Is the Latino population invisible?
In 2004, Sergio Arau’s film “A Day Without a Mexican” hit movie screens nationwide. Its message, simply put: California would come to a paralyzing standstill if all of its Latino and Chicano population were to disappear overnight. It is time for a sequel: “A Year Without Latinos.”
Our numbers in 2015, as reported by the U.S. census, were 56.6 million (plus 11 million undocumented), constituting 17.6 percent of the population. If a fresh-from-outer-space alien were to watch a couple hours of TV, it would conclude that Hispanic/Latino earthlings are just a minuscule percentage of the U.S. population — at most, 1 percent.
Speaking of aliens (meaning those from outer space), such creatures are more likely to appear in TV shows than Latinos/Hispanics — Latino organizations have actually calculated that fact. If we appear at all, we are cast into stereotypical and demeaning roles: the crackhead prostitute, the violent drug dealer, the lecherous greaser. At best, we appear as an inarticulate security guard (i.e. Guillermo in the Jimmy Kimmel Live show), a bad-tempered, lazy housekeeper (Zoila in Flipping Out), or as nameless nannies and landscape workers.
Plenty of shows cast white, African-American, Indian (as from India — Native Americans are actually more invisible than we are), Asian, even extraterrestrials as doctors, lawyers and successful business people, but one is hard-pressed to find Latinos playing such roles.
The invisibility and stereotypical characterization of Latinos/ Hispanics runs the entire gamut of TV programming, even advertising. Gone are the days when home-improvement channels had a Bob Vila. Has anyone noticed that in such programs, Latinos/Hispanics appear as manual laborers; workers taking orders from white bosses; or background filler.
What about the fact that in all of its years on the air (since 1997) Barbara Walters’ The View has never had a regular Hispanic host? — thank you, Wikipedia. The same holds true for its younger rival show The Talk .Isit acceptable that talk shows purporting to provide a wide range of women’s perspectives function without the Latina view? TV news shows such as Anderson Cooper 360° — which I enjoy watching — and Hardball
With Chris Matthews — I wrote him about this a year ago — go on for weeks and months without the presence of a single Latino expert, pundit or commentator. Why do we accept that individuals who are neither Latino nor knowledgeable about
our culture express views and opinions on our political behavior, cultural preferences and values?
I won’t delve too deeply into the subject of our virtual invisibility in advertising but will challenge TV viewers to take a pad and a pencil, or a laptop, and keep a log of the ads they see on TV and count the number of individuals represented as Hispanics. I’ll save them the trouble: a handful at most. Are Latinos not consumers who buy medicines for arthritis and allergies? Don’t we buy everything from toothpaste to cars? ¡Despierta, Madison Avenue!
I am not sure which is true: Does TV reflect our culture or does TV shape our culture? Frankly, both contentions are quite scary. What we see — and don’t see — on TV reflects a much broader reality of discrimination and lack of opportunities for Latinos/ Hispanics.
We remain invisible and discriminated against not only intentionally by some but also by otherwise sensitive, progressive decisionmakers, perhaps unconsciously, who write and produce TV shows, create ads, recruit university faculties, establish corporate leadership teams, appoint members to boards, and surround themselves with political advisers without first asking the fundamental question: Who is missing at the table? ¿Quién falta en esta mesa?
The 2016 primary and election year was a year without Latinos. What if the next Nielsen ratings took place on a week without Latinos? What if the next Black Friday were to fall on a day without Hispanic shoppers?
What if the next Election Day turned out be a day without Latino voters?
What we see — and don’t see — on TV reflects a much broader reality of discrimination and lack of opportunities for Latinos/ Hispanics.