Stereotyping of Hispanics in the U.S.

1. Stereotyping of Hispanics in the U.S. Inspired by “Pigeons” by David Hernandez

2. From the Greek: στερεός (stereos), “firm, solid” τύπος (typos), “impression” “solid impression” Stereotype

3. Why do we stereotype? Labeling is a natural and human concept. It is an attempt to understand more than we do. When we stereotype for self-satisfaction and create in groups and out groups, we are unfairly judging a person based on what we don’t know. We ignore individuality and meritocracy in a country that claims to value both.

4. Looking at Hernandez’s Poem

5. Pigeons Pigeons are the spiks of Birdland.    They are survivors of blood, fire and stone.       They can’t afford to fly south          or a Florida winter home. Most everybody passing up a pigeon pack tries to break it up because they move funny and seem to be dancing like young street thugs with an 18-foot, 10-speaker Sanyo book box radio on a 2-foot red shoulder strap.                                             Pigeons have feathers of a different color.                                            They are too bright to be dull                                            and too dull to be bright                                            so they are not accepted anywhere.                Nobody wants to give pigeons a job.                 Parakeets, canaries and parrots                 have the market sown up as far as that goes.                 They live in fancy cages, get 3 meals a day                 for a song and dance routine.                 When was the last time you saw a pigeon                 in someone’s home?                 Unless they bleached their feathers white                 and try to pass off as doves,                 you will never see pet pigeons.                 Besides, their accents give them away                 when they start cooing. Once in a while, some creatures will treat them decent.     They are known as pigeon ladies, renegades,         or bleeding-heart Liberals.                                            What they do is build these wooden cages                                         on rooftops that look like huge                                     pigeon housing projects                                   where they freeze during the winters                                 and get their little claws stuck in tar                             on hot summer days No wonder they are pigeon-toed. I tell you,                 Pigeons are the spiks of Birdland.      (Hernandez 972-3 )

6. Pigeon Holed pi·geon·holed, pi·geon·hol·ing, pi·geon·holes 1. To place or file in a small compartment or recess. 2. To classify mentally; categorize. 3. To put aside and ignore; shelve. www.thefreedictionary.com/pigeonhole

7. The following quote is from a blog about being a Boricua en al luna which means Puerto Rican on the moon. The phrase is taken from the title of a poem written by Juan Antonio Corretjer. “I didn't know I was a Spik until I got to Harvard and an Anglo freshman demanded to see my ID while I was chatting in Spanish with some Puerto Rican friends in a common room in the freshman quad at the college. ....it wasn't because I "looked" Puerto Rican that this uptight Anglo kid was harassing me: it was because by speaking Spanish and by sounding Puerto Rican, I wasn't American enough, in his mind, to be at Harvard legitimately. I eyed him with all the disdain I could muster and hissed: "Call the police, you stupid freshman. I'll show them my ID and then you'll feel as ridiculous as you are."He hesitated for a moment and then stormed out of the room but not before yelling at me: "You fucking Spik!"That was my first encounter with the word Spik (a racist remark used by Anglos against Latinos who can't "speak" English) and my initiation into the culture of racism and discrimination upon which this "America," this country that appropriated the name of two entire continents, is founded.Back then I felt like he had slapped me, like he had confirmed what I knew all along: that I didn't belong at Harvard. Truth be told, I always felt like an outsider there. I actually perfected the art of living as an outsider there.After my years in college, and after living so many years in the States, I've gotten used to being an outsider. It's part of who I am, of who I became by virtue of leaving Puerto Rico to live here.That day, more than twenty years ago, I found out I was a Spik at Harvard. Now, more than twenty years after, I am still a Spik wherever I go. But now it's not something I would ever be ashamed of. Today, it's a badge of pride and survivance.” link required by http://platicas-conversations.blogspot.com/2007/01/spik-at-harvard.html

8. Pigeons are the spiks of Birdland. They are survivors of blood, fire and stone.        They can’t afford to fly south           or a Florida winter home. Most everybody passing up a pigeon pack tries to break it up because they move funny and seem to be dancing like young street thugs with an 18-foot, 10-speaker Sanyo book box radio on a 2-foot red shoulder strap. “I’ll admit that reggaeton is extremely popular among Hispanics. It is modern and designed to dance. But this does not mean that every single Hispanic loves it. That is like saying that every single African American is obsessed with hip hop, or that every person in Seattle loves grunge. To say this would be to insult all people who dislike the genre. While there are Hispanics who live and breathe reggaeton, there are those who have created websites which petition against it because they can’t understand how a genre with such alliterative rhythm and misogynistic themes can be considered music. These are the Hispanics that change the station when such songs come on and feel ashamed when a non-Hispanic associates them with the category.” Gema2009

9. Hispanic Media Stereotypes Media displays an unfavorable image of Hispanics leading to stereotyping and an “us-versus-them” mentality according to University of Arizona researcher Dana Maestro.Negative images may affect voting in regards to immigration and border issues as well as affirmative action initiatives. Maestro believes we lose our ability to distinguish real events from what we view from the media and lose our ability to recognize where we got our information and views from.

