is worse than other places.
Part of it is the same initiative and referendum process at work in the recall. There has been a lot of publicity in the last ten years over propositions such as 187 which have been deemed “anti-immigrant” or “anti-Hispanic” - rightly or wrongly. The same issues are dealt with less rancorously in other states through legislation. This is part of California’s image problem. We now hear Schwarzenegger’s advisor is former gov. Pete Wilson. By national standards, he is a moderate to liberal Republican. But there are a lot of Mexican-Americans here in Texas (even those who voted for George W. Bush) that see him very negatively because of his association with anti-immigrant politics.
Did you read the second quote in the OP from the article? The statement was made that many Latinos were planning to vote against recalling Davis, but now may want to recall him in order to vote for Bustamante. That aspect has nothing to do with Arnold.
December: I’d certainly be willing to accept on face value that Hispanics don’t have it quite as easy as whites in CA. But the idea that they are some oppressed minority is ridiculously.
Syncrolecyne, I’m also from West West Texas. I don’t know if this is the same election we’re talking about, but if not, I remember a similar election a few years back. No one I know mentioned the candidate’s race as a factor that they considered. I guess it must have influenced some people though, otherwise the candidate wouldn’t have mentioned it. All I really cared about was how much money he would spend if elected. I think it’s a shame that anyone would base their vote on race.
And rightly so. When discussing race in America, one cannot substitute “white” as equivalent to black, Hispanic, or Asian. The equivalent factor for white people is their ethnic group–Italian, Polish, Greek, Jewish, and so forth. Among these groups, there is often a feeling of community, group pride, and shared experience. There is no such feeling for white people as a whole, because they have been the numerically and politically dominant group throughout American history.
Living in the Chicago area, I can tell you that appeals to ethnic pride and disproportionate voting for candidates of the same ethnicity are by no means limited to nonwhites. The difference is, when white people do it, unless they are being consciously racist, they do it as Poles, Serbs, Croats, Jews, or Irish rather than as generic “white people”.
John, I read the same article the morning and had some of the same concerns. However:
Well, jeez – the article leads with a quote from Victoria Aguilar, a Latino voter who feels conflicted now that Bustamonte is running.
OK, you have a Latino voter, directly quoted in the article, as having a problem voting against a Latino candidate (by voting No on the recall).
The Mercury is reporting the attitude of at least one (and actually there are several more quoted in the article) SJ voter agreeing with the premise of the article.
Squeege: Perhaps I would not have been ticked off so much if the paper had published an editorial the same day denouncing the practice of voting along racial or ethnic lines. This is often done when a troublesome news story is reported. But again, how do you think the paper would treat a news story about white voters saying they originally weren’t going to recall an Hispanic official, but changed their mind when they found out a white person was running?
I don’t think there is anything racist at all in the OP quote. Any time a member of an underrepresented,historically disadvantaged group achieves a first it is of significance to other people in that group. Whites ,as a whole, aren’t disadvantaged and have been in power since the begining in the US so this doesn’t apply to them. However this logic has always applied to sub-groups within whites who were disadvantaged and underrepresented.
The election of Kennedy was a big deal for Catholics especially Irish-Catholic Americans
The election of Eisenhower was a big deal for German-Americans.
The selection of Lieberman for VP candidate was a big deal for Jewish Americans.
The selection of Dukakis for Presidential candidate was a big deal for Greek-Americans.
So there is nothing unusual about the sentiments expressed by Hispanics about Bustamante.