Black and Latino Relations.

This is officially the beginning of a new online endeavor I am about to embark on. I have here and there and everywhere in between a long list of blogs and web-pages that throughout the years, ever since I started this adventure called internet in 1998, have come and gone. Some have survived, while others have gone down in the abyss of oblivion.

In this new re-incarnation of previous blogs, I will attempt to share my views and opinions on different themes from the current events of our times and from different sources as well. Perhaps at times I will write in Spanish, though I will try to keep it going in English as much as I can.

In this my first post I would like to share an article that appeared in the Los Angeles Times a few weeks ago, written by columnist Hector Tobar.

My first intent when I first read it was to e-mail Mr. Tobar but desisted in doing so. Instead I will use this as a means of expressing what I have to say about that.

When I first came into this country I was a nine year old boy who had no experience with people from other races, for where I come from everybody looks like me. However no one had to tell me that we ought to respect others no matter what they look like. To me it made perfect sense.

Especially since I, like many other people like me that come from another country it is our duty to first come in good will, and also to learn about the history and background of this new society we have come to embrace as ours. It is both foolish and disrespectful to attempt to blend in without realizing the struggles of other that we now enjoy.

I, like Mr. Tobar and every non African American person will never, ever know or feel what that segment of society have been trough or even go trough every day. I understand it is important to feel proud of who you are and where you come from but it is also important to understand there's a reason why some people might feel like we are taking over with no consideration as at all.

Not many people know this, perhaps only my closest circle of friends; growing up I had a black step-father which I loved very much, Perhaps that is why I am very sensitive to this issue and it upsets me when my people have a pre conceived notion of African Americans with out even as much as interacting with them or attempting to get to know them but based themselves on old tv cliches.

We must educate ourselves and strive to become better human beings and citizens everyday but for that we must leave the comfort zone of only associating ourselves with our own people. Who knows, perhaps we might end up realizing that we have more in common than we ever dreamed.