Minorities' Dirty Secret - the Oppression and Discrimination of other Minorities

Let me preface this by saying that I'm not a sociologist, or any form of scholar. I do try to study and research as much as I can, but there will be obvious limitations. Now, let's continue.

This is an issue that I've seen in Latino and Black (as well as other minorities) communities for as long as I can remember. It's something that isn't really discussed much. We kind of are taught that white people are our enemies. That they're the reason why we're put down, but growing up I have seen minorities keeping each other down. Don't get it wrong though, this isn't a "aha! It's ok if we treat them that way since they treat each other that way!" Oppression and discrimination of other minorities in the forms of racism and colorism, sexism, and especially anti LGBT+ rhetoric is very prevalent. I sometimes feel as it can't be discussed because then we're labeled as racist if we do. We're also told by other minorities that this discrimination isn't as bad as white discrimination against us.

Please keep in mind that I'm only going to list of examples of discrimination from minorities to other minorities, but it doesn't mean that white people don't do it. I've had many racial interactions with them as well, but I feel that an open minded conversation of minorities oppressing each other is needed.

And they say it's the white man I should fear
But, it's my own kind doin' all the killin' here - Tupac Shakkur, Only God Can Judge Me

Racism and Colorism

Racism is defined as "prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior." We are often taught that white people are the only ones who can be racist, but I don't believe that. I've seen many minorities not only say racist thoughts, but also act on their racism. I have personal stories, but I'll try to list more documented examples. Such as this one, where a black woman told a Mexican man to go back to Mexico and beat him with a brick and a group of men. She was charged with attempted murder, but interestingly enough, not a hate crime, despite yelling racist chants.

I know many Latinos who simply will not date black people. Also many parents who will disown their children if they date outside of their race, but the most common race they'd be disowned for is Black. I have Latino friends who's parents would be livid if they dated black men. There is the racist saying, "Mejorando la Raza" or "improving the race", where basically procreating with people with lighter features improves our race. I've personally seen many friends and even family who have children with white people "over praise" their lighter featured children over their darker featured children.

In Chicago, for some reason there's a long standing feud between Puerto Ricans and Mexicans. It is silly, and I never hated anyone for their nationality. I do remember when I was with my -younger brothers, (we were from like 7-12yrs old) a group of high school teens looked us up and down and said "Eww, Mexicans" and laughed and walked away. They were black and Puerto Rican, I know this because they said things like "boriqua! Wepa" (Boriqua is another word for Puerto Ricans).

When my siblings were growing up, they went to a predominantly black school. They would get teased, bullied and attacked for no reason. The young black children would point at them and say "let's get the Mexicans", and they'd get jumped. They'd be called beaners, spics, wetbacks etc. They'd make fun of them for speaking Spanish. The bullying was so bad, they'd want skip class because even the teachers were black and did very little to discipline the students.

I remember telling my black friend that "mayate" (pronounced "mah-yah-teh") is a Spanish slur that equates to "nigger", and seeing the look in his face of realization how many racists Latinos he's encountered was heart breaking.

Minorities' Dirty Secret - the Oppression and Discrimination of other Minorities

Colorism is defined as "prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group." Racism and colorism go hand in hand, but I personally don't think they're the same. Racism is from other groups, colorism is from in your group.

An example I have seen of this is #TeamDarkSkin vs #TeamLightSkin which is usually from Black communities. This is basically pitting darker skinned individuals against lighter skinned. For a long time though, dark skin people would get mocked within the black community. "Nappy" hair, "kitchens" etc are terms shaming hair, usually natural afro hair.

Colorism also exists in other communities. Skin bleaching is very popular in Asian countries like India, Korea, many countries in Africa, and even Latin American countries. Many darker people are made to feel inferior and thus, bleach their skin.

In Latin American culture, I know when I turn on Novelas (spanish soap operas), I almost always saw extremely pale people as the protagonists, and the dark skin people were either the maids/janitors, poor people, or the antagonists.

Minorities' Dirty Secret - the Oppression and Discrimination of other Minorities

Sexism

I've already spoke on the sexism in especially Latino cultures thanks to Machismo, so I'll only mention it briefly. In many Latino families, the males are often seen as the prized gender. This is also true for many Africans as well as Asians and middle eastern cultures. Although I'm mostly focusing on issues of the US, around the world, we are aware that females are often treated more unjustly than males. From China with their female infanticides, many middle eastern/muslim as well as African countries practicing female genital mutilation (I'm against male circumcision as well, but it's not as bad as FGM). Now, y'all may wonder why does this matter if we're focusing on the US? Well, when these cultures come to the US, they bring their values with them. And they don't always align with western ideals.

In fact, many females in the US were subjected to FGM. When cultures come to the US, they don't always assimilate, and those born into these communities are still instilled values from the motherland.

Rap and street culture also loves to insult women. I never understood why slurs against women such as bitch, slut, thot, bustdown, etc were so widely popular. Both the man and woman are participating in the same acts in the song, but he's a pimp while she's a hoe?

Minorities' Dirty Secret - the Oppression and Discrimination of other Minorities

Anti LGBT+

This is what got Kevin Hart in trouble. Anti LGBT is extremely prevalent in many black and Latino cultures. There are many instances of anti LGBT+ not only thoughts and individual behaviors but also laws in non white and/or Islam countries, and honestly it would take up a lot of this section if I included it, so I'll focus more on US specific cases again.

