By: David Conde
My son’s last assignment before retirement was as a Colonel and Vice Commander of Moody Air Force Base in Valdosta, Georgia. I visited the family there several times and was impressed by the splendid home provided for them on base.
Although throughout his career the family had nice places on or off base, this one was extra-special. It made me think of RHIP (rank has its privileges), a term I learned as an enlisted member of the United States Air Force a long time ago. What I saw was a military class system at work.
The same type of structure is part of life in America. For many Latinos there is no difference between being Latino and being poor. The history of forming part of a long forgotten underclass is a telling influence on community self concept. Much of this goes back to relationships that were developed as a result of the war with Mexico that enabled the United States to define its place in the continent. It also brought together two incompatible class systems and denigrated the one that was conquered.
The class system inherited from Spanish colonial history was a vertical concept that delineated a community’s place according to ancient values. Under this system, there was always someone above someone below. The person below did the bidding of the one above and in return, the one above looked after the welfare of the person below. This way of life is diametrically opposed to the American horizontal and egalitarian system that allows everyone an opportunity to rise as far as talent and circumstance allow.
The difference between these outlooks led to a number of stereotypes especially that of the lazy Mexican. This of course has been the most hurtful and wrong depiction because it is the Latino, and especially the Latino immigrant, that is currently teaching America about hard work.
Some time back, Henry Cisneros, former Mayor of San Antonio and Secretary of HUD, gave a speech that described the American Dream as having a good job, a home, transportation and disposable income sufficient to allow for a person to participate effectively in the affairs of the community.
This is also the definition of the middle class.
There is a lot of talk about the 1 percent that owns half of the wealth in the country and the efforts to deal with the fact that these people and corporations are paying little or no taxes. There is also talk about the importance of developing and maintaining a strong middle class.
Latinos are becoming a significant part of that trajectory. But that progress is being discounted by an image that integrates a negative view of ethnicity and race with class.
In other words, there is a lingering stereotype from a dark past that tends to define the notion of being Latino to being poor regardless of economic progress. That is why people inside and outside the community are many times surprised to hear, for example, that Latino small businesses are the most important economic engine in the country.
As Latino wealth continuous to increase, so is the challenge to separate class from race and ethnicity and do away with this old stereotype. It is a serious cultural issue initiated by the history of two distinct people that have become one.
Latinos by in large are successfully exercising personal initiative to take advantage of what our society and our economic system offer. However, there is still that devaluing stereotype that continues to make life in America difficult.
