Majority...rules?

When you walk into Chipotle or another fast-food restaurant, it is not uncommon for the person behind the counter or cleaning up after you to be of Latino descent.  When you pass a landscaping truck, it is not uncommon for the people crammed into the car to be of Latino descent.  In encountering people of Latino descent in everyday settings, I've noticed that in "our" (and I use that to mean the collective "our," as opposed to the non-Latino "our") society, Latinos are automatically perceived as non-English-speaking people who are no more capable than the jobs they have.  They may have a university degree from their home country and not be able to find a comparable job in the U.S.; they may have a family to support and believe that the U.S. will provide them the greatest opportunity to do so, regardless of the job they find.  While I could write and write and write about the perspectives that U.S. Americans have of (and display toward) Latinos, that is not the focus of this post.

What I'd like to focus on instead is on the concept of minority.  For years, Latinos have been thought of as the minority in the U.S.  The Latino population is rising so quickly that soon, they will not constitute the minority.  The concept of minority/majority, however, doesn't refer solely to the numbers of people comprising a certain population (for instance, more people must equal "majority" and fewer people must equal "minority").  That terminology suggests a certain kind of perspective, the idea of thinking of a "we" and a "them" no matter which group you are talking about.  While people will always identify with different groups -- and even possess membership in multiple ones -- there needs to be more of an effort to bridge the groups perceived as the "minority" (thus implying a "less than," or group that is deficient in something) and "majority" (suggesting a "more than," or group that possesses superiority).  In the case of politics, it comes down to numbers: who has more/fewer votes and other such examples.  I have no problem with the terminology in that environment.  When it comes to people, though, I'm not a big fan.

In traveling abroad, I have often felt like a foreigner -- like a member of the minority, not just because I was in a different place geographically, but because the environment was new and different from my own.  In traveling so far away, though, I come to expect it before each trip (and look forward to overcoming it).  I didn't expect, however, that when I drove 5 miles away from home last weekend to go to my soccer game, I would be the only gringa around.

Immediately upon entering the Sportsplex, I noticed that there was a different ambience from the one I often experience during the week.  During the week, the Sportsplex plays host to everyone who participates in the adult soccer league, representing a slew of ethnicities, native languages, etc.  While many of the people who participate in those leagues are, in fact, Latino, last weekend I experienced something entirely new in being the sole gringa.  I noticed that rather than play into a suggested inferiority complex to those born in the U.S. (something that might happen to Latinos regularly in the "real world"), there was nothing but fútbol on everyone's minds.  The Latinos were the experts -- the majority -- and no one could take that away from them.  It was I who received the looks that seemed to say, "¿Qué haces aquí?" ("What are you doing here?").  My unspoken response, however, was just the same as theirs: our purpose for being there was nothing more than the love of the game.  Just playing fútbol. It makes me wonder why the ethnic group which I must call my own doesn't give Latinos the same chance as they gave me.  They accepted me into their fútbol game without question; why can't other people in our shared society give them the same opportunity to prove themselves?

People always make fun of the Mexican gardener, fast-food worker, construction worker, maid, etc. (regardless of whether or not the person is actually Mexican), but what right do we (who is that "we," anyway?) have to play God and decide who is better than whom?

Of course, no one is exempt from holding stereotypes.  When I was standing with my (Latino) friends at the Sunday soccer game, (Latino) friends of theirs came up to say hello and see what was happening.  After a brief conversation in Spanish, they turned to me and introduced themselves in English.  I responded, "¿Qué?  ¿Tengo la cara de alguien que no habla español?" ("What?  Do I have the face of someone who doesn't speak Spanish?")  With those few words, all of a sudden I went from being on the outside -- as a member of the minority -- to being on the inside, one of the gang, even though I apparently had gringa written all over my face.  People spend a lifetime building up and perpetuating stereotypes, but it takes only a few moments to invalidate them.

It's funny how the dynamic inside the Sportsplex is completely the opposite of the way it is outside, at least from the way I see it.  In a society that is dominated by the "majority-White" mentality (whether or not the majority is actually White), how can people just go through their daily routines as if we all belong to an unacknowledged caste system and not try to equalize the playing field?