Tag: latino
Are The Racists On Viral Videos Mentally Ill?

Are The Racists On Viral Videos Mentally Ill?

Most everyone who spends time on social media has come across videos in which a white person is screaming racial insults, usually at a Latino or African-American. A recent example shows a woman at a ShopRite in East Haven, Connecticut, barraging a black man with racist invective.

But look more closely at these videos and eyewitness accounts for a fuller idea of what forces are at work. Comments on these videos tend to condemn the perpetrators as evil racists and nothing else. But what should be blazingly obvious to those who watch them carefully is that the assailants are almost always mentally unwell.

In the ShopRite incident, the black man was on a motorized shopping cart and had unintentionally cut the woman off, a white male observer told WPLR-FM. “She wasn’t looking where she was going.”

The white woman said, “Jesus Christ,” and the black man responded, “You talking to me, b——?” The woman then unleashed a tirade full of the N-word.

At that point, however, the dynamics changed. The black man started exhibiting great restraint, according to the witness. Other than the original B-word remark, he didn’t get verbally confrontational. It had become clear to all that the woman was unhinged.

Other shoppers tried to reason with her and worried what the two children at her side were experiencing. “It was like, ‘Oh, my God, man, Mom’s psycho,'” the eyewitness said.

In October, a video went viral showing a white woman blocking a black man from entering his apartment building in St. Louis. She demanded proof that he lived there. If she had been afraid of him, she wouldn’t have gotten in his face.

The African-American gentleman no doubt saw the bizarre behavior for what it was. “Please move, ma’am,” he said patiently while recording the scene.

The same month, a white woman called the police on an African-American child she claimed had “sexually assaulted” her in a Brooklyn bodega. A security camera in the store showed what actually happened: The 9-year-old had turned around, causing his backpack to brush the woman’s rear end.

The boy’s mother made strenuous objections to her ranting, and that’s when the white woman called the police. When they arrived, the boy was outside crying.

The neighbors did not buy into the woman’s denial of racist motives. She did eventually apologize. But the locals, convinced that she wasn’t playing with a full deck, nicknamed her “Cornerstore Caroline.”

Another video, taken at an IHOP in Los Angeles, shows a white woman yelling at another woman for speaking Spanish to her son. In a calm voice, the son tried to reason with the verbal attacker. “She’s not perfect, but she speaks English,” he told her in flawless English. And the mother did demonstrate that she could speak some English, not that she had an obligation to.

But really, what do you say to someone hollering “Go back to Spain” to a Spanish speaker in LA and asking, “Do you want the Russians over here telling you what to do?” I would have offered less explanation than the son, but he wisely spoke to her more like a child than a miscreant.

Psychologists have written a great deal on whether racists are actually mentally ill. They tread gingerly on the subject so as not to give excuses for vile conduct.

And it’s well-known that exposure to racism can do great psychological damage to people of color. This subject deserves its own discussion.

 

Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com. To find out more about Froma Harrop and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.

IMAGE: Screenshot from The Daily Show of “Cornerstore Caroline,” calling police to report an imaginary assault by a nine year-old African-American boy, October 15 , 2018.

Latino GOP Organization President Rips Trump’s DACA Decision: ‘It’s Insulting And Sad’

Latino GOP Organization President Rips Trump’s DACA Decision: ‘It’s Insulting And Sad’

Reprinted with permission from AlterNet.

 

Shortly after Attorney General Jeff Sessions broke the news that Trump would be ending the “Dreamers” program, also known as Deferred Actions for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Alfonso Aguilar appeared on CNN to voice his disgust.

“It’s insulting and sad,” said the president of Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles. “If the goal of the President of the United States is to deal with ‘heart,’ as he said, with DACA recipients, then the president failed miserably.”

Aguilar contends that the original implementation of DACA was not constitutional, but that today’s action was an inhumane solution.

“If you care about them, the president should make a commitment to support permanent status to DACA recipients and ensure that Congress passes legislation,” Aguilar said. “It’s not enough to punt to Congress and say it’s your responsibility, it’s a legislative responsibility.”

Watch the full segment here.

 

Header image source.

Donald Trump Mobilizes Hispanic Voters… Against Donald Trump

Donald Trump Mobilizes Hispanic Voters… Against Donald Trump

From the start, Donald Trump spoke and acted like a Republican presidential candidate who wanted to lose. That strategy hasn’t worked too well in the Republican primaries, but Trump’s open racism makes him a nearly-unelectable general election nominee, especially among Hispanic voters.

As it stands, Hispanics represent the largest minority populations in the United States. With over 27.3 million newly-eligible Hispanic voters set to cast ballots this year for the first time, it should come as no surprise that this group has the potential to sway the entire election, particularly in swing states.

