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MEDIA AGGRESSIONS AGAINST THE LATINO COMMUNITY

by Tlecoz Huitzil/Efren Paredes, Jr.

In typical fashion, Monday, December 31, 2007, an Associated Press article launched a media
assault on the Latino community and used it's article title to demonize them and fuel tensions
between the Latino and Black community. It was also an attempt to generate hysteria.

The article, "Some Latino Gangs Kill on Race Alone, Authorities Say," (available at
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071231/NEWS07/712310337/1009) used a
single act of violence to paint a grim picture of the state of the Latino community and evoke
anti-Latino sentiment.

This has been a recurring theme as various media outlets have vigorously worked to ratchet up
their campaign against immigrants in this country, particularly Latino immigrants. Highlighting
crime and violence committed by any member of the Latino community has been a tool utilized
by the media to effectuate their nefarious campaign.

The article's author could have elected to select a title that highlighted the fact that inter-racial
crime is actually rare in contrast to intra-racial crime. Or, the reality that there has been a
decline in crime in recent years in the Latino neighborhood that was the subject of the writing.
Instead, the author opted for a denigrating title.

The persistent malicious actions by anti-Latino media must be countered with a strong response
from the Latino community. Any assault against a single member of the Latino community by
the media is an assault on the entire community. With their sweeping generalizations and pools
of ink, they create stories inaccurately portraying the entire Latino community. It is always a
broad application.

It is because of this that their actions must be condemned immediately by Latino media outlets
and writers, by Latino leaders and organizations, and anyone else who seeks to defend and
protect the image of Latino people. The best defense is a good offense. Mounting an effective
media offensive in defense of our beloved gente will curtail the attacks unfairly targeting us.

When Latinos are vilified in the media, along with condemning their actions, we need to demand
apologies, write letters to the editors voicing our opposition, post responses on blogs, web sites,
and social networking sites, call for boycotts against them, etc. They need to know that our
collective voice will not tolerate their actions, and they will not be rewarded for mistreating us.

Let the new year usher in the dawn of a new day, a new beginning; a year of healing in our
community. Let it be the impetus to transform divisions into unity. We are one people with a
shared legacy of victories and success. Our roots are deeply entrenched in a reservoir of infinite
possibilities that races through the sangre in the veins of our brown bodies.

Divisions have left us vulnerable to attacks through the media from myriad angles and sources.
We have invited these onslaughts by being disjointed, disorganized, and putting individuality
over the community. In essence we have fueled our demise through our ignorance.
I also ask that no Latino look down on any other members of the Latino community, and that we
become more instrumental in assisting the less fortunate. Many of these people are seeking ways
to be rescued from their unfortunate situations. They need our compassion and opportunities,
not rejection and myopia. We do a disservice to ourselves when we look down upon other
Latinos because they are struggling.

If any member of the Latino community is struggling you and I are struggling as well. We are
part of the shared struggle. There is no panacea for this situation. However, actively working to
combat the negative stereotypes that seek to cast us in a negative light, and fostering cohesion,
are steps in the right direction.

Self-preservation is the first law of nature. Nature has long held that a thing which does not
protect itself does not deserve to live. Thus, it withers away and dies. The culmination of
neglect, willful disregard for our future, and failure to thrive give birth to self-annihilation.

Our silence has been interpreted as acceptance and docility. As the acceptance of assaults and
aggressions against our total existence mentally, physically and spiritually. The response to our
complacency has been the aggressor waging full-scale psychological warfare over the control of
our psyche and collective consciousness.

Violence, microaggressions, and invisible violence manifest in many forms, and their tentacles
are widely felt. Left unchecked and they mutate into stronger, more sophisticated weapons to
inflict harm upon us.

In "Toward a Decolonizing Pedagogy: Social Justice Reconsidered" by Carlos Tejeda, Kris D.


Gutierrez, and Manuel Espinoza, they defined violence as "any relation, process, or condition by
which an individual or group violates the physical, social, and/or psychological integrity of
another person or group." They further stated that, "violence inhibits human growth, negates
inherent potential, limits productive living, and causes death."

I join the argument advanced by these writers that we can not ignore this violence when calling
for social justice. It is necessary for us to explicitly define our struggle and the components
thereof, so that we properly develop effective ways to combat the various assaults inflicted upon
us.

When we allow others to define our struggle the framework established never allows us to
triumph. We are given space and time to work within, and within such a system there exists only
room for us to conform and succumb to what is made available to us in our borrowed space.

If history has taught us anything it is that we are a continually evolving people with a resilient
spirit. We have never suffered from a paucity of determination. We learn from our errors and
we build upon them. We have prevailed before and we will prevail again. Adverse media
portrayals and aggressions will not define or defeat us.

¡Hasta la victoria siempre!

www.4Efren.com

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