Identifying Racism as a Preface to Social Justice for Latinx Communities

• In Event: 1255 - Section on Latina/o Sociology Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 5. Stereotypes, Racism, and Social Justice

Abstract

The question of what makes anti-Latinx, anti-immigrant (and anti-immigration) discourse and actions racist is continuously batted around between progressives and conservatives. In fact, even self-proclaimed progressives sometimes flinch or hesitate when asked to explain why those opposing immigration and Latinx communities are racist. What makes immigration and the treatment of Latinx communities issues of racism needs to be clarified as a methodological tool before we can obtain social justice not just for these communities, but in general. Thus, identifying racism in the anti-immigrant discourse (which is invariably anti-Latinx) is the focus of this article and a crucial tool for social justice. Data for this paper draws from a 20-year longitudinal ethnographic study on the U.S. Anti-Immigrant Movement which almost exclusively targets Mexico, Mexicans, Mexican-Americans, and Chicanxs, but which lacks a critical assessment of all other groups as well. More than fifty formal long interviews were conducted with leading anti-immigrant activists as well as key pro-immigrant activists between 1999-2018.

Author

• Carina A. Bandhauer, Western Connecticut State University