Demographic role reversals

By Esther Cepeda, The Washington Post

CHICAGO — In my fantasy world, public relations professionals send me pitches extolling the virtues of the “white Robert Rodriguez.”

But no, I get come-ons about (shudder) “the next Latina Mark Cuban.”

Leaving aside the fact that aspiring to be a spoiled, trash-talking millionaire is dubious at best, a pitch I recently received from an investment group for women is illustrative of the odious shortcut of relating an unknown Hispanic quantity to a known name.

Univision anchor Jorge Ramos is often referred to as the Spanish-language Walter Cronkite (ironically, Ramos bears a closer resemblance to CNN’s Anderson Cooper).

On Spanish-language celebrity gossip sites, you can find plenty of references to movie and TV stars and their corresponding Hispanic look-alikes — the Latino George Clooney, the Latina Vanessa Hudgens.

It’s a noxious little quirk that seems to be limited mainly to Hispanics. One can hardly imagine hearing about “the black Jackie Chan,” “the Asian Beyonce” or “the Native American Lady Gaga.”

And rarely does one hear of this shorthand happening to non-minorities. Have you ever heard an entertainer referred to as the “white Kanye West” or an athlete as a “white Jeremy Lin”?

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