HispanicVista Columnists

Hispanics: Misconceptions and Misunderstandings

By Marcela Miguel Berland

Special to HispanicVista.com

Although Hispanics are acknowledged as an important cultural force in this country, many misconceptions about them prevail.  I often hear people say that Latinos are lazy, not interested in education, late to work, and that they drink over weekends. Such ignorance, misunderstanding and negative stereotyping are infuriating.

Like many immigrant groups, Hispanics believe in “The American Dream.”  Many come with no material belongings, only dreams and aspirations in a land of opportunity that will allow them to improve their lives, or at least, to give their children more opportunities than they had. 

While in many Latin American countries it is difficult to rise to a higher social class, in the U.S. education and hard work are tickets to success.  Hispanics understand that education can provide their children with the necessary tools to advance.  It means hard work and sacrifice for most immigrants.  If, as many think, they were lazy and unmotivated, they would not have come in the first place.  We know how many of these immigrants live, how many hours they work and how little they earn for their labors.   Since many are undocumented, they often lack the protections that other enjoy – minimum wage, social security, health insurance and others.

They count, however, on one thing – the right to send their children to school.  When a child enrolls in a public school, no one asks about the parents’ status.  All children are welcome.  They enjoy the right to learn and to be helped.  Children make friends easily, learn English, and assimilate effortlessly.  They more readily interact with the mainstream culture.  A good education virtually assures that they will do better than their parents.  And their parents make great sacrifices to assure a good education for them.   Public schools, furthermore, make great efforts to incorporate ESL (English as a Second Language) students into mainstream instruction. 

Origins of Negative Stereotypes

Hollywood, among others, perpetuates unfortunate stereotypes.  Latinas are maids – yes we have all seen of heard about JLo on Maid in America, or the recently released Spanglish.  Men, rarely professionals, are usually janitors, gardeners or low-income workers.  Others are gangsters, drug lords, or involved in illegal activity. 

A Latino architect, doctor, fashion designer, lawyer or corporate executive – realities in our society – is rarely portrayed in film and television.  It is as if there were a rule that a doctor has to be a non-Hispanic white male.  Some successful Hispanics in many professions, unfortunately, keep a low profile and often are not even perceived as Latinos.  Mainstream media, regrettably, also do a poor job of portraying Hispanics accurately.  Role models are rare, while tragedy, crime and poverty are frequent. 

In a seminar I gave to high-net worth financial advisors, I was asked whether we should be called Hispanics or Latinos.  “Don’t you think it could be offensive if I acknowledge their ethnicity?,” an advisor asked.  Obviously, many still think that being called Hispanic or Latino is offensive.  I know many Hispanics, moreover, who are uncomfortable being identified as Latinos or Hispanics.  This is unfortunate.

We Latinos should be proud of who we are.  Yes, we have differences, but dissimilarities exist among other Americans.  Yes, we have miscreants among us, but we also have countless success stories – doctors, writers, educators, elected officials, scientists and more.  We have outstanding actors such as Rita Moreno, José Ferrer, Anthony Quinn; and even astronauts Ellen Ochoa and Franklin Chang Díaz.  Latin America, moreover, has produced some of the best writers and poets such as Gabriel García Márquez, Jorge Luis Borges and Pablo Neruda.

Our achievements, today and for nearly two hundred years, are now chronicled in a new “Encyclopedia Latina” to be released this fall by Scholastic, the educational publisher.  The four volume work will inform us, our children and the society at large about our place in American society.  It is not difficult to be proud of who we are.  

We must instill pride in our children.  As we watch them assimilate, we need to remind them of the wonderful attributes of Hispanic culture.  It does not mean resisting assimilation.  Quite the contrary.  It means embracing the most positive elements of mainstream American society while learning and treasuring the most positive Latino values and achievements.  It is not an “either-or” proposition, since we can be fine, patriotic Americans and proud Hispanics at the same time.  It means keeping our cultural values and traditions and incorporating them into the mainstream culture. 

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Marcela Miguel Berland, a native of Argentina, is the founder of LatinInsights, a New York-based research and strategic communications firm, and a mother.  She can be reached at mberland@latininsights.com.