The Color of Success

By Abel Cruz

In a recently released study by the Pew Hispanic Center, and reported on the Los Angeles Times website, “42% of US born (California) Mexican Americans identified themselves as white, compared with 63% of those born in Texas” who also referred to themselves as white. In addition, the study found that “Latinos who perceive themselves as white appear to feel that their place in American society is more secure”.

There is no question that race and culture play an important part in a person’s life. And although it would be hard to prove, I suspect that life might be easier without having to go around always being referred to as a “minority”.

After all, we go through life with enough labels being placed on us.

Only problem though is that just thinking that you’re white doesn’t make it so.

It does seem that darker skinned people have always had a tougher time than their lighter skinned brethren. This is not just something that happens in a white and black world, but it is also prevalent among our own ethnic groups. Take the “Novelas” on Univision, how many leading ladies do you see that are dark skinned? The majority of the main star characters are blond and light skinned, with darker skinned actors relegated to maids and gardeners.

This type of casting is no accident. Rather it is a direct reflection of how this world operates and perhaps shows why some people, at least in the Pew study, decided that they would rather be white than “some other race”.

Perhaps the day is fast approaching when we will be forced to set aside our culture, our language, and our heritage in order to obtain that elusive gold ring? Perhaps the cultural tendencies that we were born with us are the very traits that keep us from achieving the American dream?

Sometimes we seem to live in a world that doesn’t value diversity. We are forced to change the pronunciation of our surnames so that people who don’t speak Spanish will find them easier to pronounce. Younger generations are fast losing the ability to speak Spanish and at times seem ashamed of their culture. And I would bet that kids these days are more familiar with hip hop artist Usher than with Tejano music artist Jimmy Gonzalez. Perhaps, that is their way of denouncing their skin ...