A few weeks ago I sat through four hours of CNN’s Latino in America in verbal horror (and by verbal I mean yelling at my television and my poor husband about the television) watching every caricature my scholarship and my pedagogy about Latino/as seeks to undermine.
Both two-hour segments begin with the theme of illegal immigration, reminding Anglos, in case they had forgotten, that for many the word Hispanic and illegal are always uttered in the same breath. On night number one, CNN shockingly depicted to heated debate on illegal immigration without mentioning their own Lou Dobbs, one of the most public voices vilifying illegal immigrants who is the subject of many Latino/a campaigns demanding CNN fire him. On night number two, the United States’ “wet land dry land policy” for Cubans (who are allowed to stay in the U.S. if they touch dry land) was contrasted with Central American illegal immigrants, who are detained and often sent home. The privilege of being Cuban was contrasted to the marginalization of other Latin Americans attempting to enter into the United States.
In this documentary success stories are the exception and not the rule. Pregnant teens, low riders, illegal immigrants, victims of gang violence, and Latino/as who seemingly refuse to learn Spanish are the norm. As a Latina with a Ph.D., I did not see one Latino/a in this documentary with whom I remotely identified. In fact, in four hours only one Latino/a intellectual was consulted. I kept waiting for the writers, the scholars, the artists in our community to appear on the screen. This documentary did not reveal the beauty of our culture, the diversity of our culture. As a Cuban-American who lives in Miami I realize that as a resident of the gateway to Latin America I am fairly sheltered regarding the rampant racism and prejudice against Latino/as in the United States. But after watching the CNN documentary I am overwhelmed with the urge to never leave Miami, because clearly the majority the United States clearly hates Latino/as. In addition, I finished the documentary thoroughly depressed. Is this really who we are? NO! I want to scream.
Latino/as in religion, or more accurately, Christianity, were discussed the first evening of the documentary. Here the rich and vibrant religious traditions of Latino/as were reduced to Pentecostalism and Catholicism. All other Latino/a religious expressions were ignored. The growth of Pentecostalism globally and among Latino/as regionally was briefly emphasized. The documentary than turned to bilingual Catholic parishes in the St. Louis Missouri area. In one parish, Latino/as are the saviors of the community, bringing in numbers (and I suspect dollars) to support a failing community. In the more substantially covered parish Latino/as are marginalized by Anglos in their community. One member goes so far as to question the need for mass in Spanish. The fact that the universality and diversity of Catholicism is the pathway to its deep unity is lost on this woman.
The segment shows two churches housed in one building: one in Spanish, one in English. This mirrors the documentary as a whole, which depicts Latino/as in America but not of America. The Catholic Church is the quintessential example of this marginalization, where Latino/as are essential to the survival of the Catholic Church in the United States but not in any way contributing to Catholicism. There was nothing positive about Latino/as contribution to the ecclesial life of Catholicism. If I didn’t know better, as a Latina Catholic, after watching that segment I might go check out my local Pentecostal church too.
The issue of language saturates the four hours. The Spanish language is depicted as the strongest bearer of Latino/a culture and simultaneously the source of their alienation here in the U.S. It is clear, at least from CNN’s perspective, that our language marginalizes us from dominant U.S. culture and yet if we lose it, we are condemned to assimilation and the loss of our own particular cultural values. There is no middle ground.
And yet there is. Millions of Latino/as live their lives bilingually fiercely proud of their Latin American heritages yet equally proud of their U.S. citizenship. But CNN did not tell those stories, I suspect because CNN cannot speak “Latino/a.”
