The Importance Of Latino Group Cohesion

As we start off 2011, I find it an important opportunity to make a comment about something we all tend to take for granted:  Why do we lump together ethnicities from all over Latin America into categories like “Latino” or “Hispanic?” Because, if we are being quite honest, although there are a lot of commonalities between my Salvadoran or Peruvian friends and my pocha self, there are also a great many differences.

So, again, what’s the point in calling all of us “Latinos?”

I believe that the idea of Latino group cohesion in the United States is important for two very pressing reasons.

First, this country has a history of racism that continues to thrive in modern America under the new tags of prejudice or discomfort. As I’ve written, although I’m very light-skinned, my name in its double-accented glory often causes consternation and discomfort to others of non-Latino persuasions. I have family that is much darker-skinned than I, and let’s just say that based on my experiences in both California and Texas, I would not dare take them to Arizona.

Secondly, as Latinos in the United States, the government is going to classify us all together anyway. It doesn’t matter of you are a crazy L.A. bilingual pocha, or a Puerto Rican who considers himself American or a Nicaraguan who loves the U.S. more than her native country. Fact is, the U.S. government will put us all in the same category. Punto.

The takeaway, then, I think is that there are very specific reasons Latinos should band together politically and culturally and then there are other reasons it’s not important. I think Latinos should band together politically to get immigration reform passed, but I don’t really care if my Salvadoran friends know the difference between el 16 de septiembre and 5 de mayo.

A question like this is complex and requires that many centuries of history, policy, culture and power be taken into account. What’s more, there’s really no one answer, but what I’m hoping to do is at least start a conversation. That’s what we at NewsTaco have always hoped to inspire — what do you think?