In objecting to my use of the term "Latino", Stephen Homick writes:
<<<<<<< In fact Spector's use of it at all gives me pause to wonder on
which side of the fence he's actually perched. Will Alan Spector
call out on the carpet those who employ "Latino" to champion such
noxious goals, with the force and conviction that he criticizes the
"dominant ideology for doing the same with "white" or "Anglo?">>>>>>>
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I don't know to which "noxious" goals Stephen Homick is referring.
OF COURSE "Latino" is an imprecise term. So, by the way, is "white",
"black", "Asian", "brown", "African-American", etc. We can do two
things--we can either try to use them as precisely as possible, which is a
hopeless task, and which actually lends credibility to their use at
all---or we can freely admit that they are imprecise terms, and use them,
openly, sometimes seriously, sometimes sarcastically, in all kinds of ways.
On my campus is an anti-racist group which calls itself "Los Latinos". They
are united in carrying out various social activities, service activities,
and sometimes anti-racist political activities. While I don't agree with
all of those students on everything, I figure that if they want to call
themselves "Los Latinos", it probably isn't too "noxious." On the other
hand, in my teaching, in the same lecture, sometimes within the same ten
minutes, I will interchangeably say "Latino" or "People of Spanish
Ancestry", or Hispanics, or "Spanish-speaking people from the Americas", or
"so-called whatever", knowing FULL WELL, that TECHNICALLY, Hispanics are
not IDENTICAL to Latinos, etc. etc. etc. for the purpose of emphasizing
that they are imprecise terms. And saying, ALL ALONG THE WAY, that we
should learn to hate the language that the dominant groups (capitalist
class, by the way) have trained us to use and that we have to learn better
ways to express our commonalities and unity.
This might not seem relevant to WSN, but it's important to realize that
precision in language is important, but worrying about it too much can
also get in the way of good communication. In any case, I believe I've
made my point clear and most people on WSN understand what I mean (whether
or not they agree...), so I'm about through with this discussion to WSN as
a whole, although I'll be happy to discuss it in private with Stephen
Homick.
Alan Spector