We are failing to make solid networks with Black grassroots leaders because most Latinos have bought into white supremacist notions that anyone with Black skin is subhuman. Latino organizers coming from Latin American nations, most of them new immigrants themselves, shy away from Black people, because of the psyche entrenched in America that Black people are not people that should be considered people with whom to work. This notion is further entrenched by racist leaders of the Catholic Church who hold strong sway with the immigrant community.Not wanting to choose sides here, but does Miranda have a particular African American "grassroots activist" in mind?
Unless efforts are made by grassroots organizers of the Latino community to establish communications between Black grassroots leaders, a polarization of the two groups will become evident and irreversible.
After all, it wasn't that long ago that Michael McGee Sr. decided to say a few remarks on the air at WNOV-AM that had they been said by anyone else would have made Miranda and his followers apoplectic. We still have not heard an apology from McGee, although his station saw fit to apologize after the racial joke was made widely known to the public.
Miranda's silence on the McGee issue has been curious, to put it mildly. And now, in an op-ed piece, he basically accuses many of his Latino supporters of being racists.
Maybe a few of the people who marched yesterday in Veterans Park should wonder just what the Miranda agenda is. Is it ideological, sectarian, or personal? And does it serve the community he purports to serve?
