Posted on 04/03/2015 2:29:17 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Ted Cruz’s official campaign isn’t even two weeks old, and already it’s done the nation a favor—by highlighting the duplicity of the “multicultural” left and what it is really after.
Ever since Cruz announced his candidacy for president, “Latino leaders” have been stepping all over themselves to declare that not only does he not speak for Hispanics (something only they presumably do) but he’s not even a “legitimate” Hispanic.
All of which serves to pull the curtain back on multiculturalism: Defined by liberals, it’s a concept that exists solely to advance liberal objectives.
It’s not ancestry that makes one a member of a group but whether one adheres to the leftist worldview that created the group-identity mindset in the first place.
And it’s certainly not designed to serve the interests of the individual members of any group, beyond the “benefit” of fostering an “us vs. them” mentality. Thus, the dismissal of Cruz’s “Hispanicity.”
“Although Ted Cruz has a Latino name and immigration in his past, there the similarities between the Latino community and him end,” the co-directors of the Dream Act Coalition, Cesar Vargas and Erika Andiola, said.
Matt Barreto, founder of the leftist-leaning Latino Decisions polling group, took it a step further: “He is going to go after the vote of the people who don’t like Latinos—that’s his crowd, the anti-immigration crowd.”
Cruz, added Barreto, opposes illegal immigration and ObamaCare, and these positions make him a pariah among Hispanics.
And who can forget how former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said that he didn’t think Cruz should even “be defined as a Hispanic”?
Richardson, himself often identified in the media as “a leading Hispanic,” is Mexican on his mother’s side. Cruz is Cuban on his father’s. The Rev. Rafael Bienvenido Cruz was born in Matanzas, Cuba.
Far from running away from his father’s legacy, Cruz speaks often about Rafael’s experiences in Cuba, how he suffered imprisonment and torture there.
He also very often uses the Cuban Revolution as a cautionary tale for what could happen in this country if we adopt central planning.
And Cruz speaks about his father’s immigrant travails in this country—how he washed dishes and made his way, despite starting out with literally only a fistful of dollars.
Again, the senator makes full use of his father’s immigrant story as a parable that demonstrates the virtues of America.
Now, the Census Bureau is crystal clear in its definitions: “‘Hispanic or Latino’ refers to a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race.”
As I and many others have long argued, “Hispanics,” like “Asians,” is a synthetically made ethnicity with little basis in reality, but this is what the definition is.
The problem for Ted Cruz is that his and Rafael’s story of endurance, assimilation and ultimate achievement gets it all backward—as far as the guardians of multiculturalism are concerned.
They don’t want immigrants, at least not immigrants as we’ve traditionally thought of them. What the multiculturalists want is something else altogether: They look at the same people and see instead minorities.
Minorities—a concept that came into vogue only in the 1970s—are different. They have grievances that come from “a history of past discrimination” and therefore require “remedies,” such as affirmative action and quotas.
Far from practices that instill pride in immigrant achievement or the country that made it possible, what results is a mindset that nurtures grievances and divides society.
Minorities take the nation from E Pluribus Unum to, in Mayor David Dinkins’ words, a Gorgeous Mosaic.
As John Fonte of the Hudson Institute put it a decade and a half ago, multiculturalism holds that for “subordinate” groups such as minorities to be empowered, it is “necessary first to delegitimize the dominant belief systems of the predominant groups and to create a ‘counter-hegemony’ (i.e., a new system of values for the subordinate groups).”
Multiculturalism is a handy way to make counter-hegemony succeed.
PayPal founder Peter Thiel, in his “The Diversity Myth” (written with David O. Sacks), called it a “word game” that has allowed radicals to succeed, where “an honest discussion would not lead to results that fit the desired agenda.”
Clearly, the Rev. Rafael Bienvenido Cruz and the son he raised would want no part of that. No wonder they find themselves kicked off the Hispanic island.
Can anybody sanely define what a “hispanic” is?
And how are they any different from other people of Latin-Mediterranean ancestry?
I understood this same concept with Feminism 25 years ago. They aren’t really for women, just Left wing causes. Every splinter Dem group preys on the stupidity of their target identity group. And then bully those who don’t capitulate. Weak, naive people are reason for the destruction of our once great country.
“people who don’t like Latinos—that’s his crowd, the anti-immigration crowd.”
Who are the people being referred to here? I have yet to meet one. Leftists use libelous labels to substitute for sound arguments, because of the latter, they have none.
Their strategy should be used against them, early and often. They are the ones that are anti-choice (no choice for the father or the child); they are the ones who don’t like Latinos (cynically using them and treating them like children and sheep); they are the ones that are anti-immigration (refusing to enforce a rational, legal immigration system). They are the bigots, the anti-science, superstitious kooks, the warmongers. Call them on it.
I think a Hispanic is a citizen of Hispaniola. (The island where Haitai and the Dominican Republic is located)
> I think a Hispanic is a citizen of Hispaniola.
Hmmm...
It seems to me that the term is far more arbitrary than that.
For example, I’ve heard Central and South Americans referred to as Hispanic, but NOT Brazilians. Is it because Brazil speaks Portuguese?
I don’t get it? What’s the difference between a Brazilian and a Bolivian, other than the language? Ancestrally, they’re all mutts, like me.
Ted Cruz and his dad never stepped on the multicultural plantation..... Good for them.
So Ted Cruz and his dad are not real Hispanics or Latinos ?
Well color me purple.
To say that the liberals have their own set of values in the name of multiculturalism of who is and is not a Hispanic, or Latino is the same as in the culture of black people allowed to say the N - word, where whites are not allowed to say the N - word.
To the elite it's cheap labor that doesn't complain about things.
In my mind, "hispanic" is racist. To lump such diversity of ethnicities and origins into one category is an insult to their identities.
Besides that, Ted Cruz is sending a Christian message. Most people of South and Central American heritage come from Christian backgrounds. I'd think Ted Cruz's message just might resonate more than the exploitation of hispanics by the US ruling class does.
As opposed to Hillary who has to keep reminding us that she will be the first female president.
Like I am going to be swayed to vote for her because she just happens to have a va-jay-jay.
They are black....
I’ve heard that Dominicans consider it an insult to be called “black” or “Haitian”. They consider themselves completely Hispanic.
Hispanic refers to folks who ancestrally speak Spanish. My mother’s first language was Spanish even though she and her parents and grandparents were born in the US. She always told us she was Spanish, never Mexican but not to tell anybody? Her skin was white and people didn’t like Hispanics in those days.
She was afraid we’d face discrimination.
Ok. So what’s different from people whose ancestral language is Portuguese or Italian or Sicilian or any other Latin Mediterranean people group?
My opinion is they are all Latinos who speak different languages.
Many Mexicans are part or full blooded Indians who may not even speak Spanish.
Richard Nixon's very own minority group.
I guess that it is easier to define what "not being a valid Hispanic" (according to those who say Cruz isn't)is:
If it ain't a low-life scum-sucking illegal wetback that thinks that America is its personal dumpster, and doesn't ever intend to become a responsible American (or any other) citizen, it isn't a "valid Hispanic".
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