Yours truly daily reads the Huffington Post, at least I glance at the titles of the front page, then dive into Latino Voices which I like the least and always visit Black Voices and enjoy that section the most. Partly, because when it comes to Black Voices it is presented from the perspective of an American. And all the stories are about American experiences of Blacks because even though people might refer to Blacks as Blacks first it also means American. White people especially ethnic Whites that have non English last names do not own American for the simple reason they are new comers whether Irish, Italian, Polish, Germans and even Scots or Welsh. Who told them they could take ownership and yet they do. But Blacks have been in the eastern United States longer than any of those groups because they were in the Carribbean 100 years prior to any English settlement courtesy of the Spaniards and early Black settlers and slaves came and were brought in from the Caribe.
The Huffington Post acknowledges such history and they journalistically address Black issues accordingly. I like the fact that all the stories are about Black Americans and not Black people from around the world because Blacks can be found in four continents but here lies the difference, not all Blacks are American. Therefore, informing America is done according to historical presence.
Jump over to Latino Voices and from a Mexican American perspective it is crap and ignorance. First of all because Mexican Americans account for 25 million plus which means only the US born, afterall that is what a Mexican American is: born in the US and nowhere else. However, the Huffinton Post does not acknowledge this third wheel of Americana based on sheer numbers. Mexican Americans outnumber Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Central Americans and South Americans combined and undocumented and legal immigrants from Mexico. But as I read the section and I've done so for some time, I get turned off at the fake amalgamation and lumping. Recently, they have had articles on Antonio Villaraigoza and Julian Castro, mayors from Los Angeles and San Antonio who are chairing and giving a speech at the DNC convention. Other times, it is difficult to find articles on other Mexican American topics.
As I read the titles it is a section lumped together as a collage from Latin America and even Spain, yes Spain. By incorporating stories about immigrants from Latin America and events from south of the border and then lumping with Mexican Americans besides ignorance, what they are saying is we don't have much going on and you're still an outsider which is why we call you Latinos versus a color designation which is how Mexican Americans have historically been discriminated. The barrios, Mexican parts of town, East LA, Lennox, Pacoima, the Mission District in San Francisco (today Mex Am have been pushed out), Salinas, Calexico, Casa Blanca in Riverside and Coachella were all designated and racialized brown spaces. It meant less than in terms of material goods, it meant overcrowdedness, inferior supermarkets, and the realization that we weren't American. So brown has always been a racial demarcator of not being American even if we were born in the United States and our birth certificates stated we were Caucasain because my does. As a Mexican American activist from San Fernando states, "we were a nation within a nation" but we were nonetheless American and more American than Bob Hope, Arnold Schwarzeneggar, Michael J. Fox and Elizabeth Taylor because we were US born and not England, Austria or Canada. We were American, so we couldn't be famous like them but that was why were were a nation within a nation because we were colorado red people and it was made known to us.
Yet, the Huffington Post does a disservice by lumping us with a story of undocumented people on a bus ride; a final speech by Mexico's outgoing president, a Cuban story, a story on possible driver's license to undocumented, endless stories of Salma Hayek--no, she's not Mexican American; another story of shooting in Mexico towards US diplomats(should be in front section), Brazil's gays (really) and the king of Spain slapping his drivers. How is this even journalism? Where is the accuracy? Just lump us with foreigners because we all come from the same place and ignore those of us who have US presence for three plus generations?
In the end, I envy the Blacks because nobody questions their Americanism but for us born in the US the assumption is instantly that we are not American. So we are perpetually outside looking in and the attention goes to undocumented who have been placed on a sacred altar even though they created their own mess by overstaying their visit. But I will keep informing myself with Black Voices because there I can find more relevant stories especially because I was raised in Inglewood, California which is known for their Black population but we were there too. And when I tell that to Blacks, they node their head in approval because I was raised among them and that can't be erased.
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