Latino and African American comparison

Yesterday I was listening to NPR while driving, on the air was a show about arts, politics, and race, and how they are interrelated with one another, it was a joint program of Latino and African American artists.

It occurred to me that some Latinos are trying to compare themselves to African Americans in regards to race and minority status claiming to be a disadvantaged minority in the United States.

I was amazed at that comparison being that the African American people were not allowed to vote until recently, had to sit in the back of the bus, could not attend the same schools as the white, did not have access to higher education, all of this was inherent in the laws of this country, were deemed to be a negro race for thousands of years a philosophy that is integrated into the Judeo-Christian religion as is stated in the old testament.

The Latinos who are descendants of Spain who were big culprits in the slave trade, they were never banned voting rights, education, were not perceived to be of lesser race, nor denied anything by the laws of this country, somehow are trying to compare themselves to the African American people.

Yet what some Latinos are suffering is an integration period, and cultural difference, the same hardships as the Jews, the Irish, and every large group that have migrated to this country endured.

In the case of Latinos it seems to be a prolonged hardship brought on by unwillingness to assimilate and adept to their new country being very proud of their origins, you walk into some predominant Latino neighborhoods and the spoken language is Spanish even amongst the second generation.

Having said all that, nothing is wrong with clinging to your traditions and culture, it might even be cherished by some, yet you can’t expect the average American to accept you as an American when all you try to do is not be an American.

Using a vague similarity of hardships which are, poverty, high crime rates, and higher unemployment then the rest of the population, to liken themselves to the African Americans, seems to be a cynical ploy to gain what every other group acquired through hard work, trying to acquire it via free handouts, quotas, and free social benefits, which the African Americans earned by all their suffering in this country.