> let's interrogate this term "Latino," can we? Why should
> upper class Venezuelans and poor Mexican share the same label once
> they enter the U.S. - and share it with third generation Nuyoricans,
> second-generation Dominicans, and Miami Cubans? Doesn't it reflect a
> white Anglo view of the world, in which all the Spanish-speaking
> peoples of the hemisphere blend into one undifferentiated alien mass?
>
> Doug
I suppose I could define myself as an 'upper class' Argentinean, in light of my now-distant background, but in the forty years that I have lived in Los Angeles, I have always encountered a shared cultural affinity with persons who integrate the many Latin American groups that live in this area, particularly with the Mexican-Americans who are by far the majority. Despite my command of the English language, and my nordic-Euro appearance, there is an underlying cultural bond which, though perhaps not easily definable, is nonetheless entirely recognizable by myself and my interlocutors of Lat.Am. origin in the course of the many associations we have found ourselves thrown into over the years. Perhaps it is an underlying failure to fully adapt to this society, or the kind of attitude towards death that Octavio Paz wrote about in 'Laberinto de la Soledad,' or a reluctance to accept the Calvinistic underpinnings of U.S. capitalism. But it is an identification that seems to waive class differences, at least on the surface of things. It may be the kind of cultural force that accounts for so many Latinos regarding African-Americans as 'Anglos.'
Yet it is not for that reason that I intend to support the Nader/Camejo ticket in November. That reason has more to do with the issues that are normally discussed in this forum.
And, by the way, what is the reference to 'camino' in the subject line? Is that a typo?
Albert R. Sonntag berto55 at earthlink.net