One of the most ludicrous claims of the murderer's PR team (family, friends, and defenders - paid and unpaid): Zimmerman could not have been motivated by racism because of his Hispanic ancestry. They even managed to find and drag out that picture of the black grandma that you wouldn't have seen were it not needed to help save his sorry ass from prison.
Part of my father's extended family circa 1930
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Paternal grandmother in Cuba circa 1918
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I am the son of white Cuban immigrants from Havana and I know up close and personal about Hispanic racism against black people. Come with me below the great orange divide for my testimony.
Old Havana landmarks: El Capitolio, Hotél Telégrafo, and Palacio del Centro Asturiano
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Family after arriving in Puerto Rico in 1961
I grew up in Puerto Rico, and Puerto Ricans come in many colors, from whiter than me (and that is pretty pale) to blue black - and everything in between. In many ways Puerto Ricans were better integrated (at least more than the Cubans that left before 1961) and, on the surface, less racist. Yet I learned by the time I was 10 or 11 that many Puerto Ricans considered themselves superior to "los negros." |
Mother and Father 1949
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When is it OK to call someone "negro" or "negra?" (or their diminutives "negrito" and "negrita")? I have never felt comfortable using these terms in spite of the fact that (at least in Puerto Rico) these terms can be used in a very kind manner. Negro just means black, nothing more and nothing less, but the context and the tone used can connote endearment on one end of the spectrum, and it can signify as strong an epithet as the N-word in the US at the other extreme. |
My mom died too young to have a chance to come around (and I like to think that she would have). I know it is possible that she never would have, but I saw a transformation in my dad from a racist to a person aware of race but no longer considering himself different as a person from Black people. (He came around on many things and even accepted my baby brother's homosexuality and welcomed "Charlie" just like any other member of the family.)
For a person born in 1924 and raised in Cuba, that is very far to come. My dad even voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 primaries (for those who may not know, residents of Puerto Rico can vote in presidential primaries but not in the presidential elections).
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My father 2010
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A remnant of the old city wall in La Habana
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Sadly, I still have family members who are horribly racist. Many of them were already Republicans, so hearing them badmouth a Democrat president was very commonplace - yet their hatred for Obama is just about as bad as the hatred they had for Janet Reno when she returned Elian Gonzalez to Cuba (and that is saying a lot). What accounts for the extra hatred?
On the other hand, my 86-year-old aunt adores Obama and Michelle and has a framed portrait of them (with Sasha and Malia) proudly displayed at the kitchen table. At a family gathering (elsewhere) last year the racists were going on and on about Obama, and my aunt just stood up and told them all they were just racists, but she saved her worst for my lesbian cousin and told her "your racism is ugly, but the fact that you are against a President that takes care of 'your group' and favor Republican homophobic bigots tells me that you are also stupid."
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The topic never came up again. (Although I am sure that the racist clique still share among themselves, at least we don't have to listen to it in extended family gatherings.) Why were my father, my amazing aunt and most of my extended family able to come around, but others were left behind in their ignorance? I guess humans are all different and human nature (the beauty and the ugliness) can go one way or the other.
Classic American cars, designated as taxis by their yellow license plates, park under a flamboyán tree in Old Havana
So to the idiots who say: "Zimmerman cannot be a racist - he's Hispanic." (As if that made anyone immune to being a racist and a bigot. We saw very clearly that the apples didn't fall very far from the racist Zimmerman tree, so to speak.) Hispanic is not a race (here I am preaching to the choir), but we have suffered similar discrimination as African Americans in the US (especially Puerto Ricans and Mexican Americans) and it is hard to fathom that someone who has been discriminated against can turn around and do the same to others. Racism is a sad, complex issue, and it does not have to be one person of color against another. Here in Boston the Irish were dumped on when they came over after the potato famine. They were treated like trash, but a few years later when Italian immigrants came they were dumped on too, and the worst offenders were the Irish. The Italians then turned around and were some of the worst at discriminating against Puerto Ricans.
Old Havana with presidential palace in the background
A little more on intra-Hispanic racism/ discrimination: Many Cubans arrived in Puerto Rico in the early 1960s and, due to the fact that they were in general well educated professionals, got good jobs and even started businesses. There was some resentment among Puerto Ricans. Cubans can put on high airs so it was not just one-way resentment, and there were even threats in the late 1960s and early 1970s against Cubans or their children. I grew up in a Cuban household but all my friends were Puerto Ricans, so I had to learn to be bilingual (a few examples: turtle/tortuga/jicotea, bathing suit/traje de baño/trusa, lollipop/paleta/chambelona - in English/Puerto Rican/Cuban) as my family did not like for me to use those "inferior" words, and my friends would die of laughter if I used the Cuban words. So I found out that there can be a lot of discrimination between different Hispanic groups (usually based on nationality) and it is not purely a racial issue. We are humans, we fear people who are "different," and it is always easier to pre-judge someone based on their ethnicity, nationality, gender, or other differences than it is to do the hard work of getting to know a person and finding out who they really are.
In spite of how sad this is (I mean, we are in the freaking 21st century!), I am hopeful that my kids are definitely growing up in a better environment where bigotry (at least in our circles) is heavily frowned upon. They cannot understand why anyone would be discriminated against because of the color of their skin or why our lesbian friends (that are married and have kids) would be treated differently than our heterosexual household. When the SCOTUS killed DOMA, I used that opportunity to explain what was happening, and they just couldn't believe that such a law could exist. I realize that what my kids are experiencing is not the norm in our country, but we have to educate the bigots one at a time and learn to leave them behind sometimes.
I look forward to a day when people are judged, if they must be judged at all, by their actions and their contributions to society - not for their color, religion, gender, nationality, language, whom they love, what they wear, or anything else that differentiates them on the surface. I look forward to the day when we discuss Jason Collins, and it is not because of the color of his skin or whom he loves, instead it to discuss his basketball skills. Imagine that day when any young aspiring engineer - as Trayvon was - can walk home, dressed in skinny jeans and a buttoned-downed shirt, or sweatpants and a hoodie, without racists feeling that he is up to no good?
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My hope for the future fuels my passionate support for the Dream Defenders.
Much like the Young Lords of forty years ago, these courageous, determined youngsters have pledged to take on racism and bigotry wherever those twin evils are found. Their track record to-date shows that they are intent on fulfilling that pledge. They need our support to continue in the fight. Please, won't you consider making a donation today? Thank you.
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