The Changing Terrain of Race and Ethnicity

6. “We Are All Americans”: The Latin Americanization of Race Relations in the United States

6 “WE ARE ALL AMERICANS”: THE LATIN AMERICANIZATION OF RACE RELATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES  Eduardo Bonilla-Silva and Karen S. Glover We need to speak about the impossible because we know too much about the possible. —Silvio Rodríguez, Cuban New Song Movement singer and composer “WE ARE ALL Americans! ” This, we contend, will be the racial mantra of the United States in years to come. Although for many analysts, because of this country’s deep history of racial divisions, this prospect seems implausible, nationalist statements denying the salience of race are the norm throughout the world.1 Countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, Trinidad and Belize, and, more significantly for our discussion, Iberian countries such as Puerto Rico, Cuba, Brazil, and Mexico, all exhibit this ostrichlike approach to racial matters. That is, they all stick their heads deep into the social ground and say, “We don’t have races here. We don’t have racism here. Races and racism exist in the United States and South Africa. We are all Mexicans (Cubans, Brazilians, or Puerto Ricans)!” Despite these claims, racial minorities in these self-styled racial democracies tend to be worse off, comparatively speaking, than racial minorities in Western nations. In Brazil, for example, blacks and “pardos” (tan or brown) earn 40 to 45 percent as much as whites. In the United States blacks earn 55 to 60 percent as much as whites. In Brazil blacks are half as likely as blacks in the United States to be employed in professional jobs, and about one-third as less likely to attend college; they have a life expectancy, controlling for education and income, between five and six years shorter than that of white Brazilians. This last statistic is similar in size to the black-white difference in the United States (Andrews 1991; Silva do Valle 1985; Hasenbalg 1985; Lovell and Wood 1998; Telles 1999; Hasenbalg and Silva 1999; do Nascimento and Larkin-Nascimento 2001). In this chapter, we contend that racial stratification and the rules of racial (re)cognition in the United States are becoming Latin America–like. We suggest that the biracial system typical of the United States, which was the exception in the world racial system, is becoming the “norm” (for the racialization of the world system, see Balibar and Wallerstein 1991; Goldberg 1993, 2002; Mills 1997; Winant 2001). That is, the U.S. system is evolving into a complex racial stratification system.2 Specifically, we argue that the United States is developing a tri-racial system with “whites” at the top, an intermediary group of “honorary whites” (similar to the coloreds in South Africa during formal apartheid), and a nonwhite group or the “collective black” at the bottom.3 We predict that the “white” group will include “traditional” whites, new “white” immigrants, and, in the near future, assimilated Latinos, some (light-skinned) multiracials, and other subgroups. The intermediate racial group, or “honorary whites,” will comprise most light-skinned Latinos (most Cubans, for instance, and segments of the Mexican and Puerto Rican communities; Rodríguez 1998), Japanese Americans, Korean Americans, Asian Indians, Chinese Americans, the bulk of multiracials (Rockquemore and Arend, forthcoming), and most Middle Eastern Americans.4 Finally, the “collective black” will include blacks, darkskinned Latinos, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Laotians, and maybe Filipinos. PRELIMINARY MAP OF TRI-RACIAL SYSTEM IN THE UNITED STATES “Whites” • Whites • New whites (Russians, Albanians, and so on) • Assimilated white Latinos • Some (white-looking) multiracials • Assimilated (urban) Native Americans • A few Asian-origin people “Honorary Whites” • Light-skinned Latinos • Japanese Americans • Korean Americans • Asian Indians • Chinese Americans • Middle Eastern Americans • Most multiracials 150 THE CHANGING TERRAIN OF RACE AND ETHNICITY “Collective Black” • Filipinos • Vietnamese • Hmong • Laotians • Dark-skinned Latinos • Blacks • New West Indian and African immigrants • Reservation-bound Native Americans This map is heuristic, however, rather than definitive. It is included as a guide for how we think various ethnic groups will line up in the new emerging racial order. We acknowledge several caveats: the position of some groups may change (for example, Chinese Americans, Asian Indians, or Arab Americans); the map does not include all groups in the United States (Samoans and Micronesians , for instance, do not appear); and at this early stage, owing in part to data limitations, some groups may end up in a different racial stratum altogether . For example, Filipinos may become “honorary whites” rather than another group in the “collective black” stratum...