Latina/o Midwest Reader

Omar Valerio-Jimenez, Santiago Vaquera-Vasquez, Omar Valerio-Jimenez, Santiago Vaquera-Vasquez

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9780252099809
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

From 2000 to 2010, the Latino population increased by more than 73 percent across eight midwestern states. These interdisciplinary essays explore issues of history, education, literature, art, and politics defining today's Latina/o Midwest. Some contributors delve into the Latina/o revitalization of rural areas, where communities have launched bold experiments in dual-language immersion education while seeing integrated neighborhoods, churches, and sports teams become the norm. Others reveal metro areas as laboratories for emerging Latino subjectivities, places where for some, the term Latina/o itself corresponds to a new type of lived identity as different Latina/o groups interact in shared neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces.Eye-opening and provocative, The Latina/o Midwest Reader rewrites the conventional wisdom on today's Latina/o community and how it faces challenges—and thrives—in the heartland.Contributors: Aidé Acosta, Frances R. Aparicio, Jay Arduser, Jane Blocker, Carolyn Colvin, María Eugenia Cotera, Theresa Delgadillo, Lilia Fernández, Claire F. Fox, Felipe Hinojosa, Michael D. Innis-Jiménez, José E. Limón, Marta María Maldonado, Louis G. Mendoza, Amelia María de la Luz Montes, Kim Potowski, Ramón H. Rivera-Servera, Rebecca M. Schreiber, Omar Valerio-Jiménez, Santiago Vaquera-Vásquez, Darrel Wanzer-Serrano, Janet Weaver, and Elizabeth Willmore

PART 1

The Browning of the Midwest

Conversations across “Our America”

Latinoization and the New Geography of Latinas/os

LOUIS MENDOZA

From my perspective, if you live in places like Iowa, Nebraska, the
heartland if you will, you better be welcoming immigrants, because
they are the ones who will be paying for your social security. The
population is aging, and they are taking care of your future. There has
been research comparing the economy of Chicago with the economies
of Detroit and Cleveland, particularly during the ’90s and why
Detroit's and Cleveland's economies didn't prosper as well as Chicago.
Number one reason: immigration. In Chicago, Latinos primarily but
immigrants in general reversed the decline of the population.

—Raúl Reymundo, executive director of the Resurrection
Project in Chicago, quoted in Mendoza,
Conversations across Our America

I am happily surprised to see a truck parked to the side of the road
with the name Taqueria Monterrey emblazoned on its side…. Seeing
the entrepreneurial presence of Latinos in an unexpected place reminds
me why this approach to research works; numbers alone don't
capture the creativity and drive of people pursuing a vision. I decide
to stop for a taco and to see what I can learn from the proprietor.
The young mexicano in the truck tells me he came from Chicago with
the hopes of eventually opening a restaurant at this location. I tell
him about my trip and he explains to me that despite the fact that it
appears he is in the middle of nowhere, a motel down the road has
been recently converted to a migrant camp, almost all of the workers
are from el valle, that is to say, South Texas. (August 30, 2007)

—Mendoza, A Journey around Our America

This chapter is based on research conducted during 2007 as I circumnavigated the country on a bicycle mapping the changing spatial ontologies of Latinas/os in long-established as well as new locations throughout the United States. The epigraphs above, taken from books based on this project, Conversations across Our America and A Journey around Our America, illuminate numerous aspects about life for Latinas/os in the Midwest; the pervasive presence of Latinas/os, including their migration to small towns, the entrepreneurial spirit, the increasing reliance on Mexican farm and dairy workers in the nation's breadbasket states, and the many acts of generosity and kindness I experienced from white midwesterners (and others) throughout my trip.

Over the course of this study I conducted more than ninety formal interviews with a diverse array of people from different ethnic backgrounds ranging in age from sixteen to ninety-two.¹ This chapter highlights midwesterners, mostly Latinas/os and Whites, living in Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, and Michigan, and focuses on the challenges to social, cultural, political, and economic integration faced by those who are part of the Latinoization of the United States.² I use the term Latinoization to refer to the ongoing process of cultural and social change occurring in the United States as a result of the profound demographic shifts of the last fifty years. As I note elsewhere here, these shifts are only partially a result of immigration, but the persistent view of Latinos as perpetual outsiders fuels the myth that we are all immigrants. The interviews and firsthand observations from ground zero of the new geography of Latino migrations complicate and often contradict the vitriolic discourse of anti-immigrant pundits, politicians, and voices that inundate popular media forums.

