Matt Yglesias writes:
I sometimes find myself discussing with other people whether I identify as Hispanic, and the answer is that I’m really not that strongly identified with my one grandparent’s Cuban heritage but this kind of thing really does piss me off more than being offensive about other groups of people would. I like living in an America where I can show up at a polling place, give my Spanish last name to whoever’s working there, and not be immediately operating under a cloud of suspicion. Apparently that’s not Santorum’s America.
I do not know Matt personally, but have had infrequent e-mail communications with him, and he is a daily read for me. I disagree with him a lot, but he is a smart, interesting read almost always.
I think that is especially so on the question of how and when Latino (or Hispanic, the choice between these words being a discussion onto itself.) Unlike Matt, I very strongly identify with my Hispanic heritage, grew up in it, live it now and feel what it means to me every day. But Matt's point is a fascinating one - his Spanish last name will make him Hispanic in America - the question is how and when.
Yglesias wrote some very admirable posts on the travails Sonia Sotomayor suffered at the hands of, in my view (and perhaps Matt's as well), some bigoted intellectuals (Jeffrey Rosen! Cough! Lawrence Tribe! Cough!), who very much saw Sotomayor as, almost to the exclusion of all else, a Latina, and drew some negative conclusions about her, imo, based solely on this fact. You may disagree with my view of those events, and perhaps, another day, we can discuss it. (I wrote at length on the subject at the time, as did Yglesias.)
What's more interesting to me is the realization, from very diverse types of Hispanics, that bigotry will be a part of your life at some point - the question is how and when. By the same token, Latinos will be the bigots themselves at times. (On homophobia, Latino attitudes are, to put it charitably, not where they should be.)
In my view, bigotry is something in all of us. Some strive to overcome it. Some have the power to do damage as a result of their bigotry. Others do not have the power to do pervasive harm. But every act of bigotry can do harm to even one person.
In my view at least, it is a subject worth pondering. I hope we can discuss it.