I think the truth behind the "Latinos are all racist" news blitz is a subconscious desire on the part of whites to deal with their own race issues by projecting them onto minorities who don't have (the) necessary media access it would require to issue a comprehensive rebuttal.
-- Jack and Jill Politics
The Enemy has been a little sad lately at all this talk about the great Latino/Black voting divide.
Can't we all just get along?
Then this article by Gregory Rodriguez popped up in TIME.
Nationwide, no fewer than eight black House members--including New York's Charles Rangel and Texas' Al Green--represent districts that are more than 25% Latino and must therefore depend heavily on Latino votes. And there are other examples. University of Washington political scientist Matt Barreto has begun compiling a list of black big-city mayors who have received large-scale Latino support over the past several decades. In 1983, Harold Washington pulled 80% of the Latino vote in Chicago. David Dinkins won 73% in New York City's mayoral race in 1989. And Denver's Wellington Webb garnered more than 70% in 1991, as did Ron Kirk in Dallas in 1995 and again in 1997 and '99. If he had gone back further, Barreto could have added longtime Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley, who won a majority of Latino votes in all four of his re-election campaigns between 1977 and 1989.
The Enemy can be a total dick and is ashamed at how easily he swallowed the Latino/Black voting divide meme. As Jack and Jill put it
I think the truth behind the "Latinos are all racist" news blitz is a subconscious desire on the part of whites to deal with their own race issues by projecting them onto minorities who don't have necessary access to media it would require to issue a comprehensive rebuttal.
There's also a great letter over at blabbeando from a potential Obama supporter of Latino descent and Gay persuasion, discussing his feelings about the Barrack/Queer/Latino triangulation and how it relates to the larger political landscape we all face.