Historically, though Hispanics comprise a very large percentage of the U.S. population, they have a relatively low voter turnout. In February, the Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies (CLACLS) found that, although 28 million Latinos were eligible to vote, only 48 percent cast a ballot in 2012.

But if history is any indication, this election could mark a major turning point in that trend.

In 1994, California Governor Pete Wilson, sponsored an initiative to restrict immigrants and their children from enjoying public education and health care. The proposition failed after many Latinos went to the polls to vote against it.

In 2012, Arizona politicians tried to introduce legislation to limit Latinos’ civil liberties through increased racial profiling. In the wake of the xenophobic bill’s passage, many grassroots organizations hosted voter drives. In fact, according to the grassroots organization Promise Arizona in Action, 11,975 Latinos in Arizona went to the polls to vote against the legislation, which represented a 28 percent increase compared to 2008.

In August of last year, according to a Rasmussen Reports telephone survey, 70 percent of potential Republican voters believed that a wall should be built along the U.S.-Mexican border, and 92 percent of those respondents support large-scale deportation efforts.

Recently, in Indiana, an elementary school student was publicly bullied at a school basketball game. Throughout the game, students at a predominantly white school chanted “Build the wall” as they held up pro-Trump signs to distract the other, primarily-Latino team.

In Northern Virginia, a student was told that he would be “sent home” when Trump becomes president.

In Boston, Knicks player Jose Calderon was heckled by Celtics fans who chanted “Go back to Mexico” and “build a wall.”

According to the Public Religion Research Institute’s “American Values Survey,” 56 percent of respondents believed that Hispanics face “a lot of discrimination” in America. However, that average belies a partisan split: only 42 percent of Republicans believe Hispanics face a disproportionate amount of discrimination, compared to 68 percent of Democrats.

As Donald Trump has made clear, 2016 will be a landmark year for racism in our electoral process. But Trump’s brand of anti-immigrant xenophobia cuts both ways. Turnout among white voters may increase, but they’re far outnumbered.

In fact, Mr. Trump’s comments have inspired political donors like George Soros to launch the“Immigrant Voters Win” PAC, a $15 million initiative to mobilize Latinos in swing states to register to vote. Univision has launched their own voter registration initiative as well, with a goal of registering 3 million new Latino voters.

Florida offers a valuable case study in how this could all play out for Donald Trump, should he be his party’s nominee. According to the Pew Research Center,

Among all Floridians, registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in 2016. This is due in part to Hispanics, who accounted for 88% of growth in the number of registered Democrats between 2006 and 2016. During this time, the number of Hispanic registered voters increased by 61%, while the number of Hispanics identifying as Democrats increased by 83% and those having no party affiliation increased by 95%. The number of Hispanic Republican registered voters has grown too – but much more slowly (just 16%).  

In 2014, a study from the Pew Hispanic Center showed that 62 percent of Latinos nationwide support Democratic candidates. According to the CLACLS, the relative surge of Latino voters can help decide election winners in swing states like Florida and Pennsylvania.

So, sure, Donald Trump won Florida. He also won Nevada — “even among Latinos!”

That is, among Latino Republican primary voters.

In Florida, according to Fortune, relatively few Latino Republicans came to vote and only 7 percent of the Latinos who did vote favored Trump.

The Nevada caucuses showed similarly unimpressive results: the Washington Post reported afterwards that, for all of Trump’s talk, he only won 2 percent of eligible Latino voters, “because there aren’t many Latino Republicans and because turnout in Nevada’s caucuses is very small.”

Surprise: Donald Trump knows how to twist statistics to say whatever he wants them to say. But that doesn’t change reality — 80 percent of Hispanics have a negative view of Donald Trump. And yes, their voices will be heard in November.

Photo: Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump brings up a Latino member of the audience as he speaks during a campaign event in Tucson, Arizona March 19, 2016. REUTERS/Sam Mircovich

Protests Mount Over Donald Trump Hosting ‘SNL’ Next Month

Protests Mount Over Donald Trump Hosting ‘SNL’ Next Month

By Meredith Blake, Los Angeles Times (TNS)

NEW YORK — Just a few months ago, NBC fired Donald Trump. Now it’s giving him a coveted hosting slot on “Saturday Night Live” — to a growing chorus of criticism.

Latino advocacy groups, joined by Hollywood celebrities and others, are calling on NBC to disinvite the Trump from his Nov. 7 appearance, citing inflammatory remarks Trump made about Mexican immigrants in the speech announcing his White House run in June.

“We are appalled that you would enable Trump’s hateful speech for nothing (more) than a ratings ploy,” the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, a coalition of 40 civil rights and policy organizations, said in a letter to “SNL” Executive Producer Lorne Michaels and NBCUniversal Chief Executive Stephen Burke.

