I Have a Dream — That Latinos Are Seen Beyond the Prism of Immigration

*Yes! Exactly the work we’re doing at NewsTaco. If you’ve been following us long enough, you know that our work is about changing the Latino narrative. You also know that we rely on you to spread the word, give us ideas, spur us on to keep doing what we’re doing. And when I say we, I mean you as well. VL


huffpo latinoBy César Vargas, Huffington Post Latino Voices

I like how Latino experts (I’m not going to put it in quotation marks) are upset with the establishment, the media, and politicians because they’re always framing the Latino identity through the immigration lens even though Latinos are more than just immigrants.

[pullquote]I want to see Latino economists getting lauded on Salon. I want to hear Latino political experts talking about more than immigration on morning shows. I want to see Latino actors playing superheroes in sci-fi/fantasy movies.[/pullquote] [tweet_dis]Immigration is important, but it in order of concerns, it comes in fourth: education, economy, health care, and then immigration. [/tweet_dis]Which is fair enough if they mention it — while some of them even know that framing us as the perpetual “other” alienates a good amount of second and subsequent generations (and some who have been part of this country since before this country came to be). But what grinds all my gears is that within the same breath they talk about Latinidad as this perpetual otherness even though they despise it.

I mean, I’ve never encountered so many brutos, ciegos, sordomudos, testarudos. Coño, gente. Break away from the damn chains you hate so much. Stop embracing them and stop putting them on your own children. For the love of God, [tweet_dis]don’t let Hollywood or politicians come only through the immigration door[/tweet_dis], either. It’s self-defeating. We’ve become so accustomed to mediocrity that even our so-called intelligentsia eats it up like it was the last piece of Dominican cake on earth. Revolt. Rebel. Superemosnos. It’s 2015. You’re no longer the “other.” You’re part of this country. Act like it. Don’t let so-called Latino …

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[Photo by Bread for the World/Flickr]
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