How did it become so ugly?
People are furious over immigration. We’re not debating. We’re screaming at each other, some of us using profane words and trading accusations.
No need to repeat the slander. If you’ve been reading the newspaper, you already know how nasty it is.
The animosity is having a spillover effect on all Latinos, including those who have been in this country for generations. It’s created tension Latinos haven’t felt in decades.
“That negative energy is there,” former state Sen. Polly Baca told me the other day. “You feel it. It’s so strong.”
In recent weeks, she has noticed people giving her dirty looks. It doesn’t happen when she’s in her power suits, but when she’s dressed down, in a market or department store, she thinks people assume she’s an immigrant.
She gets ignored by clerks – something she hasn’t experienced in years.
It’s ironic considering that Baca’s family emigrated from Mexico to the San Luis Valley in the late 1500s, before the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock.
Friends of mine are having similar experiences. It doesn’t matter that they were born in the U.S. and have master’s degrees.
All the negative coverage relating to immigrants has skewed the views some people have of all Latinos.
The derogatory words coming from talk radio day in and day out has given people license to say hurtful things.
“It’s the same as the bigotry I experienced as a child,” Baca said. When she was a little girl in the ’40s, she had to sit on the side pews with her family at St. Peter’s Church in Greeley. Only Caucasians could sit in the middle.
“We changed a lot by passing laws, but we didn’t change the hearts of people,” she said.
Those people are still alive, as are their prejudicial views, except now they codify their bigotry by saying they don’t have an issue with legal immigrants, only illegal immigrants.
The problem is, to many people, all Latinos look the same.
That may explain why Delio Tamayo, a native of Colombia who is a U.S. citizen and has lived in Denver for 35 years, sometimes gets stares when he speaks Spanish.
A few months ago, he was with a group of friends, sipping wine at an upscale bistro in Denver, celebrating an award that a friend received. They chatted in Spanish even though they are fluent in English.
Tamayo noticed a couple at a nearby table giving them dirty looks.
“They kept looking at us,” Tamayo said. “Later on, the couple passed our table and the man turned to us, pointed to the award, and said ‘So what is that, an award for tequila drinking?’ ”
Tamayo, a veterinarian, said his group stayed quiet. But when the couple passed them a second time, he asked them to join them for a drink. He made it a teachable moment: He introduced himself and the others at the table, all professionals.
“They were a little contrite,” Tamayo said. He thinks the interaction made a difference.
But as TV tabloid shows continue to portray illegal immigrants in a negative light, Latinos like Tamayo will continue to experience increased hostility.
Cindy Rodríguez’s column appears Tuesdays in Scene and Sundays in Style. Contact her at 303-820-1211 or crodriguez@denverpost.com.
