It’s going to be harder to maintain the “one drop” myth when people of obvious African ancestry who DON’T call themselves “black” are becoming more public. Remember when you NEVER saw a “black Latino” on television? Everyone looked like “Ricky Ricardo” or a Mexican peon.
Blacks and Latinos Try to Find Balance in Touchy New Math
The New York Times
January 17, 2004
By MIREYA NAVARRO
The Web site for Black Entertainment Television put the question bluntly: “Does it bother you that Hispanics now outnumber African-Americans in the U.S.?”
The response has been torrential. One visitor to the site wrote, “Blacks are beginning to experience another wave of racial bias and favoritism not in our favor.” The writer complained that employers now have a preference for bilingual applicants, and bemoaned “attempts to replace our threatening stance against discrimination with a Hispanic vote.”
But another cautioned: “Sounds like the same old trick to me. `Divide and conquer.’ Are we really going to let some numbers dictate how we treat one another?”