This next post is a touchy subject, especially in today's American culture. There are stereotypes across the board of Latino's and their immigrant status, "rough" way of life etc. without little if any justification. This story/article, as many of you may have already heard about, deals with Los Angeles Dodgers fans who maliciously beat a San Francisco Giants fan after one of their games during a weekend series. The argument in the article, more or less, labels these Latino Americans with "no wonder" or "of course" or "I'm not surprised" titles, saying that it is just the personality and lifestyle of Latino Americans and that "they" are destroying the American game of baseball (Rojas, 2011).
Please feel free to comment on anything with regards to the article. Here is the link: http://multiamerican.scpr.org/2011/04/race-and-the-dodger-stadium-attack/
Rojas, L.B. (Writer). (2011). Race and the dodger stadium attack [Radio series episode]. In (Executive producer), Multi-American: Immigration and cultural fusion in the new Southern California. Pasadena: Southern California Public Radio.
It's very interesting that in a city that has great cultural diversity, like L.A., that people turn to obvious and sophomoric stereotypes and opinions. Every "racial" group has people that are positive members of communities and negative ones.
ReplyDeleteKnowing a little bit about Los Angeles, I know that there is a large gang population of all races. However, in any city that sees an increase in this type of violence or activity, people are lumped into groups, mostly by white people or people with power. Some white people make these associations, after viewing media coverage, ALL blacks or latinos are then grouped with those that do negative things like gang activities or the like.
This is typical of most racial issues in the United States. We see people based on the color of their skin and judge those people based on experiences we had with other people of the same skin color.
""no wonder" or "of course" or "I'm not surprised" titles, saying that it is just the personality and lifestyle of Latino Americans and that "they" are destroying the American game of baseball."
ReplyDeleteI am personally not surprised by this reaction. It is how our society thinks. Our society has preexisting notions of certain skin colors and ethnicities and there is no stopping it. If you are black there are certain stereotypes good or bad that are always going to be there in our society. That goes for all skin colors and ethnicities.
"This is typical of most racial issues in the United States. We see people based on the color of their skin and judge those people based on experiences we had with other people of the same skin color."
ReplyDeleteI agree with Grant that we just make assumptions based on what our friends think. We have a problem standing up for ourself. Unfortunately black=gang and latino=illegial alien.
I believe the majority of Americans just want to fit in so they go along with what is accepted by their friends rather than make their own assumptions.
Grant, Kevin, and Jared:
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your insightful comments. I'm happy to see that this topic is of interest, seeing as how it has been a media field day in the world of baseball over the past few weeks.
After reading all of your comments, I think I am safe to conclude that we all agree that stereotypes are made of everybody. Whether they are negative or positive is a completely different story.
Jared: I very much like your point that you make of stereotypes in “black=gang” and “Latino=illegal alien.” While the illegal alien portion is probably for a different conversation/blog, it does show our sense of ignorance and intolerance to certain groups of people. An article that jumps to mind is one by Leonard (2010) where he focuses on the ‘criminalization’ of the black population. While it indeed focuses on blacks and not Latinos, the stereotype inferences remain eerily similar. In the article, Leonard mentions how black people are “Already suspect and ubiquitously [constantly] imagined as pathological, dysfunctional, and threatening (physically, morally, and culturally), the discursive linking of black athletes to guns further invokes the “sport/gang dyad”…” (pp. 253-254). This is an obvious example as to how we inappropriately, unfairly, and sometimes subconsciously link particular races or ethnicities to negative stereotypes. I find it funny how we are so good at doing this; linking to the negatives. Yet, how many times do you hear someone assuming positive stereotypes on an entire race or ethnicity? If it happens, we certainly don’t share it, express it, or even acknowledge it. We innately assume the negative. As for the beatings in L.A. article, this again shows inferences that the Latinos who beat up the fan did so because they are uneducated, unworthy of being in the presence of white baseball fans, and part of a gang. Relating to the attackers, maybe some of this is true. My concern, which is where we run into our unfortunate problem, is when we assume these preconceived notions onto every other person of the Latino race, regardless of who they really are. Just look at how we preconceive Muslims now. Put yourself on an airplane. I would be shocked to hear if an American saw a Muslim board and millions of questions/scenarios didn’t start running through their head. It’s sad.
Getting back on track, keeping the Latino population out of baseball (as far as social inclusion) is not beneficial for the game. We need to swallow a little bit of our pride and try to understand that we’re not surrendering ‘our pastime.’ Instead, we’re acknowledging that the sport is evolving and making sure that as it does, we are not prejudicial fans/players in our reconstructions.
Leonard, D. (2010). Jumping the gun: Sporting cultures and the criminalization of black masculinity. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 34(2), 252-262.