Conflict Between the Black and Brown

Until moving to Arizona and California I had no idea or interest in immigration and illegal aliens. I was totally unaware of the “conflict” between African Americans and Latinos. To be quite honest I had never met a Latino while living in St. Louis, and I spent over 20 years of my life in the Midwest. When I moved to Arizona I was naïve to the fact that some black people actually thought they were better than Latinos. For example, I was eating lunch at Taco Bell when this lovely sistah with beautiful locks ask me if she could sit at my table. I said “sure” and continued to enjoy my lunch. Then the sistah let something completely stupid fall out her mouth, she said “I sat with you because I didn’t want to sit next to no stanking Mexican.” I raised my eyebrow and the sistah took that as I interest in what she was saying. Then she went on to say that she goes to Home Depot and picks up a few illegal immigrants to clean her house and do her gardening. She said she worked the sh*t out of them all day and only gave them $25.00 a piece. I told her that was unfair and not the market rate. She laughed and said what they gone do call the police and continued to laugh like she was an audience member of Last Comic Standing. I was totally sickened by this sistah attitude and could not believe how racist this woman was and how she seemed happy about the way she acted.


But if you think this is a one way street you would be wrong. There have been times when I have seen Latinos mistreat black people. I worked for a utility company in AZ and had to help customers with billing questions or other concerns they may have had, and was completely face to face contact. I can not tell you how many times Latinos came into the office and refused to speak with me. A few of them only wanted to speak with another Latino. They would wait for my Latino co-worker to become available, it didn’t matter if she had a line wrapped around the corner they only wanted to speak with her. I found this to be very amusing and she found it very frustrating because she had to work twice as hard as anyone else.


This issue was also addressed by CNN columnist Ruben Navarrette Jr., here is a brief excerpt.


Welcome to the black-brown thing. That's what my African-American friends and I called it back in college. It's shorthand for the uneasy relationship between the nation's largest minority and the group that formerly held the title. In college, Latinos and African-Americans got along well. Ours was a small and prestigious school in the Northeast where neither group was in large supply.
As I walked through campus, if I passed a black classmate -- even one I didn't know -- he'd acknowledge me with a smile and a nod. And I'd do the same.
These days, the groups trade elbows. It's wasted energy. I like a good fight as much as the next columnist, but I won't fight for crumbs with people who -- like my own -- had to scratch and claw for everything they have, only to be told that they don't deserve it.

My opinion on the matter is that African Americans and Latinos need to GET OVER IT. We are in a very similar situation and could be a louder voice of change if we united instead of acting like one group is more elite than the other. Both groups deal with a high rate of poverty, high drop out rates, increase in gang activity, a large number of men in jail, teenage pregnancy, HIV, inapt school districts, shall I continue. Blacks and Latinos want a better life and the best way to do that is to join forces and put the pettiness aside.

ps.... For you people that do not know the flags for Mexico and South Africa