Atentados, or Shots on Goal

So I've had a topic for this blog post in mind since last night, when I got extremely worked up about something and ranted to my mom for like 20 minutes. I logged onto blogger, ready to furiously type away about my problems and opinions and complaints concerning this topic. But I decided to first check out the blog of a friend, K, for the first time, and I felt my anger and sense of injustice subside.

Let me explain.

N brought to my attention a few days ago the possibility of a new HBO mini-series about Latinos, centered on this "famous" (to be fair, it may very well be famous, I just haven't heard of it) book by a Mexican author. The email that her family received, from someone I don't know, was pleading with whoever read the email to send letters to HBO, saying that we as a Latino community NEED this mini-series, that we NEED to have this opportunity to educate Americans and other non-Latinos about our culture and our traditions and our people and our language, etc.

So I agree that not enough people know enough about Latinos/Hispanics/Latin-Americans (I have no problem with any of these terms, so I'm sorry if you do). I'm ALL about educating others, teaching them about the difference of our countries and the beautiful things that make them up. Y'all know me! And you know that just by virtue of knowing me, you probably know more about Colombia than you ever thought you would.

So I get upset when the very people who are "trying to educate others about Latinidad" fall terribly short. Let me point something out. Though "Latin America" does not have strict boundaries, between the Caribbean, North America, Central America, and South America, there are at LEAST 20 countries and possibly as many as 40-something (depends on what you count as Latin-American, but I'm steering clear of that argument, it's not what I'm concerned with right now). Basically, there are a lot of countries.



So tell me how there are Americans who are convinced that there are only Mexicans, and no other type of Latino. Tell me how I've been asked before if we speak Spanish in Colombia. Tell me how Ugly Betty,



which was completely based off of the Colombian telenovela Yo Soy Betty La Fea



, stars a Mexican protagonist. Whatever media network shows Ugly Betty decided that Americans would find it easier to deal if the protagonist was of an ethnicity they recognized, so Colombia was out of the picture.

The problem isn't Mexico; obviously it's not their fault. And the problem isn't the people who ask questions seeking for honest answers; they are trying to find a solution, and I sincerely hope they continue to do so. The problem is that not enough is being done, or at least done correctly. You cannot make a TV show about, say, only Puerto Ricans and claim you are fixing the problem of ignorance that exists about Latinos! They make up an important part of Latinos, but do not equal Latinos. Just like Africa is a CONTINENT (easily forgotten) and should not be used as a blanket term sometimes, so too are the countries of Latin America incredibly diverse and deserving of recognition. I'm not even saying there should be a TV show on HBO about Colombia (though that would be pretty baller). I would LOVE to see something mainstream about Uruguay, Brazil, Bolivia, Panama. Countries NOTHING like what non-Latinos picture because all they've ever been exposed to is three or four of our countries, if they're lucky.

I think it's great to showcase positive, wonderful things about "common" Latin-American countries that usually get a bad rap (God knows there's too much negativity in the media related to beautiful countries like Mexico and Puerto Rico). But in that case, it should be clear that that is what the goal is. Why should any one country be the voice and face for all the other 39 countries when there are many solid differences in culture, food, traditions, etc? Hell, even the language, even if it remains Spanish, varies drastically across the Western Hemisphere.

HBO, make the TV show. But know that you are not necessarily representing all of the Latino community. As impossible as it may be to do this, until you start telling us and showing us non-mainstream places, places we've never heard of and REALLY educating non-Latinos (and Latinos!), you won't show who we are. Half-assing an attempt is not good enough at this point. Go hard or go home.

***

And to think that K's blog made my writing less aggressive! What he really did was remind me how similar the plight of Latin-American is to that of Africa. How the relative obscurity of our respective homelands lends itself in the media to only coffee and cocaine, bombs and terrorism. We are the lucky ones that know how much MORE there is to discover, but like he said, it's up to us to show others what we've always known. We have a tough road ahead of us, but every little bit of enlightenment that we can facilitate is another heart won over for Colombia and Ghana.