Some people were surprised that there was wide support for Trump within the Latino community, but those within the community–and Black people–were more than aware that such behavior existed. One of the reasons that Fred Hampton was assassinated was because he brought together poor white people, Latino people, and Black people under the common banner of socioeconomic oppression. While this was obviously amazing, what is difficult is that many Latino populations abided by–and still follow–rules of colorism, under the auspices of “mejorar la raza.” In fact, under Trump, the most disappointing traits of the empire is that people who are set as the standard for “illegal immigrants” see themselves as fighting against Black people, para mejorar la raza.
My first experience with such bullying began with a job in which I was good, but made no point in trying to advance because all I wanted at the time was a paycheck and a chance to finish my master’s degree while working. Ironically, my supervisor was a workaholic just like I was, and she happened to be Latina and based in Austin, just like me. We got along because we were both strong personalities and hard workers, but to those who had been there for a long time, it appeared as if I was trying to destroy the hierarchy. Another Latina co-worker chose to target me, and every time my supervisor was out of the office, I would get in trouble. That bullying ended based on two things. First, I picked a random day when my boss was out and detailed everything I believed had happened that day, and I sent the email to my boss right before I left work. Everyone was surprised, and nobody picked on me again after I made that move. Secondly, I switched departments after 2.5 years because by that time, I had started a master’s program, and I was not about to waste additional emotional energy.
During my second state agency, I did my best to keep a low profile on the first day, but an insecure Latina individual in human resources told the entire agency where I went to college, despite my not wanting to make that information known. How can an individual guard against the ire of the human resources department, which has all personal information at its fingertips? Any time I had an issue, I would try and communicate with the department, but nothing would happen, and my life would be a little bit harder afterwards. Later on, the supervisor herself decided that she would target me after I pointed out that most of the people who were promoted during an agency reorganization were white. I lasted about six more months, and they were able to run me out of there, because I do not view it as “strength” to suffocate under tyrannical behavior.
At this point, I am working for fast food, and most of the staff are Latina individuals. There is one Honduran individual who is as dark as I am, and our managers do their level best to keep us out of sight. Because I am not particularly fast with my hands–and I never have been–my boss decided that he would make me the butt of every joke, and ran the other darker Black employee out of there. Once I figured out that he was never going to be at work and was likely anti-Black women, I stopped being interested in professionalism and cordiality, and showed up to work my hours and nothing else. When the boss was out for the week, the workflow was so much easier and I felt ten times better about myself and my ability to perform, as did just about everyone else at the restaurant.
Spain was just as racist as France and Great Britain, but I guess people forget about Spanish imperialism because it was so prominent, and took over so much of the Americas. Indigenous populations were no lovers of the Spanish, and when chattel slavery occurred in the British colonies, the Spanish made a point of showing they were harsher before beating the other empires to “end” slavery. Colorism will never be fully eradicated as long as people need to see themselves as “better” than Black people, and it makes me sad that many hispanohablantes prefer to match the oppressor who is long gone from their worlds.
Chasing A Dying Empire 