ENOUGH WITH THE LATINOS VS. AFRICAN- AMERICAN DIVERSITY B.S.

ENOUGH WITH THE LATINOS VS. AFRICAN-AMERICAN “DIVERSITY” BS!  IT’S AN APPLES TO ORANGES TROPE.OR A “PICKING COTTON” VS. “PICKING FRUIT” DEBATE DESIGNED TO DIVIDE.

Yeah, picking cotton and picking fruit are racist tropes, but I’m allowed to say at least picking cotton because I’m allowed to comment on my own marginalization. But I can dance around and lightly dip my toe into the Latino stereotypes because I’m of a group as suppressed as Latinos. But I’m not allowed to call someone a “spic” because we’re both part of a group that is currently marginalized. That's too specific to that community. And I also can’t call a woman the “C-word”, but women are allowed to call each other that. But did you notice how I felt allowed to spell out the “S-word" and not the “C-word”? Why is that you think? I’ll let you know that personally the reason I did it is because I don’t see women, who statistically have the numbers and could vote every male politician out in November if they so choose, as a marginalized group. If you’ve read this far, please save the women are marginalized, as I know they are, retorts for my upcoming rant on math and statistics, but both African-Americans and Latinos are visually and numerically marginalized. I don’t believe that women are being purged from voting roles, so again save your comments for next weekend’s rant. And I’ll get around to Blacks vs. Latinos in a minute. (*** And if any Latinos of whatever descent you want to call yourselves want to chime in and correct me, feel free. We’ve gone from Negro to Black to African-American, so let us know what you want us to call you and we’ll do it. But deciding what to be “called” is part of my discussion about diversity and how the African-American community need not worry about this diversity debate trap).

It’s all about power. I still don't understand how people of other groups don't understand that you can't make fun of people of other groups. It is so simple that the person in power can't make fun of the person below them. I can call a white person Honkey all day long and it doesn't mean that 4 white people in a minivan will start being pulled out and handcuffed on the ground. Skinny is more desirable, therefore more powerful, than fat. Tall is more desirable, therefore more powerful, than short. No race in either of those comparisons, and people will still rightfully fight to change body image issues. There is ageism, classism, and 47 other isms that have nothing to do with race. They ALL have to do with power. And power tries to perpetuate itself. Simple. And turning fat people against short people is a way to buy skinny tall people time to figure out the next two groups to pit against each other. Simple.

So now we’re back to today’s debate. Latinos vs. Blacks in terms of diversity. To me, it’s about a culture’s origin story. Correct me if I'm wrong, but when someone talks about the immigration debate, does anybody think that that includes black people coming in from Africa in 2020? Is that who Trump is trying to keep out? Is he talking about caravans of black people coming in from Eretria? No. He’s talking about immigrants whose origin story to America does not include being brought over here as slaves. The vast majority of black people have that as their origin story. There’s no pocket of African-Americans in the US who vote Republican because they were fleeing a brutal dictator and ended up in West Virginia. But there is a strong contingent of Cuban-Americans that heavily vote Republican in South Florida. Why? Origin story to the US. That’s why. I'm sure there are black people trying to come in from Africa in 2020, but when I think about the immigration debate, I do not think about Africans. We're already here. My great-great-great-great grandfather was from a “shithole” country. But I wouldn’t want to live there now. But we all understand what Trump was implying. Oh, and we even call ourselves African-American although we know there are black people from places other than Africa.

“Diversity” in 2020 has to do with the origin story, not skin tone. And unfortunately, but realistically for most “African-Americans”, our origin story is we are descendants of slaves. Do all the 23 & Me tests you want. That is not the same origin story from a number of Spanish speaking immigrants that are thought of when we think about the immigration debate. In college I spent a semester in Spain, and I can assure you that Spaniards do not want to be confused with Mexicans. And I'm sure that Puerto Ricans do not want to be confused with Bolivians. Puerto Ricans are Americans. Someone point out Bolivia on a map? But rarely have I seen in the black community folks getting mad at each other because they didn't pinpoint that they were from Ethiopia as opposed to Turks & Caicos. We are all beautiful, we're all individuals from amazing places, and God put us here as unique bright lights on this earth. Right. I get it. But diversity among marginalized groups is not the debate we should be having. The white supremacist and white nationalists who are trying to maintain control of this country don't see Blacks, Africans, Mexicans, Bolivians, African-Americans, Latinos, Eritreans, El Salvadorians, Kenyans, they don’t see ANY OF US as bright lights. They see us as dark spots. They're not worried about whatever bullshit individualism and diversity you're talking about. They’re trying to maintain their power. And these bullshit “diversity” debates only help them. Fine, black people in America aren’t as “diverse”. Who gives a shit? We still have the shortest month in the year to celebrate us. What do the Latinos have?