A post about Huff Post Latino - its racist and stereotypical approaches will bore you, but my critique won't!!

I found this in my inbox the other day, someone who posted one of my pieces announced a great step forward for him...

I get a few reactions when projects/initiatives like this pop up. First, I tense up, 2. I get all pessimist that such a voice will poorly reflect my sense of identity as a Latino 3. I question such moves by mainstream venues to be a form of "cultural gentrification," and 4. I seriously doubt this will work. Why you ask? Its quite simple... I feel that my Latinidad is characterized by contradictions, synergies, and hybridities across dichotomous, bi-cultural, multicultural, and hybrid cultures. Yet, time and time again... we are inundated with an essentialist method of what is Latino, reminiscent of old-school race signifiers: catchphrases, topics, color schemes, cultural products, and issues, presumed as common issues across Latino populations. Whats more fun is we enjoy adapting this simplification of ourselves with no question.

Self-deceived racists of color gladly jump into the boxes media and cultural products present to us without a genuine investigation of the cultural, social, and experiential congruence of these products have to themselves, and the lives of others in their community. Immigration, family, language, and "the sleeping giant of the Hispanic vote" are all you read because all mainstream media outlets focus on these issues and nothing else. And of course, any Latino to gain the slightest of mainstream prominence is to be celebrated with t-shirts and all. Token Spanish words are sprinkled over English dominant writing.... and let me see... I figure an article on George Lopez, Shakira, Eva Longoria, Cesar Chavez, and Celia Cruz will be in order. Yet, the U.S. Census has reported that half of Latinos in this country are born here, the other half immigrated. Studies have shown the immigrant populations adapt to this country in a variety of ways that look nothing like assimilation. We are spread across very divergent geographical areas; we are made up of White, Black, Mestizo, Asian, and Native American populations;  and the number of nations that comprise "U.S. Latinos" is extremely diverse with their own histories, ethnic groups, and cultural norms. These complexities of demographic variables should immediately come to mind to any editorial board, focus group, or board meeting. I begin to wonder if editors only know these miniscule topics, or there really is a swell of interest by the Latino mainstream. Unfortunately, Huff Post Latino fails to provide anything new to the conversation. Here is a brief survey of the mundane and repetitive topics you find anywhere everywhere else...

1. Immigration:
Looking at the headlines HuffPost Latino has to offer... I am inundated with articles related to immigration, immigration reform, and deportation. Its an overrepresentation of an issue, and a strong indicator of what editors think is important to us. It smells of assumption, and partitions national issues to particular constituents, and not others. I am reminded of countless class conversations where it was only women who spoke up during topics about gender, or African Americans speaking on racism. I have a hunch that there may be Latinos with a voice at LatHuffPo. The needs and experiences of such a diverse range of Latinidades is not tied together with immigration. There are issues related to healthy, sexuality, education, social justice, that continue to be overlooked everyday. Again, immigration is an issue... but when approximately 2/3rds of a news' headlines are about one subject, would you buy the paper?

2. Can't get enough of that lame Latin Explosion from 1999... 
Another annoying piece are the rest of the articles... they fall into what I consider the "mainstream culture" category. If I were to ask you what the other articles would be about, you would be correct that they talk about "familia", "J-Lo", and food... then behold! Here they are!! You would hope for Rita Indiana or a Junot Diaz in there... but nah, its throwbacks...

3. Cultural Products:
Cause an entire hemisphere does the same thing right?

Crime of course:

Despite these stereotypical headlines, I found something of interest. Alicia Morga's "Should there be a Huff Post Latino?", draws up similar questions and concerns as I do, and Miguel Ferrer's "Piedra, Papel, y Tijera" , a reaction where he defends the merits of Huff Post Latino. Mr. Ferrer's first argument is that Latinos are undergoing a retro-acculturation process where we enjoy superficial cultural products, dance to old music, and learn a language that many of us do not speak...

Such an approach is absolutely insulting... Anyone can acquire these products, gringo, Latino, or otherwise... so how is this embracing culture? Plus, the way culture moves through this paradigm follows the old school linearity of 'assimilated - acculturated - native" stages of culture, which many writers have broken up. To be quite honest, people evolve and there are cultural products and expression in art, social media, literature, and research that have looked forward and taken these old-school cutlural signifiers to new levels. We have transnationalism teaching us intertextuality between ideas and geographies, youth who continually serve as the trendsetters and tastemakers of what Latinidad and identity can be today, and a plethora of Nu-Media social activists and writers talking to each other across the country. And whats funny is that forward thinking reframing of our culture and society was identified years ago. The biggest and strongest argument against such linear and basic ways of understanding our Latinidad continues to be "The Borderlands" by Gloria Anzaldua, which was published, back in like when??? 1987 or so??? Mr. Ferrer continues this line of thought by claiming English-dominant "Hispanics" don't rely/need their Latinidad as much as those, who I assume, are Spanish-dominant...

If this was the case, we wouldn't be struggling finding voice to begin with... and if you feel that a language barrier is the only door between us and mainstream accessibility, then you are poorly mistaken. Question is, how do you know what we need? How do you know that it is found in mainstream outlets? I don't dance when I read the paper, I don't drink Inca Cola, and I code-switch between English, Spanish, Spanglish, and Caliche... but he goes on...

Huff Post Latino claims to be different because its in English, dedicated to Latinos who do not know Spanish, and non-Latinos who do not speak Spanish. Surveying the topics presented in this publicaiton, I can find conversations on immigration in Univision, my local paper "El Tiempo Latino" and this thing. In that line of thought, then you are true to claim you are an equal partner, as your partners and contemporaries are just as stereotypical and tunnel-visioned as Huff Post Latino. And, its absolutely offensive that acquiring English is the means of "empowering" ourselves, as if we are unequal beforehand.

What this says to me is that I won't be staying long on this site, as it continues to present the stereotypes I find everywhere else.