You only have to be racist against one group to be so, Hollywood—and America, for that matter

 

The 2021 Academy Awards was allegedly the most “diverse” ever, but from whose perspective? That might be true from the black and Asian perspective, and people might jump up and down and point out that the father of the director of Judas and the Black Messiah, Shaka King, was allegedly Panamanian; but who’s kidding who here? King clearly identifies black and his movie has black actors, black crew, black producers and black politics written all over it. Fact: not a single Latino was nominated for anything, and that is, I’m sorry to say, typical, racist, Hollywood. Just own it.  

Actress/film director Fanny Veliz Grande wrote on the website Avenida Productions a few weeks ago that people tell her when she points out the seemingly deliberate exclusion of Latinos in, well, anything, people point to the “Three Amigos”—directors Inarritu, Del Toro and Cuaron, all of whom have won Oscars for best director. But if you take a closer look at their American movies, she notes that these films not only have no Latino actors, but have no people of color at all.

That shouldn’t be surprising; as I pointed out it a 2018 post, these directors come from privileged, Euro-elite Mexican society, and racism in Mexico is a fact of life. These people do not want to inform you of reality—they are just telegraphing that they want to be seen as “white” just like you, because they know that being known as “Latino” carries with it the stereotype that what they do is not as “good,” so they “hedge” their bets by only working with white actors with whom they feel most comfortable with socially in any case. Their own racial prejudices and stereotypes prevent them from working with people with even a hint of indigenous or “mestizo” blood. 

The vast majority of Latinos in this country are U.S. citizens, but Hollywood treats them like their money isn't as good as everyone else' is.  Having them seen as the focus of a film makes it a “genre” film that only Latinos and film critics would want to see. Why is that? Because they are not “real” Americans, not even those who speak perfect English and don’t know a lick of Spanish. Even if the only “culture”  they know is the one that is forced on them every day by the media, in the schools and by the behavior of “real” Americans, Latinos are defined by the stereotypes applied to them, and their “side of the story” isn’t worth anyone’s time.

Where did these stereotypes come from, anyways? Mainly from films and TV shows of the “old west” genre; but outside of exotic “good guys” like The Cisco Kid or Zorro, “Mexicans” were easily identifiable by their clothes, their accents and the fact they always seemed to be “bandits,” “revolutionaries,” or just “duplicitous” or lazy.  Or at least that was how the men were portrayed; “Mexican” women were usually “spitfires” or evil seducers of white men. Maybe once in a while, like in The Magnificent Seven, you actually saw some who were actually hardworking farmers who just wanted the bad guys to leave them alone; the same dynamic is at play today from ordinary people and drug cartels, but who wants to hear that story when “all” Mexicans are supposed to be “violent criminals” and “rapists”? No wonder director Robert Rodriguez felt the need to make a movie like Machete so that Latinos could at least imagine that someone was fighting for them for a change and kicking some Nazi ass.

In the history of the Oscars, only 12 U.S.-born Latinos have been nominated in the best acting category. Only four Latinos (not including Spanish actors) have won acting Oscars: Jose Ferrer, Rita Moreno, Anthony Quinn and Benicio del Torro.  Ferrer is the only one to win in either the “Best Actor” or “Actress” category, the rest for supporting roles. Also of note was that Ferrer and Quinn won Oscars playing French—not Hispanic—characters. In fact the success of Ferrer and Quinn was largely due to the fact that they could play “ethnic” European characters; Ferrer even played a German Nazi in Ship of Fools.

Martin Sheen was born Ramon Gerard Antonio Estevez, his father an immigrant from Spain. Despite the fact that he is actually white, he admitted that his film career would never have gotten off the ground had he kept his real name. In a 2003 interview he revealed that whenever he gave his name for a job interview or to rent an apartment, there was always “hesitation” on the other line, until he showed up and people saw that he was white. Sheen never changed his name officially, but since his “invented” name helped him professionally, he kept using it. As Veliz Grande pointed out, Hollywood “will include some of us that can pass solely as white or African-American, as long as our Latindad isn’t showing.”

In a piece in published on the Sports Illustrated website from the “Latino perspective,” Luis Miguel Echegaray saw the reason for Latinos being “outside looking in” as being “the lack of diversity in the writing and production room, where the important casting decisions are made. Latino roles are so narrow that even when they do exist, it is the stereotypical role of drug criminal or house maid. A little story: When I used to go on auditions for pilots or new film projects, almost every single character I would read for was either a thief, drug dealer or immigrant with a troubled past.”

There have been complaints in the Latino arcting community about being ignored by the Emmys as well; but besides pointing out a few good roles, the real problem is that there are still so few Latino actors on television. If there were more Latinos on television, Emmy voters may be more “comfortable” about even nominating one or two. But it also comes down to the fact that neither Hollywood nor the television industry has done anything to promote or nurture potential Latino stars—and that may also be a function of a society that does not conceal it racial attitudes about Latinos.

This has been talked about forever, but nothing changes, because in the media there are no Latino commentators to make an issue of it. In 2016, Lenika Cruz observed in an The Atlantic article, “The Missing Piece of the Oscars Diversity Conversation,” that any conversation about improving Latino representation is viewed by some black activists as a “threat” to their own position (you can include white women in that complaint too).  Quoting USC professor Todd Boyd, “Throughout the long history of Hollywood and the history of the Oscars, there has been an on-going conversation about racism that has often been framed in terms of black and white,” and that the current conversation about the lack of Latino representation reflects that fact. Still, Cruz states that “involving all minority groups in the mainstream diversity discussion is necessary,” and shouldn’t be seen as “diminishing” blacks, or raise questions about the “merits” or “limitations” of solidarity: “To what extent should people of color focus on increasing opportunities for all people of color, versus their own communities,” she asks.

The fact is that blacks have been much more successful in getting their “message” across, and there are reasons for that. Their voices are being telegraphed by an obliging white powers-that-be who hold all the levers of power. That is except for one: the power of fear. Do you really think that all white people in power act through “altruistic” impulses? Do you think business owners with all those boarded-up store fronts with “Black Lives Matter” signs on them are not more concerned about what might happen to them if they don’t make a show of false “empathy”? Charles Foster Kane spoke for these people in the film Citizen Kane:

If I don’t look after the interests of the underprivileged, maybe somebody else will, maybe somebody without any money or property…and that would be too bad.

Latinos, who do not go out on the streets and threaten destruction every time one of their own are killed by police, have neither people to speak for them in the media, or as a group are too divided along racial and “ethnic” lines to form a solid front to do so; white Cubans, for example, couldn’t care less about the “Mexicans”—or, for that matter, black Cubans. Proof of point: Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, both of Cuban extraction. Latinos really don’t have many friends in this country, outside immigration activists. In a 2018 story in the Seattle Times, we're told this:

Merle “Chucky” Buchanan was charged Monday with two counts of second-degree murder for allegedly shooting two “relative strangers”—Paul Tapia, 45, and Jose Garcia Jr., 51—early Jan. 6 outside the Taradise Café, according to King County prosecutors. Buchanan, whose criminal history bars him from possessing firearms, was also charged with second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.

The story goes something like this: two Latino males, Tapia and Garcia, were friends who were attending a party for a co-worker at the restaurant. Tapia became highly intoxicated and was asked to leave. As he left the establishment he was “greeted” by a complete stranger, Buchanan, who is black. Security cameras appeared to show them having a “friendly” conversation. Garcia appeared and stood away from them, waiting for them to end their conversation so he could take Tapia home. Buchanan then just pulled out a gun and shot both of them in the head. No “motive” was ever determined for the shooting, but who is kidding who here?