A social media campaign called #RacismIsntFunny has drawn support from celebrities including John Leguizamo, Margaret Cho and Al Madrigal, and petitions on MoveOn.org and Change.org have gathered 370,000 signatures protesting the Trump appearance.

“There’s no question that this issue has struck a nerve in the Latino community and beyond, and there is growing energy and intensity,” said Janet Murguia, president of the National Council of La Raza, a Latino advocacy organization.

NBC declined to comment on the matter Monday.

The network initially distanced itself from Trump, who declared his candidacy in June in a speech in which he described Mexican immigrants as “rapists” who were bringing drugs and crime across the border. Within days, NBC fired Trump as host of “The Celebrity Apprentice” and ended its involvement with his Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, citing his “recent derogatory statements.”

But as Trump’s insurgent campaign gained momentum over the summer, the real estate tycoon has blossomed into a media sensation with a Midas touch for ratings. “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” got its best Friday night ratings in 18 months with Trump’s Sept. 11 visit. A few weeks later, Trump delivered CBS’ “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” its biggest audience since its Sept. 8 premiere.

In addition to his “Tonight” visit, Trump has called into “Morning Joe” on cable sister network MSNBC and on Monday sat for a “town hall” moderated by Matt Lauer on “Today.”

As Trump’s profile has risen, NBC’s public rhetoric also appears to have softened. In August, Entertainment Chairman Bob Greenblatt told reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour that Trump would “absolutely not” be back on “The Celebrity Apprentice” but was otherwise full of praise for the billionaire, calling him “a lovely guy” and “very much a collaborator.” Trump’s relationship with the network dates to 2004, when “The Apprentice” premiered.

While these other media appearances have drawn little controversy, Trump’s scheduled visit to “Saturday Night Live” is generating much more flak because it’s seen by his detractors as a cynical ratings ploy that could benefit his political campaign and potentially validate his views on immigration.

“‘SNL’ has become one of the most highly coveted platforms for candidates looking to connect with the American public,” Murguia said. “It’s appalling for a show to showcase a man whose campaign has been built on bigotry and demagoguery for the sake of buzz and ratings.”

Ratings are a reliable factor in booking guest hosts, so it’s likely that a potential “Trump bump” influenced NBC’s decision. As Trump joked the first time he hosted in 2004, “It’s great to be here at ‘Saturday Night Live,’ but I’ll be completely honest. It’s even better for ‘Saturday Night Live’ that I’m here. Nobody’s bigger than me, nobody’s better than me, I’m a ratings machine.”

Hosting “SNL” provides the latest example of Trump’s ability to command media attention, which has provided an enormous part of his success since he declared his candidacy in June. Many of his rivals will spend tens of millions of dollars on advertising in the next few months to become better known among voters and spread their campaign message. Trump has been able to accomplish those goals largely for free.

“I thought I’d have $25 million spent by now on ads,” Trump said in a recent interview with Fortune. “Do you know how much I’ve spent? Zero. Because I haven’t had to.”

Other candidates can only bite their lips in frustration. None has publicly condemned NBC’s willingness to have Trump host the popular comedy show, and complaining about it would be unlikely to help them. Republican rival Sen. Marco Rubio brushed off the “SNL” protests, saying, “If you don’t like it, don’t watch the show.”

Candidates usually welcome the chance to appear on shows like “SNL,” in part because doing so enables them to reach the wide audience of potential voters who don’t regularly watch the cable news channels and Sunday morning public affairs programs that carry most political news.

The ability to laugh at oneself also can help make a candidate more attractive to voters. Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, argues that when politicians ridicule themselves on “SNL,” it can take the bite out of the parody.

“When you’re starting to be effectively parodied, one way you defuse that is to parody yourself. You can come off as charming, as not taking yourself too seriously, which is clearly a problem with Trump,” she said. “The potential political advantage of it is enormous.”

Another factor in the growing outcry may be that it is exceptionally rare for an active presidential candidate to host the show. Cameos by presidential and vice presidential candidates have long been woven into the fabric of “SNL” — think Sarah Palin in 2008 or Hillary Rodham Clinton this month — and many politicians, including Sen. John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, have hosted the show.

But the last time a candidate hosted while in the middle of an active campaign was in December 2003, when Democratic long-shot Al Sharpton played the role of emcee. Because of concerns about the Federal Communication Commission’s “equal time” rule, several affiliates declined to carry the original broadcast of the episode.

(Times staff writer David Lauter contributed to this story.)

©2015 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Photo: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Burlington Memorial Auditorium in Burlington, Iowa, October 21, 2015. REUTERS/Scott Morgan