Latinos (and Their Music) Defy Stereotyping

I want to applaud Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez on her article “Crossing Over? Hello-o They’re Already Here” (June 11). It’s the first time in the 10 years I have lived in the United States that I have seen a short, clear and to-the-point deconstruction of the prejudices that plague the way “Latinos” are perceived in this country.

The tendency to lump diverse populations under simplistic categories is very offensive and lends itself to crass stereotypes. As a Nicaraguan poet and writer, I’ve had to explain many times that, not having been born in the United States, my experience as a Latina is very different from that of Latinos who have been born here. I’m constantly invited to speak as a member of a minority or ethnic group when I’ve never considered myself either one or the other.

There is no such thing as a Latino ethnic group, and where I come from, “minority” is not a category we use to identify any group of our fellow countrymen or women. The ethnic and cultural diversity is quintessential to the American continent; it is who we are.

GIOCONDA BELLI

Santa Monica

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As an educator, amateur musician and longtime fan of Afro-Cuban music, I strongly support Valdes-Rodriguez’s commentary. Her sobering criticism of mainstream media and Latin music was as well written as I have ever read.

No, I won’t be at Dodger Stadium to see Ricky Martin’s hips. Rather, I’ll be at the movies watching a true crossover phenom, Ry Cooder and the Buena Vista Social Club.

VICTOR CHAVIRA

La Puente

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Did I really just read some PC diatribe about pop music--just because Entertainment Weekly labeled Ricky Martin as “hot hips”?

Hey hola-a! Alisa? Did you ever hear of “Elvis the Pelvis”? Did you not see this year’s Grammy Awards? In whatever language you choose, Ricky Martin is “muy caliente.” And most of all Ricky Martin is F-U-N. He’s early Frank Sinatra and Madonna rolled up in one.

We’ve been waiting a long time for fun to return to pop music. Hey Alisa, chill!

R. PEDERSEN

Los Angeles

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What a relief to read Valdes-Rodriguez’s article. As a white Latino who grew up in San Diego hearing “beaner” jokes because he was neither dark enough nor had a Spanish-enough name to be Mexican, it was a breath of fresh air in a state where the discussion has been pretty polluted so far by the reactionary images of the Republican right and the Wilson regime.

On the topic of Jennifer Lopez, who is subtly accused of having mainstreamed her look, I would like to add that Lopez has actively spoken out against the stereotyping of Latinos, especially her caricature on MTV’s “Celebrity Deathmatch,” which gave her a Spanish accent. (Lopez is from the Bronx.)

HARRY MORT

(a.k.a. Enrique Guillermo

Bello Vermoth de Mort)

La Jolla

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While I certainly appreciate and agree with many of the points that Valdes-Rodriguez made, perhaps she hasn’t attended enough Dodger games this season thus far to realize that they play Puerto Rican-born Ricky Martin’s “La Vida Loca” during various parts of the game, not just before the Dominican players’ at-bats.

Valdes-Rodriguez says “to know [the cultural ramifications] means to study history” and entertain “complex thought.” This is to imply that baseball spectators and Dodger Stadium employees are all uneducated dolts. A baseball game is a poor example to prove these posits, because while Valdes-Rodriguez sits stewing in the stands about the offensiveness of it all, the Dominican players probably remain in an oblivious rut as to how they can increase their batting average or get a runner on base to score.

Following this logic, should I then, as a Hawaiian American, be offended that whenever fellow Hawaiian-native relief pitcher Onan Masaoka gets sent in to pitch, they play the “Hawaiian War Chant” on the organ?!

ALLISON KALAMA

Glendale

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While Valdes-Rodriguez castigates the mainstream American media for its treatment of Latino pop artists within the crossover phenomenon of today, I would like to castigate her for seeing the phenomenon only through a Caribbean Latino prism, crediting only those of a Caribbean black and white background.

Where are the Mexican American pop artists who have been crossing over for years? Andy Russell, whose “Besame Mucho” was the “La Vida Loca” of the mid-1940s; Lalo Guerrero; Ritchie Valens; Los Lobos; Vikki Carr; Linda Ronstadt, the queen of crossover for her mariachi album. And there is the tejano gang--Freddy Fender, Johnny Rodriguez, Tish Hinojosa and the late Selena, whose last album was a crossover.

She writes, “Mexican norteno and banda music is rooted in Germany and Poland. . . .” Pleeze. Both of these musical genres are cowboy hybrids--the German (polka) is only one norteno element, borrowed from the Germans in Texas, and the origins of banda are in the Mexican mostly cowboy state of Sinaloa.

JOSEPH PLATT

Professor Emeritus of Chicano

Studies, Cal State Fullerton

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I must remind Valdes-Rodriguez that salsa is not a musical genre, it is just a commercial label. Ricky Martin’s musical material cannot be classified as “salsa,” as it is a fusion of different Latin musical rhythms, Caribbean sounds, reggae, plena, bomba, son, samba, plus rock.

BURT CONTI

Huntington Park

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Valdes-Rodriguez’s article offered an excellent opportunity to put the latest Latin music craze in historical and cultural perspective. It was entertaining and educational.

But at the end she offered unsubstantiated, biased comment that many, due to her impeccable research, might take for truthful. She wrote that “there is a long history of tension between Puerto Rican and Dominicans over class and citizenship issues.” From my personal experience and perspective, I believe that statement to be unfounded.

The inevitable friction that normally occurs between neighboring countries, such as Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, happens due to undocumented migration. Thousands of Dominican immigrants go to Puerto Rico as a first step to moving toward the American mainland. There, as in California, the federal government intervenes. But people-to-people contact has never been better.

Puerto Rico, like California, has been affected by the recent attacks on illegal immigration mandated by the federal government to protect our borders. But Puerto Ricans, like many Californians, understand, celebrate and profit from the healthy interaction of our separate but equal neighboring countries.

LUIS ANGEL VEGA

Los Angeles