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Classism in Latino Culture - Part II

My father was one of 27 children from the mountains of Puerto Rico. He left Puerto Rico at 16 years of age with an eight grade education. He went to the south side of Chicago, the side where bad, bad Leroy Brown hung out in Jim Croce's famous ballad. It wasn't a good situation. He had no English, very little education and was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

My father essentially retired when he was 45 after a successful (and legitimate) business venture! Only in America my friend.

That's one of the main differences between the United States and Latin America. The United States has a liquid class. If you work hard and educate yourself, even if it is in something like a restaurant business, which is what my dad did, you can really get ahead in this country.

The same cannot be said of Latin America. Classist roots run deep. One of the greatest struggles for Latinos is to break free from these roots of classism. The tendency to not invest heavily in the progress and education of our own people is a reality. The fear of competition is very real and keeps many people from committing to the training and elevation of our own people. This is not true of every Latino, there are some wonderful exceptions. It is, however, generally true and it is due to classism in our culture.

One of the most concerning things happening in the Latino culture today is an incredibly high dropout rate among our high school students. It is hovering around 50 percent nationally. This is simply unacceptable and we Latinos must do more about it. It is our problem. Those of us who have "made it" in this country absolutely must put away our classist tendencies and elevate the rest of our people. We must work closely with the less fortunate in our Latino community to bring them to a higher purpose and social standing.

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posted by Ricardo González on August 11, 2008.

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