Glad I can stir up some discussion on such a controversial, but necessary to tackle topic. White Hispanics as Buffers between the White Elite and Darker Non-Elite: As a critical complement to César Vargas’ essay, The Blinker: NY News Stories On The Go Geoffery Mullings argues that white Hispanics are socially positioned somewhere between being a beneficiary of white privilege and victim of cultural racism.... I do want to point out that I dont use the term White #Hispanic in my article, but that doesnt mean it doesnt exist. It depends upon how you grapple with race as a social construct. White could refer to simply the color the person chooses to identify with, and Latino replaceable with other ethnic designations - Cuban, Mexican, Jamaican, American, etc. The article’s example cites the career of Spanish Cuban and “white Hispanic” Rafael Pineiro, the First Deputy Commissioner and highest ranking Hispanic in the NYPD. After Pineiro was passed up as the possible first Hispanic NYPD Commissioner for Bill Bratton, Mullings positions that Pineiro was never seriously considered as the NYPD’s top dog and that he was politically useful to be the Executive Officer for the Latino-majority #Bronx and second-in-command during the racially charged times of “stop and frisk.” According to Mullings, Pineiro’s lighter skin allowed him to make contact with the top but his Spanish-Cuban ancestry never gave him full access to the top. Commentators like Vargas and Mullings seek to assign “white Hispanics” with a role such as broker or buffer in order to deal with the ambiguity of the term. By assigning “white Hispanics” a role, one can make sense of what is expected of them and bring clarity to their function in and for the community.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 15:04:58 +0000