320 Years of History
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- #21
The literal translation of la raza is "the race." In spoken and written Spanish, the term is used to mean "people," except when idiomatically it does literally mean "the race," as in "la raza Asiática," which would translate as "Asians" or "Asian people." "La raza" is quite widely understood to mean Latino folks just as "black" is widely understood to mean Black folks.
Do you think blacks in Spanish speaking countries have conniptions over being called "negroes?" Sure, small minded non-native speakers of Spanish may take exception with that term, but folks who know the language won't. The same small mindedness is what's going on with the consternation devolving from the mere use of "la raza" in the name of a clearly non-activist, non-political organizations.
Lastly, Spanish, like English and every other language, has synonymous ways of saying the same thing. That "la raza" is the synonym that has become chosen is what it is.
Other:
The idea that we should in all respect ignore race in determining our feelings and views about others is an ideal state of existence that we have not in the U.S. achieved. There are a variety of reasons why, but that the end of the day, they all come down to historic extants. The undeniable fact is that the U.S. has a long and enduring history of white folks using nothing other than their pale skin color as the basis for subordinating to themselves the value of every non-white group of folks on the planet. Upon achieving political, military, civil and economic dominance, whites, most especially in the first two and half centuries of the U.S. existence, used their grip on the organs of society to ensure that they remained, as a race not as a nation of Americans, dominant over all others who might be every bit as entitled to the "blessings of liberty" the U.S. offers.
The pattern and practice of whites having had, to the detriment of non-whites, for centuries accorded preferential treatment to whites has resulted in a modern day climate of distrust of whites' by non-whites. It also has created an environment whereby non-whites sometimes feel they must band together to ensure their share representation in the organs and instruments of American society. In short, non-whites just don't, even today trust, that many whites (as individuals) have moved past their history of disdain for non-whites.
And it's not hard to understand why they don't, especially with regard to Trump's remarks. Trump has repeatedly played this very nuanced game whereby he comes close to denouncing racist groups, but he doesn't full on do so. Then the man asserts that the Mexicans who come to the U.S. are rapists and crooks, even though there's no evidence showing that the majority of Mexican immigrants are that. Most recently, we hear Trump asserting that a native born American is a Mexican. By that line of reasoning, I'm not an American, I'm English, Trump is not American but German, Joe Namath is Italian, and so on.
(Let me know if you've not read my USMB posts about how Trump has used "disavow" and "reject" as platitudinous ways to seem like he's denouncing racist groups/individuals, but in fact those words fall far short of what is sought/expected of him or anyone who genuinely lacks any degree of sympathy for racists and bigots. I'll give you the links to them if you have not read them.)
Consider the non-racist ideal toward which we strive, that is, that every individual is measured by the "content of the character." Well, looking at Judge Curiel's character, one sees not one thing that suggests there's a credible reason to think his ethnic background has a darn thing to do with any decision he ever made on the bench. On the contrary, the man took positions against Latinos, and he did so in spite of mortal peril doing so entailed.
Trump has resurrected the rhetoric of "interposition and nullification" whereof Judge Curiel is, like millions of blacks were until the Civil Rights Act, is not American, but Mexican. And why? Because his ancestry is Mexican. I suppose too Trump thinks Judge Curiel is the result of a rape-caused pregnancy seeing as his parents were Mexicans? So while there are plenty of American whites who are not racists and bigots, Trump keeps giving us indications that he is not one of them.
Some folks have mentioned that Trump has hired women and minorities into his organization. Well, so did my slave owning forebears. A black slave essentially ran my great grandfather's entire household. That didn't make him non-racist; it made him cognizant of the fact that woman was able do something he needed done and that by having her do it, he didn't have to pay someone else to do it, nor did he have to do it himself. He allowed the woman to run the household because she could do something that benefitted him. It'd be a huge blunder to think that racists are stupid. They are not. They are opportunistically manipulative, intellectually irrational and hateful, not abjectly stupid. That is precisely what Trump is showing himself to be.
