Buenas Tardes, Bienvenidos: Don’t Ask “Why Are You Here?” Combat Fear With Understanding

they promote conscious, unconscious biases and more importantly, the emotional responses—they’re almost visceral for many, for many native-born American citizens. And of course, these sources shape the public mind and of course that becomes how we know and treat them. “Where are you from? How long has your family has been here?” are the quintessential questions that every Latino has answered or has been asked to answer when ascribed a sense of social place.

For immigrant Latinos, in their culture, people are very status conscious, so any time they perceive that someone is above them in status, whether it’s a public servant, law enforcement, an educator or even their employer, they still operate under that ranking system, so they do not challenge very much. They do not question the authority of whoever they perceive as above them.

Immigrants especially in a time of crisis always must consider the degree of risk that comes from reaching out for assistance. Imaginably, the undocumented may consider that FEMA, as a government agency, has the authority to enforce immigration policy. Whether they are consciously aware of

Bienvenidos continues on C16

Jefferson County

TEXAS

Buenas tardes, thank you for joining us. Bienvenidos. There’s so much to talk about when you speak of Latinos and the immigration experience. I am not an immigrant myself, by the way, but that is one of the areas that I study.

So, to begin: as explained by David Montejano in his book “Anglos and Mexicans in Texas, 1836 to 1988,” the social place of Mexicans and Mexican Americans and Latinos in general has been historically set and characterized by devaluating and pejorative descriptions of identity and social place. Basically, all it has summed up to is: “Why are you here?” and “You don’t belong.” For many reasons. These stories, these characterizations begin during the time of Texas independence and through the war of 1848 and they linger and persist.

The sense of entitlements among native-born non-Hispanics stem from beliefs in white supremacy, protective and defensive nationalism, and here recently Netflix crime series, popular fiction books such as “American Dirt,” and inevitably these are all reflections of alarmist descriptions made by academics such as Samuel Huntington in 2004 through his book “Who are We? The Challenges to Americans’ Identity.”

These ideas, these tropes, these ideologies,

Americans interpret that type of behavior as passive and weak. And that becomes part of the characterizations that are attached to the historical foundations of those identities, right? They were a conquered people; they were a dislocated people. They were sloven, lazy, refused to work. We know, although, that that’s not true. One hardworking group of people in the United States is Latinos and Mexicans in particular.

We are here to talk about those who deal with the most inequality, the undocumented, the noncitizens. They are aware of their tenuous position, that any moment, anybody, doesn’t have to be a person of authority, could just call the authorities upon them, and because of the prevalent attitudes in the United States, that is what drives their fear.

For a variety of reasons, immigrants both legal and undocumented are a bit mistrustful of approaching FEMA or any other governmental agency. Many times, the language barrier prevents them from utilizing that assistance available to them as noncitizens. The lack of social ties and networks to provide them information as to where to look for assistance. And many fear basically drawing attention to their own or someone else’s legal status. As such, immigrants may be more vulnerable to the effects of natural disasters and their aftermath compared to those who were born in the United States.

1in10 people in the Golden Triangle and coastal East Texas are born outside the United States

13,000

2,000 from Central America, primary Nicaragua & El Salvador

Total population 257,000

22% 56,000 are Hispanic, or

26,000

Hispanics do not identify as White alone, but as some other race or combination of races

13,000

Hispanics live in poverty

Unauthorized population in Jefferson County

Most are under the working age of

54

5,000 are doing odd jobs, seasonal work, home maintenance, child care, paid under the table

7,000 are in the official workforce

5,000 live with at least one US citizen 18 or younger

9,000 come from Mexico, from the states of Guerrero, Michoacan, Guanajuato, San Luis Potosi, Tamaulipas

3,000 work in construction

7,000 speak English daily;

5,000 have no English skills