Black-Brown Relations and Stereotypes

6. Prospects for Black-Brown Relations

Chapter 6 Prospects for Black-Brown Relations What it’s going to take basically is some educated people to take some people who are not so stereotypical or have so many bad perceptions of each culture. You have to get people in there [politics] who actually want to work together, but I think it will work. It’s going to take some people who have a similar vision and people who are willing to sit down and talk, which is not happening right now. Everybody’s out for their own stuff right now. T--- B  The  U.S. Census showed that the projected population growth of Hispanics to a number greater than that of African Americans had already occurred in Houston. This demographic development raises a host of Black-Brown issues, of course, many of which we examined in the previous chapters. But before we review our findings, it may be helpful to briefly list some of the developments in Black-Brown relations around the country in the past year. • In Los Angeles, California, a popular Hispanic narrowly loses the opportunity to become the city’s first Hispanic mayor after his White opponent receives strong African American voter support. • In Georgia, Black state legislators at first resist the idea of de- fining Hispanics in the state as ‘‘minorities’’ but later change their minds after meeting with national Hispanic leaders. • In Paterson, New Jersey, Hispanics accuse an African American youth of a hate crime after a group of Black teenagers beat a Hispanic homeless man to death following a fight between African American and Hispanic youths at a local high school.  Tseng 2002.9.13 08:50 6677 Mindiola / BLACK-BROWN RELATIONS AND STEREOTYPES / sheet 127 of 165 • In Austin,Texas, African American state legislators help to pass a bill, signed into law, that opens up state colleges and universities to undocumented immigrant students, mainly Hispanics, who have lived in the state for a number of years. As these cases illustrate, there is no clear-cut pattern of Black-Brown relations . Every setting seems to bring a different set of opportunities for conflict and cooperation. But what is clear is that this relational sphere will remain very dynamic if for no other reason than that the Hispanic population remains in a state of steady growth supported by high levels of immigration. Indeed, the Mexican government’s strong support for an open border policy with the United States could make this source of Hispanic population growth a permanent feature. African American leaders have often supported Hispanic immigration, but it is logical to question if this will continue when Hispanics begin to greatly outpace Blacks in historically Black domains in communities across the country, such as in the rural labor markets of the Deep South. Black-Brown solidarity in the civil rights movement of the s and s made sense when both groups were struggling against a common history of racial oppression, but will it mean the same in the twenty-first century when the social histories of the new Hispanics are grounded in other national experiences? Or will the continuing history of racial and ethnic inequality in the United States (Feagin,Vera, and Batur ) continue to promote alliances among groups at the lowest rungs of the country’s social ladder? It may not be an exaggeration to characterize the beginning of the twenty-first century in Houston as a period in which African Americans arrived politically; perhaps it can even be called the golden age of African American political power. An African American mayor, an African American police chief, an African American superintendent, an African American member of Congress, an African American head of Metro, signi ficantly more African American than Hispanic city departmental officials —all indicate that African Americans have reached an unprecedented level of political power in the city. Given this political ascendance, it was perhaps fitting that in  the former Woolworth building at the corner of Main and Elgin Streets near downtown was torn down to make way for a parking garage. The building was a vestige of Jim Crowism when Blacks were not allowed to sit at the food counter of the Woolworth store. It was the first segregated eating area targeted by Black protestors at the beginning of the civil rights movement in Houston.  • -    Tseng 2002.9.13 08:50 6677 Mindiola / BLACK-BROWN RELATIONS AND STEREOTYPES / sheet 128 of 165 [3.141.24.134] Project MUSE (2024-04-24 17:12 GMT...