Politics and Culture

On one of the morning shows, a commentator said that Hillary Clinton pollsters tell her that Hispanics prefer to vote for white candidates than black candidates. Let's look at the facts:

In Nevada, Clinton won whites, 52 percent to Obama's 34 percent. Obama won nearly 80% of the black vote. Despite being endorsed by a heavily Latino service union, Clinton received 66% of the Hispanic vote, besting Obama by 38 points (here, here, and here)

Therefore:

1. Hispanics prefer white candidates over black ones more than whites prefer whites over blacks.

3. Since Hillary and Obama have similar positions on immigration and, err, everything else, one may conclude that either Hispanics have more sympathy towards white women than black men- 38 points more- or that Hispanics have more antipathy towards blacks than whites- even more than whites have against blacks.

Is it fair to conclude that Hispanics are more racist against blacks than whites are against blacks?

If you'd have asked me before the Nevada race, I'd have predicted similar white and Hispanic voting patterns because although racism exists in Hispanic countries, Hispanics become less racist after arriving in the United States and absorbing the United States' more merit-driven values. That the children of Hispanic immigrants, whom I teach, being exposed longer, are much less racist. Since I was wrong, I'll offer this analysis and hope for the above at a later time (I'll deal with it more in-depth later):

In the racial hierarchy of Latin America, being white is considered the best of all possible things, indigenous (Indian or Native American) coming in a distant second and black rounding out third place. One can see this dynamic at play when watching Spanish-language television (El Alma no Tiene Color is a soap opera about a child ostracized for being part black- in 1997!) and, frankly, every other way you want. It's also important to note that most Latinos are of mixed heritage.

The Mexican cast of El Alma no Tiene Color: Patricia Navidad, Laura Flores, Aracely Arámbula

The mixes vary, however. In Caribbean countries like Cuba and Puerto Rico, the mix is black and white (mulatto) whereas in Mexico and Central America, the mix is white and indigenous (meztizo). The Hispanic population, being mostly Mexican-American, has an even more anti-Black feeling than the above truth would suggest, then, since few of them ever encountered blacks in their native country.

Once in the United States, Hispanics and Blacks often occupy the same low-income communities and tensions exist there. I worked in a school divided 50-50 black and white, Gompers Middle School in Watts, and racial problems would bubble up occasionally (Arguments about music at the dances, ESL, etc.).

Finally, whites are more conscious of racial bias and more likely to think it's a bad thing (white guilt). Mexican and Central American Latinos, considered an "oppressed" class are never called on their racism by academia or the media and don't feel the need for self-reflection in this subject, much less guilt.

A point I want to stress is that I use the term "antipathy" and not "hatred" because it's important to distinguish between Nazi-style racial feelings accompanied by horrible action and just preference. In other words, wanting your daughter to marry another Mexican isn't the same as rounding up people of a certain race and killing them or refusing to sit next to them on the bus.

And, of course, I'm being super-general and somewhat academic. I only say this to explain the disparity, not to paint people as evil racists or anything.

Back to the race: Will Hispanic Democrats cross over to a McCain rather than vote for Obama? I'd say "no," but I've been wrong before.

**update** Super Tuesday results in California confirm the anti-black Hispanic voting pattern.

**update 2** This article shows that Texas voting patterns buttress my thesis that American-raised Hispanics are less racist.

**update 3**

Exit polls confirm that younger Latinos prefer Obama:

For Democrats, Latino voters in Texas make up 32 percent of the vote in that state and they were breaking 64 percent for Clinton to 35 percent for Barack Obama. Broken down, Obama captured younger Hispanics by double digits, while older Hispanics preferred Clinton 2 to 1, according to the polling.