What does Martin Luther King mean to Latinos today?Posted in Articles, Census/Demographics, Identity Development/Psychology, Latino Studies, Media Archive, Social Science, United States on 2013-02-06 05:41Z by Steven |
What does Martin Luther King mean to Latinos today?
Bentley IMPACT – The Power of Ideas
Bentley University, Waltham, Massachusetts
2013-01-17
Donna Maria Blancero, Associate Professor of Management
“I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
As we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2013, we must ask ourselves the question: has his dream become a reality for Latinos?
We know that Dr. King inspired many Latinos, including Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. Latinos, just like other Americans, consider Dr. King a great leader of the civil rights movement. If he were alive today, he likely would be working side by side with Latinos to address issues of inequality.
But what does his legacy mean for us today? Has his dream been achieved?…
…When I ask participants in my research to self-identify their race (they all self-identify as Latino), I am typically met with a range of responses. Some are angry at me and state that they are Mexican American or Puerto Rican and that I shouldn’t be asking about race—their race, they say, is Latino! Others have written in comments, such as “I checked off ‘white’ but don’t tell my family, they would be angry at me.” Many Latinos have mixed backgrounds that don’t easily fit into a box. More importantly, many of us don’t want to be put in a box, even if it is “multi-racial.’”…
Read the entire article here.