“(She’s) Puerto Rican, or, the same thing, Cuban, I mean they are all very hot. They have the, you know, part of the black blood in them and part of the Latino blood in them that together makes it.”
– Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
We can expect to continue hearing moronic statements coming from the mouths of people in power because the higher their position, and the wealthier they are, the more insulated they tend to be.
Their handlers tell them when and how to apologize, and it is so rehearsed it rarely comes across as sincere.
They are usually surrounded by people who legitimize their behavior.
In many ways these enablers are as much to blame.
A little over a week ago, the Los Angeles Times released an audio tape of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger during a March 3 meeting where he made off-the-cuff remarks about State Assemblywoman Bonnie García.
His remarks, about how Latinos from the Caribbean are hot-tempered because they have “Latino and black blood,” came after his chief of staff called García “great” and a “ball buster,” then inquired “Is she Puerto Rican?” – suggesting there was a connection between her assertive nature and her ethnicity.
Schwarzenegger should know there’s no such thing as Latino blood or black blood. Do educated people still talk this way?
By using that term he’s suggesting there’s a genetic connection to a person’s disposition. Even using “blood” as a metaphor for culture or ethnicity is ludicrous because anger is innate.
Whether someone is quick-tempered, however, stems from many factors, including their social environment. It is not tied to particular cultures.
I know as many hot-tempered Latinos as I know laid-back and docile ones.
I’m Puerto Rican and Cuban. Would I be less angry if I had more “black blood” or would it make me angrier? It’s hard to know what ratio Schwarzenegger was suggesting creates a volatile mix.
It’s a stupid stereotype, just as harmful as one that I heard growing up: White people are cold.
Lazy thinkers buy into beliefs about groups they don’t know well. You’d think the governor of the most populous state in the country – one that has a huge Latino population – would know better.
Though his remarks may seem benign, it dehumanizes a group of people as animal-like, unable to control their emotions.
Had he continued speaking, would he have made the assertion that Latinas are fiery in the bedroom? It’s a
stereotype that we, along with Asian and African-American women, have long had to contend with.
These generalizations remain alive, in part by the likes of García, one of Schwarzenegger’s enablers.
After the taped conversation became public, García, who is a Republican, came to the governor’s defense. Standing by his side at a press conference, she said she was not offended by the remarks. She went on to tell a reporter that she considers herself a “hot-blooded Latina.”
Being an enabler was a political move, of course. But in the process of elevating herself within her party’s ranks, she did a disservice to Latinas – and women – everywhere.
It undermines women in positions of power who have to walk a careful line between being authoritative and coming across as too “manly.”
By recasting a sexist stereotype as truth, she gave it credence, thus allowing the stereotype to persist.
But it didn’t make this Latina angry. Just disgusted.
Cindy Rodríguez’s column appears Tuesdays and Sundays. Contact her at 303-954-1211 or crodriguez@denverpost.com.