In the spring of 2006, the United States experienced a series of unprecedented immigrant rights marches involving hundreds of thousands of people across the country as they sought to counter the rising tide of anti-immigrant discourse in the media and in the public at large. These marches occurred in response to highly visible anti-immigrant, anti-Latino discourse that revolves around the core of who “we” are as an immigrant nation, the cultural, philosophical and political qualities that define who “belongs” in the United States. Between the calls for amnesty, guest worker programs, border walls, and the repeal of birthright citizenship, a rampant xenophobia tinged, and continues to inform, debates on immigration as people express their fears that Spanish will supplant English as the national language, that a vast conspiracy is at work in which Mexico was planning to retake the southwestern states, that new immigrants are “dumbing down” the nation or stealing jobs, social services, and education without paying taxes—to name but a few of the more salient issues.

The anxiety of the mainstream population and social conservatives regarding demographic change has been primarily projected onto the undocumented population of Latinas/os in the United States; this is true despite the fact that demographic trends would persist even if the rate of entry into this country by undocumented migrants were to cease immediately.³ Inflammatory rhetoric not-withstanding, the facts of how undocumented immigrants contribute to the U.S. economy are often overlooked or misrepresented. In recent years, anti-immigrant sentiments have given rise to hundreds of local ordinances prohibiting access to housing, education, and jobs. And since Arizona passed statewide legislation in 2010, we have seen many states strive to follow a trend that previously had been mostly limited to small communities. Amidst this climate, efforts to reform outdated immigration policies continue to be stalled at the federal level as politicians remain polarized by competing perspectives on the benefits and liabilities of immigrant workers.

As chair of the Chicano Studies Department at the University of Minnesota during this time, I had unique opportunities and responsibilities to be a resource of information and a facilitator of people's understanding of this “emerging” population. In my alliances and friendships with new immigrants and engagement with a broader public concerned about the impact of immigration, I gained new insight and appreciation for the harsh realities that influence immigrants’ decision to leave home and risk life in el norte. I also witnessed the impact of what it is like to be considered a problem, an unwelcomed presence, even though ample evidence is available to indicate that workers and industries that depend on immigrant labor thrive in a mutually beneficial relationship. Further, despite the pervasive media portrayal of a strong anti-immigrant movement and the intensification of rhetoric by politicians during this time period, it was also clear that immigrant families routinely forge very strong intercultural community relationships at work and in their personal lives.

As I began conceptualizing a project on immigration and the Latinoization of the United States in fall 2006, I asked myself a series of questions: What can possibly shed new light on the immigration question and the changing U.S. demography? These issues are both uniting the Latina/o community and making us individual and collective targets of bigots, nativists, and everyday folks who think of all of us as outsiders without regard for facts about when, how, or why we came to be here. What information and whose voices are missing from the increasingly hostile debates? These questions loomed large as I thought of how I might help reframe the immigration discussion. I reached the conclusion that the best way to really explore this problem was to travel across the country and see firsthand the impact of new (im)migrations, and to listen firsthand to folks within and outside the Latino community to learn from their experiences.

As I made plans, the role the media plays in shaping the public's perception of Latinas/os’ place in the national imaginary loomed large in the background. All too often we are portrayed as a cultural and economic threat to be regulated and micromanaged by laws writ large and small. These distorted images of Latinas/os strike many of us as absurd when we consider that our existence in the Americas predates the existence of the United States as people who have roots in the region or who came as colonial settlers, even as we also share status with most Americans as multigenerational immigrants. What is lost on many people is that the upsurge in immigration across the southern border throughout the twentieth century is a direct result of U.S. policies that have actively recruited immigrant workers into the labor force and intervened repeatedly in the economic and political self-determination of Latin American countries—policies and practices that continue to this day. In other words, Latinoization is not a phenomenon that occurs with the United States as a passive actor, rather it is a consequence of the interconnectedness of imperialism and globalization, processes in which the United States is a primary beneficiary.

The New Cultural Geography of Latinoization

Many of the people I interviewed shared experiences of Latina/o workers and their families being welcomed by local institutions, but many also shared stories of ongoing tensions and resistance to their presence despite clear evidence of the need for their labor to the local economy. I also witnessed many times over what Victor Zúñiga and Rubén Hernández-León identify as the utilization of social capital by new immigrants to become “agents of their own incorporation and integration” into their new communities.⁴ These actions have included efforts to increase access to higher education among undocumented students through state-based versions of the DREAM Act, the passage of immigrant sanctuary ordinances by cities, and public polices declaring noncooperation with immigrant enforcement authorities by local police departments.

