Machismo

I was reading El Mas Chingon's blog and he had a thing about "Man Dating" via The Daily Texican. My first reaction was, "That's gay. No way will you catch me on a 'Man Date'". Later in the day I came across this article about Spanish radio stations taking advantage of language issues to vent homophobic garbage. I realized a couple things. First, I have some issues with being a hypocrite that I need to work on. Second and more importantly is that Latinos need to knock this stuff off right now.
There is a whole range of reasons why this kind of behavior is wrong. You can start off with the obvious ones like, it's wrong to degrade another human being or what entitles us to judge another person in a solely private matter. Besides the "don't be a jerk" and "mind your own business" reasons there is a more practical reason.
After 9/11 I remember thinking "On the upside maybe they'll lay off the Latinos and profile the Arabs." Once again, that’s not a wonderful thing to think and more than a touch hypocritical. Hoping to avoid prejudice and discrimination by substituting another group may be the American way, but it's not a good way. The reason it's not good is because if you rely on displaced racism it's only so long before it boomerangs back at you.
Well it's been boomeranging. There is the Real ID act in the Senate (While you're at MALDEF's site check out the announcement about Corky Gonzales. I should have mentioned it but I didn't know what was properly respectful. Here is a link to Yo Soy Joaquin.), which is basically an anti Latino piece of legislation. There are proposed laws to increase legal penalties for involvement in a gang(In Oregon it's HB 2313). I think we all know that being in a gang means having more than 1 friend from your neighborhood if you come from a lower economic class or wearing the same t shirt when the cop stops you if your a minority. There has also been the minutemen protest in Arizona that has now grown another branch.
As Latinos we are currently seen as outsiders. We are all potential illegal foreigners. We are all perceived as criminals. How far are we really from ending up like Jose Padilla? Is this hyperbole? It could be, but should we risk it? Ask the few surviving Japanese Americans who suffered the internment if we should be worried.
What do we, as Latinos, need right now? We need strong allies who have a proven history of successfully fighting bigotry and hatred. We need to turn to people like the Jewish Anti-defamation League, the Catholic Church, the NAACP, and the Southern Poverty Law Center. We also need solidarity with other groups who are finding themselves in similar straights. This means teaming up with the Arab right's groups, south Asian rights groups, and groups that work to protect and ensure homosexual rights.
How can we make allies when we use terms like "joto", "maricon"(if I spelled it wrong I figure you still know what I'm talking about), or even "negrito" and "chino". No matter how many differences we think we can find between "us" and "them" we have a lot more in common. Is the name calling for cheap laughs worth losing a friend? It's time Latinos grow up.