10. From a forum at Immigrate2us.net: “co-workers took me to the city hall to introduce me to a couple of people that we work closely with. Well... this is what happened. He began by saying "This is so-n-so, she's our newest employee" and before he could continue, the first person he introduced me to was like... "so she's your secretary?" .... he responded "NO, she's a counselor, she has a degree, she went to a very prestigious university"....then, the second person he introduced me to... the same exact thing happened.I'm so mad right now! Why do people have to stereotype people. Just because I'm Hispanic doesn't mean I don't have an education! and not that there's anything wrong with those that don't have an education.” “Klame1983” 2007 Pigeons have feathers of a different color. They are too bright to be dull and too dull to be bright so they are not accepted anywhere

11. Job Discrimination From a Californian lawyer: “Studies have found that nearly three in every ten Hispanic workers feel they have been discriminated against in their employment. Some report being referred to with racial slurs at work while one in four feel they are paid less and have reduced career advancement prospects than their Caucasian counterparts. In many organizations, there is a scarcity of Hispanics, Latinos and Mexican-Americans in management positions.” R. Sebastion Gibson 2009 Nobody wants to give pigeons a job.                 Parakeets, canaries and parrots                 have the market sown up as far as that goes.                 They live in fancy cages, get 3 meals a day                 for a song and dance routine.                 When was the last time you saw a pigeon                 in someone’s home?                 Unless they bleached their feathers white                 and try to pass off as doves,                 you will never see pet pigeons.                 Besides, their accents give them away                 when they start cooing.

12. Once in a while, some creature will treat them decent They are known as pigeon ladies, renegades,         or bleeding-heart Liberals.                                            What they do is build these wooden cages                                         on rooftops that look like huge                                     pigeon housing projects                                   where they freeze during the winters                                 and get their little claws stuck in tar                             on hot summer days No wonder they are pigeon-toed. I tell you,                 Pigeons are the spiks of Birdland.     

13. Lawrence, Massachusetts • Lawrence has a population of just under 70,000 people, 72 percent of whom are Hispanic. • An amazing 28 percent of the people of Lawrence live below the poverty line. • Of children under age 18 in Lawrence, 38 percent live in households below the poverty line, as do 22 percent of people age 65 and over. • The combination of economic poverty and an unusually expensive housing market leaves many people in Lawrence without enough money to adequately feed themselves. • The majority of those who are hungry are members of families who work and do not earn enough income to pay for both housing and food. • Approximately 75 percent of school-age children in Lawrence qualify for government-subsidized food programs – meaning that three out of four children in Lawrence are at risk for hunger. From: http://www.labelsareforjars.org/PDFs/Background.pdf At the time of the last census survey, there were 25,601 total housing units in Lawrence. The number of occupied housing units was 24,463, or 95.6 of the total units in town. Of these, 7,876 were owner-occupied (32.2), and 16,587 were renter-occupied (67.8, compared to the national average of 33.80%). There were also 1,138 vacant homes in Lawrence at the time of the last complete survey. From: http://www.americantowns.com/ma/lawrence-information

14. Resulting stereotype This is one of the more flattering views of Lawrence from a blog “What is Lawrence, MA like?” It is written by a realtor. “Lawrence is... a city in the Merrimack Valley, a former industrial center, with brick mill buildings all along the Merrimack River, and along the canals leading to the river. There is quite a variety of areas and neighborhoods, and some diversity of population. Some of the neighborhoods, I will admit, make me a bit nervous, especially where the absentee landlords/multi-family "investment properties" are the majority.Lawrence is the only city that I've actually refused to show a property after dark, based on police reports for that particular neighborhood, and the vibe that I got when I was there in daylight hours. You really need to keep an eye on your surroundings, and watch yourself. However, there are also many family-friendly neighborhoods where you could look around and wonder ‘Why do they call this city a ghetto?’” Valerie C 2007