For many Latina/o migrants, finding gainful employment in the Midwest has literally been a lifesaver, whether they are economic or war refugees from Latin America, or fleeing underemployment or gang violence in urban centers of the United States. Yet transition to the Midwest has not come without cost as many struggle to adapt to regional mores, which can be inscrutable. Being from Texas, I understand the particular ways that geography, race, and ethnicity can shape regional social norms. For instance, being open, warm, and welcoming to strangers in southern states is labeled southern hospitality. It's considered basic good manners to be polite. In contrast, shortly after arriving in Minnesota I was introduced to the notion of Minnesota Nice. I often found myself trying to explain how these two regional stereotypes are both similar and distinct. Despite a deep history of racism, when a Latino in Texas experiences southern hospitality, the “kindness” exhibited is transparent and one can usually discern whether or not it is sincere or just a veneer of good manners thinly masking racial animus. There are many cues that enable one to know how they are perceived because southern hospitality and overt racism are not mutually exclusive. In contrast, Minnesota Nice—and its corollaries in Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, and Wisconsin—is much more difficult to discern, which makes connecting and integrating into local culture difficult for outsiders. This is especially true for those who are perceived as culturally or racially different. Entire websites are devoted to this topic, enabling posters to share their experiences and strategize on how to survive the seemingly contradictory cultural and social behaviors associated with Minnesota Nice, such as polite friendliness, an aversion to confrontation, emotional restraint, passive aggressiveness, and resistance to change. The result is that there is broad perception that Minnesotans and other midwesterners are insular, only superficially friendly, and not very hospitable at all to newcomers. For instance, on a 2012 Minnesota Public Radio special featuring this topic, one interviewee joked about how difficult it was to make friends by asserting that “Minnesotans are so nice—they'll give you directions to anywhere except their own house!”⁵ Cultural dynamics impact the sense of belonging of newcomers to the Midwest and their ability to socially, culturally, and economically integrate into local communities.

In this chapter I identify features of the new cultural geography produced by Latina/o migration based on insights I gleaned from the interviews and conversations with people I met on my trip. Many of these conversations exemplify what Zúñiga and Hernández-León identify as the “novel geography of diverse receiving contexts,” where each context “has its own racial hierarchy, history of interethnic relations, and ways of incorporating immigrant workers and their families.”⁶ While one can discern the challenges with social and economic integration that result from cultural difference, it is important to note that there are also many examples of locals from the dominant community making an extraordinary effort to be inclusive.

To comprehend the recent high rates of immigration, one must connect transnational histories of contemporary migrants to understand why they left their homeland. In Minneapolis, I interviewed Mariano Espinoza, the executive director of the Minnesota Immigrant Freedom Network, a position that followed years of union organizing.⁷ He shared with me the contrast between the image of life in the United States he was socialized to believe in Mexico and the harsh reality of trying to earn a livable wage that many Latinas/os confront upon arrival.

I came here looking for a place to work and have a better life. It was not really a difficult decision to come because since I was very young I wanted to come to this country. You hear and hear everyday that you have to go to el norte. You have to go to the U.S. if you want better opportunities. So I was always in my mind thinking about the U.S., but I didn't know that the jobs that we have in this country are really, really hard. I was not expecting to be working as a dishwasher or a room cleaner. I didn't know the language even though I went for two or three years to school to learn English. It was not the same. Once I got to Minnesota, I never in my life had pictured myself having two full-time jobs. It was really painful. I worked at the Radisson Hotel in Bloomington. It was a huge hotel where sometimes they had banquets for two, three thousand people. Sometimes two or three dishwashers had to clean all the stuff. After two, three months my back was killing me. Sometimes you have to weigh if this is really a better life because you're killing yourself.⁸

In East Lansing, I met with Juan Marinez of the Michigan State University Extension Service. Juan's expertise is on Hispanic farm owners and the relationship between non-Hispanic farm owners and Hispanic farm workers. His observations on the rapid emergence of Latino farm owners and this connection to their familial history was provocative. “There's an interesting phenomenon in Michigan where Latino immigrants are becoming small farm owners. The ki...