This is something I've personally seen so many times. It is all over rap music.Another common thing in rap music is to use slurs like faggot, tranny, etc. It is looked down in a lot of Latino music as well. It is also something that for some reason, isn't talked about enough. I'm not sure why many especially black trans activists don't call out the seemingly ingrained anti LGBT+ views of minority cultures. According to PRI; muslims 34% opposed same sex marriage, blacks protestants at 43%, and hispanic protestants at 45%, - and they're the highest numbers of racial and religious groups.

I am a tomboy, and I dress like a male a lot. I would be walking down the streets and have people yell "dike" or "marimacha" (Spanish for "butch", often used in derogatory manners). Personally, I have family members who would beat their sons if they were to be gay. In fact, my older brother got into a fist fight with my sister because she placed her 1yr old son in a lavender walker because he said that it'd make him gay.

Many people believe being killed for being gay is only done in the middle east (like this case). However, it happens here in the US too, like this boy who was tortured and killed by a mother and her boyfriend because they believed he was gay. Another young boy, was also abused and killed by his mother and boyfriend because he came out as gay.The amount of homophobia and hyper-masculinity in Latino cultures is so prevalent, that little boys are punished for simply touching dolls.

Lesbian women are, however, a bit more accepted than gay men. My brother doesn't have a daughter, but I asked him if he'd be ok if she were to be lesbian. He said yes, but no gay sons. In fact, he'd prefer if his imaginary daughter were lesbian and never date men. I asked him, what's so bad about men or dicks that you don't want your (imaginary) daughter or (real) sons near them?

Minorities' Dirty Secret - the Oppression and Discrimination of other Minorities

But it isn't just gay people who are abused in minority communities, trans people are also vulnerable. Black trans people have the highest rate of violence perpetrated against them. So far, there have been 25 trans people killed, 2017 was one of the worst years with 29 tracked deaths according to HRC. Of those 25 slain, so far, 20 were black. Many of these murders are still unsolved, but so far 3 of the aggressors are black, 2 are Hispanic, and 2 are white. Many of the black trans victims however, lived in majority black communities, so it is likely that their aggressors shared the same race as them (as with other crimes).

I'm not sure where to list this, but it's also an issue with the LGBT+ community. They have higher rates of domestic violence compared to heterosexual and cisgender couples.

Minorities' Dirty Secret - the Oppression and Discrimination of other Minorities

What Can be Done?

Now, please don't read this and think that any oppression or injustice from majority groups to minorities is "justified". Also, again, don't think that just because I didn't list let's say white discrimination over minorities, that I don't believe it happens. It does, but as I stated, it has been addressed thoroughly enough by others. I don't see a lot of discussions surrounding how many minority cultures have their/our own issues discriminating against other minorities. I feel that they should because as we can see, there is a lot that can be done to repair our communities.

This isn't an exhaustive list at all. There are many other documented examples as well as personal experiences. I just skimmed the surface of a lot of issues that need solutions. I personally think that we ourselves (as those in said identity groups) have to first acknowledge it exists, and then we have to solve them within our communities. One controversial solution is to more properly assimilate. Many of the discriminatory actions we subjugate other minorities to are because in our ancestral lands, it's how it is over there. However, there's a reason why our parents, grandparents or ourselves are fleeing those lands. I always found it hypocritical of us to be hyper critical of whites discriminating against us, yet we do it gladly to other minorities as well.

As I said, I'm not a sociologist, and keep in mind I'm not a conservative, I don't support Trump (for some reason, when I mention these issues, I'm labeled right wing, "coconut" which is white on the inside brown on the outside - essentially the Latino version of coon). I don't know many solutions to this other than assimilating and for us to value the idea that we're all equal. A lot of these issues could also be solved "from the outside" - like legislation to protect vulnerable groups were passed and enforced. Things like LGBT+ protection laws, prohibiting FGM and child marriage with the excuse of religion, etc.

I hope I don't get my "Latino card" revoked for this lol jk, I've already got it revoked many times before. I just want our communities to grow and heal. I know it's hard to break cycles of hate and oppression, but we're doing it to fellow minorities, while complaining when those in power do it to us. Hate from any direction or group to any direction of group should not be tolerated if we're truly going to progress as a society.

Minorities' Dirty Secret - the Oppression and Discrimination of other Minorities
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  • The only solution is to purely be the racists we all are! Too many people of all races and walks of life are wasting time trying to create some kind peaceful unity that really just results in the same old division, but now with candy coated bullshit :)

  • Truth is, nowadays, "antiracism" and all that stuff is just a race for profit. The higher you are on the discrimination ladder, the more you earn, in terms of fame, money, privileges. And anyone claiming being discriminated becomes someone who will take some of that stuff from you.
    That's how it is. The more you play the victim card, the more you earn.

  • Good mytake

    I think that religion should be wiped out from society. It’s sexist, homophobia, authoritarian and racist

    • Religion itself isn't prejudice. It's people who use religion to be prejudice who are the problem. Look at the "Alternative-Right." Some of the most racist people started that organization, and most of them are Atheists.

  • Excellent take. It's the elephant in the room that nobody talks about.

    • You have no idea how difficult it is to have a fruitful discussion regarding this. Every time I try, I'm met with aggressive opposition and deflection "well, what about white people?"

  • No more wet backs
    ~Mr Bails Extraordinaire

  • no diverse societies are the most safe and free of crime. Multiculturalism has never produced any benefits

  • I agree, no more mexicans in this country

    • I never said no more Mexicans. I am Mexican

  • Very good take