I applaud LR for it, because our society needs a voice to point out these less overt, but nonetheless harmful elements of our public discourse. Laugh it off. No harm is meant by it. But is it really? Many argue that it is actually harmful , in subtler ways, because it obscures the humanity of a group of individuals behind facile stereotypes.
Especially when redundant ethnic stereotypes are the scant drops of information out there. Bottom line: subtle jokes, images and casual remarks have more impact than people think. See of the video. To say that Cuban Americans are somehow less authentic or less qualified to speak on Latino issues by mere virtue of being Cuban is the exact same kind of subtle and insidious bigotry that the above Latino Rebels articles are fighting against. Latinos are all races, all colors and all ideologies.
Even if you think that the policies of Rubio and Cruz stink, or that they are sellouts, or even if you think these two U. Nonetheless, if that were the extent of it, I could live with it. But it goes deeper. Too often I hear Latinos attacking Cuban exiles or Cuban Americans not for their perceived political views but instead on an ethnic level. Why is this OK? And that brings me to the bigger point of this piece, which is to discuss the term gusano. My family, friends and fellow Cuban Americans all know the history of this word.
It was created by the Castro regime as a propaganda tool. It refers to and is solely meant to discredit the entire group of Cubans living outside of the island.
It was created to discourage collaboration and communication between Cubans on the island and off the island.