15. Bird Control is “for the birds” • Residential properties are often the victims of pigeons. Pigeons soil entire facades when they sit on ledges and gutters; they breed in courtyards and produce significant amounts of droppings. • Pigeon houses offer wild birds an alternative and attract them away from affected buildings. • Repelling birds does not mean violently antagonising them. • Our primary aim is to repel them away from where they are not wanted and to resettle them elsewhere. • Bird cages can be mounted on the roof if possible Pictures and phrases courtesy of TONI Bird Control Solutions What they do is build these wooden cages on rooftops that look like huge  pigeon housing projects where they freeze during the winters and get their little claws stuck in tar on hot summer days

16. In a 2007 article written by Carlos Hernandez, he highlights a study done at McKinley Technological High School in D.C. revealing: • Almost half the students believe Hispanics work at jobs as construction workers and custodians. • One third believe Hispanics are drug dealers living in overcrowded conditions. • Over one fifth believe Hispanics are immigrants who don’t know any English having come over the border Interestingly three fourths believe they are hardworking people working for minimum wage. And over half say they work hard to send money to their families and half view they as laid back. Hernandez believes the newest American stereotype of Hispanics is the illegal immigrant stealing our jobs.

17. Operation Wetback 1954 Arizona Immigration Law 2010 The Justice Department argues the law would divert federal and local law enforcement officers by making them focus on people who may not have committed crimes, and by causing the “detention and harassment of authorized visitors, immigrants” and “Should the department fail to persuade the courts to block Arizona’s law, the official said, it would closely watch for signs that people of Hispanic appearance were being singled out.” The New York Times “This is the Latino version of what African-Americans describe as “driving while black.” This is the fear of Latinos, now made real thanks to Arizona. It is the fear that regardless of identification we will be stopped and held illegally by authorities. It is the Latino version of the 1950′s African-American who is arrested for vagrancy, or the old joke about the African-American who is stopped while jogging in his own neighborhood (hmm, both of those actually have happened more than once). Fr. Ernesto Obregon 2010 In 1949 the Border Patrol seized nearly 280,000 illegal immigrants. By 1953, the numbers had grown to more than 865,000, and the U.S. government felt pressured to do something about the onslaught of immigration. What resulted was Operation Wetback, devised in 1954 under the supervision of new commissioner of the Immigration and Nationalization Service, Gen. Joseph Swing. In some cases, illegal immigrants were deported along with their American-born children, who were by law U.S. citizens. The agents used a wide brush in their criteria for interrogating potential aliens. They adopted the practice of stopping "Mexican-looking" citizens on the street and asking for identification. This practice incited and angered many U.S. citizens who were of Mexican American descent. Opponents in both the United States and Mexico complained of "police-state" methods, and Operation Wetback was abandoned. PBS.org

18. A voice from another country… My daughter-in-law, Leslie Martinez SerratoLocher, is from the Central American country of Nicaragua. She has lived in the U.S. in the small town of Amesbury, MA ( fifteen minute ride to Lawrence) since her arrival in 2005. I asked her if she would answer some questions about stereotyping and she agreed. Below our my question and her answers. 1.  Do people in your country stereotype other ethnicities or races?  If yes, who and how. Yes they do, most of the time they have a bad opinion about white people, because most of the time they come to our countries to make money from our cheap labor.  Instead of helping us to get out of poverty, they pretty much take advantage of our sad economic situation. 2.  Did you feel stereotyped in the U.S?  If yes, what was it like?   I have to say that I have been living in the USA for 5 years and I have felt stereotyped perhaps once, but I think that the fact of being a woman has a lot to do with that. Also, but the time that I came to America I have had the wonderful opportunity of going to college and learn how to confront the world from a different perspective.  It helps Going to college helped me a lot to strength my self-confidence; which one I use wherever I go. (Leslie has told me in the past that being a Latino woman can be positive stereotype as people seeing her as exotic.) 3.  Do you feel like being Hispanic offers you less opportunity than if you were Caucasian?  Explain. Personally, I don't think that I have less opportunities than a Caucasian, because I am as smart as any of them. I just have to work hard like everybody else to achieve my goals.  4. Do you think that you stereotype?  For instance - Puerto Ricans, Dominicans    Are some Hispanic countries looked at more favorable than others?  Explain, please. Unfortunately I do stereotype. I criticize Puerto Ricans behavior a lot. I have met a very few of them and I have not liked their behavior, so I tend to expect the same from everyone who comes from Puerto Rico, but I am trying to get better because I do know that I am wrong.

19. “When you starts measuring somebody, measure him right, child, measure him right. Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got to wherever he is.” Mama ~ A Raisin in the Sun (Hansberry 499)

20. Works Cited