Latino/Latina Vignette #4

Two white women, Barbara and Anna, live in a semi-rural area in California. They are discussing the dense growth of poison oak around their houses after a winter of heavy rain.

Barbara: “I’m going to hire some Mexicans to cut down ours.”

Anna: “Isn’t that dangerous? Won’t they catch it?”

Barbara: “Oh, I don’t think they’re bothered by poison oak.”

Commentary to Latino/Latina Vignette #4

Wealthy and middle class white folks often hire people of color to do work requiring manual labor.  This may contribute to their unconsciously feeling superior to folks of color even if, on a rational level, they believe in equality. From this position of superiority they are less likely to truly respect the needs of people who are not white.  In this case Barbara seems to believe that people of Mexican descent are somehow biologically different from whites - such that they are immune from getting poison oak.  On some level is she believing that latinos are a different kind of human or a different kind of species?

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