Latinos can find heroes in other molds

Latinos can find heroes in other molds
by Rodolpho Carrasco
Saturday, April 17, 1999 in San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group
(Rodolpho Carrasco is associate director of Harambee Christian Family Center in Pasadena, Calif. and a columnist for the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group. Check out more articles by Rodolpho Carrasco here.)

Mississippi seems like an unusual place for a Latino from Southern California to find a hero. But 10 years ago, as a college senior participating in a summertime volunteer work project, I sat under a steamy Jackson moon and heard about a hero named John Perkins.

In the late Sixties, Perkins, a black Baptist preacher, led an economic boycott in the small town of Mendenhall. That boycott inspired the African-Americans in town to fight for justice in a racist society, and transformed their lives for the better. For his efforts, one night Perkins was beaten by Mississippi sheriffs to within an inch of his life. Rodney King got a slap on the wrist compared to what Perkins endured in that jail cell.

Afterward, Perkins lay in a hospital bed for nearly a year, recovering from the assault. He could have chosen to return hate with hate, but instead went around the nation preaching about forgiveness. He continued fighting for justice, just as he did in Mendenhall, and placed a special emphasis on reconciliation between people of different ethnic groups.

After hearing that story, my life was never the same. I decided then that I wanted to make my life count in the same way Perkins did. His perseverance in the Civil Rights movement and his continued work up until today have inspired me in my own work.

This past week I had the privilege of helping lead a multiethnic group of adults and children from the San Gabriel Valley to visit Perkins in Jackson, Mississippi. My hope was that each person - Latino, black, white and Asian - would be inspired by this man as I was.

We were not disappointed.

Each person, including the young Latinos on the trip, came away with a practical vision for racial healing. These Latino teens had read Perkins' autobiography before the trip, and during road tours of sites mentioned in the book they were the first to identify important landmarks.

I mention their affinity for Perkins because I believe it is important for Latinos to identify with heroic figures and leaders who are not Latinos.

Today there is an emphasis among Latinos to promote Latino heroes, role models, history, culture and language. This emphasis is necessary because there are not enough positive images of Latinos in the media, in education curricula, and society in general. It's important particularly because many people, including Latinos, value Latinos and Latin cultures less than white people or so-called "white" culture.

However, in our zeal to affirm that "brown is beautiful," we must guard against closing ourselves off to people who don't fit our mold, lest we miss an inspirational person like John Perkins.

This is a difficult proposition to navigate, because identity is a critical issue to the six million plus Latinos in the five-county Los Angeles metropolis. Even if we have nothing against any other ethnic group, there is so much work to do in promoting a positive self- and group-image that it seems unjustifiable to take away from any affirmation of Latin-ness, no matter how small.

This struggle for identity should not be approached, however, as "either/or" or "us/them" propositions. My principal reason is a faith issue: We are all children of God, and God did not come up with the idea that humans have to fight for a piece of the pie. God has many pies and the capacity to make many more.

If you don't share my faith, there are other compelling reasons. There's nothing like market share to turn the tables in business, entertainment, and politics. Every month advertisers and corporations salivate over the amount of money Latinos - even poor, undocumented, recent immigrants - spend. Television and Film are waking up - albeit slowly - to similar facts.

In politics, Latino leaders statewide have enough confidence in the Latin power base to make significant overtures to other ethnic groups. In a January public speech in Sacramento, Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante called on Latinos to support African American candidates for office at both state and local levels. And according to a Washington Post article, Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, at his December swearing-in ceremony, rejected "the politics of protest" for an approach emphasizing issues that concern all Californians.

Bustamante and Villaraigosa have the right idea. They are part of the reason why I brought Mexicans to Mississippi. The promotion of Latino interests and identity is not compromised when we reach outside the Latino communities. These young Latinos from the Villa Parke section of Pasadena will be better people and make more effective contributions to the Latino communities because they identify with a black man named John Perkins.

Having encountered the spirit of John Perkins in Mississippi, I only wish they were old enough to vote in Tuesday's mayoral run-off in Pasadena, their hometown. I believe they would walk down the street, stand in line, and cast their ballot, because they understand two things:

First, despite the fact that neither Chris Holden nor Bill Bogaard is a Latino, both are capable of serving Latino interests. Second, if at any time these proud young Latinos are unsatisfied with how the mayor's leadership is affecting their neighborhood, they can stand up, like John Perkins did in Mississippi under great duress, and do something about it.

The copyright for these materials are owned by Rudy Carrasco.  These materials were used with permission by TechMission