Fightin' Friday

Yeah, yeah, yeah... we know, all too well as this OpEd piece reads below, "The Unbearable Whiteness of Liberal Media" (actually most media, when we're concerned), but the bottom line is that Latinos don't support Latino media ~ and forget about Spanish-language independent cinema.

So, it's incumbent on us, first and foremost to support & then educate community in bringing them around. According to the U.S. Census Bureau there are 52 million Latinos living in the USA ~ representing approximately 16.7% of the U.S. total population, making people of Hispanic origin the nation's largest ethnic or race minority.

We're the largest consumer of mainstream media at the box office, but we need to develop outreach strategies for our community to support beyond Spiderman 3.

http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?ca=dc98f0d2-9d9e-4f32-95ad-8d7c7bb84bae&c=ae89fc60-32a8-11e3-8cfd-d4ae52753a3b&ch=afcd03b0-32a8-11e3-8d86-d4ae52753a3b

RACIAL REALISM OR MAGICAL REALITY?

As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act we are also cognizant of how the gains of Affirmative Action over the course of the last 40 years have eroded. John D. Skrentnya writes an OpEd piece in the New York Times (05/07/14) citing and opposing hiring practices of “Racial Realism,” which entails matching ethnic groups with their own as positive role models and to serve their market. I counter the case he presents in the realm of media and education. As someone who has devoted the last 20 years to improving the images of Latinos in media, one key game changer in the industry occurs when we increase our numbers behind-the-scenes and in front of the camera there is an implicit effect upon the messages that affect how others view us and our community views itself.

The author, a professor of sociology and the director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California, San Diego, takes it a step farther, “Film producers manipulate audience reactions by displaying the right races in the right roles. This may be motivated by artistic goals — obviously, a film like “12 Years a Slave” required actors of particular races in particular roles. More often, these are business decisions. Whites in starring roles are thought to generate more box-office revenue, though adding nonwhites can broaden appeal.”

He goes on further to state, “Nevertheless, racial realism is too slippery, and too widely used, to stamp out completely. And so rather than trying to end racial realism, we need to make sure that it doesn’t block opportunities for minorities. For one thing, we could require more transparency and verification. If employers think race is a legitimate qualification for a job, they must rely on evidence, not stereotypes.”

Evidence, not stereotypes? First of all, as a Latino multimedia advocate, I entered education reform to train inner city Latino and Black youth to become media literate. Over the course of 10 years, there were 1,500 teen youth who produced 70 documentary shorts on positive role models or address issues inherent to their community. But what was key to the success of this program was that their “mentor” was reflective of their culture and came from the inner city community of the South Bronx constantly drumming into them that, “If I can do it, so can you.”

Then working extensively on the college level with Latino and Black youth by screening these and other cultural documentaries nationally, I noticed that at best 2-3% of the faculty reflect our youth and what a difference it would make for retention in stemming a 50% drop-out rate if their mentors, advisors, counselors, teachers and Deans looked like them and came from their community.

Then just recently, coinciding with Cinco de Mayo, an early morning program on MSNBC had one of the network's producers stumble on-screen donning a sombrero while taking a few sips of tequila directly from a bottle and later waving maracas. When he later took a shot of tequila he remarked, "Ole" and the anchor referred to it as "go-go juice." Here’s what makes the difference and what it boils down to? Is there a Latino anchor on the network? Where are the Latino Producers behind-the-scenes? Or, do they still believe that there aren’t any talented ones? Latinos occupying a place at the table would have ensured that this critique of the network that embarrassed the top brass and had to generate an apology would not have occurred. But more importantly, we would not have to endure the continual proliferation of these negative stereotypes that affect all Latinos.

No, Mr. Skrentnya it is not about advocating “ghettoization,” quotas or limiting in certain arenas employment opportunities for the very ethnic groups you purport to defend, it is about opening the doors for diversity in grooming the next generation through education and when it comes to media, in front of the camera and behind – plus it is a long-established fact that diversity is good for the bottom line. I am completely open to others who are culturally-competent and sensitive being part of the team telling our stories. But when our stories are told without our involvement they are not authentic and often times inaccurate. But more importantly, it is about fostering deeper ties of understanding with those outside of our culture when we are part of the picture telling our stories and helping those from our culture. It makes us better and the whole country stronger.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/07/opinion/only-minorities-need-apply.html?hpw&rref=opinion&action=click&module=Search®ion=searchResults&mabReward=relbias%3As&url=http%3A%2F%2Fquery.nytimes.com%2Fsearch%2Fsitesearch%2F%3Faction%3Dclick%26region%3DMasthead%26pgtype%3DHomepage%26module%3DSearchSubmit%26contentCollection%3DHomepage%26t%3Dqry250%23%2FOnly+Minorities+Need+Apply&_r=0