Kennedy Center Honors Exclude Latinos — Again
By Juan Ramón Palomo
On December 27, CBS will broadcast the Kennedy Center Honors, which were held December 4 with President and Mrs. Obama in the audience. Viewers will see five great artists who deserve to be recognized for their talent and their contribution to the arts. What they will not see is a single Latino being honored.
The day after the event, The Washington Post gushed about it: “You want eclectic? You got eclectic, and then some …” A couple of paragraphs later, The Post continued: “there was, as usual, something, and someone, for the entire family.” Well, no, not quite. Not nuestra familia. In announcing its list of honorees last week, the Kennedy Center again told the nation’s Latino community that when it comes to the arts, we – and our art – may as well not exist. (A version of this column was submitted to The Post’s op-ed page. An editor replied, in an email, that the paper “passes,” without any explanation behind the decision. In a follow-up email, I asked for such an explanation but she never responded.)
This year’s honorees include three whites, one Asian American and one African American. All are immensely worthy of the honor. Their lives and careers are testaments to how artists can enrich a nation’s soul. However, when the awards presentation is televised nationwide later in the year, Latinos tuning in will see no brown faces among those being honored, for the eighth year in a row.
In fact, since 1978, when the first awards were presented, only three Latinos – Chita Rivera, Edward Villella and Plácido Domingo – have been honored. Three – out of a total of 172! I’ll spare you the task of doing the math: that’s less than 2% – in a nation where Latinos are now the largest minority group.
As we used to say in Texas, nos tiraron a loco. For those of you unfamiliar with that expression, loosely translated, it means that they treat us as if we’re the crazy old uncle who’s locked up in the attic – out of sight, out of mind. It describes how many of us feel each time the Kennedy Center Honors are announced and, again, no Latinos are included.This is not unusual, and the Kennedy Center is not alone. It happens often when it comes to recognizing Latino artists. The National Medal of Arts, whose honorees are chosen by the White House, has only a slightly better record than the Kennedy Center Honors. And whenever national arts organizations do honor a Latino, it is just that: a Latino. Never more than one.
Even worse, for Mexican Americans, is that when a Latino is honored, it is almost always an East Coast Latino artist. The Kennedy Center has never honored a Mexican American artist. I suppose they could claim Plácido Domingo, a Mexican, qualifies, but he doesn’t exactly represent a Latino music genre.
According to the Kennedy Center’s website, the honors have “upheld a tradition of recognizing the lifelong accomplishments and extraordinary talents of our nation’s most prestigious artists.” Apparently, there is no prestige in the arts that are near and dear to millions of Mexican Americans.
There are a lot of very talented Americans of Cuban, Puerto Rican and Dominican descent, but are they the only talented Latinos? As great as Celia Cruz, Chita Rivera and other East Coast Latino artists are or were, I doubt they have sold more records or performed before more adoring fans than have, or did, Flaco Jiménez, Little Joe Hernández, Esteban Jordan, Lydia Mendoza, La Mafia, Selena and others.
Mexican Americans represent 66% of the nation’s Latino population, and while many of us love salsa and other Caribbean-influenced music, it is the sound of norteño/tejano tunes that stirs our souls and packs the thousands of dance halls and clubs across the country every weekend. Unfortunately, those sounds are excluded from the Kennedy Center year after year.
In her heyday, the late Lydia Mendoza was an international sensation, touring all over the United States, Mexico and even South America. She inspired hundreds of other artists. Yet, Lydia Mendoza went to her grave four years ago without ever having been honored by the Kennedy Center. Likewise, Jiménez has performed all over the world and has even done a number of crossover recordings and live performances. But he too doesn’t exist, as far as the East Coast Anointers-of-All-That-is-Great are concerned.
This year’s awards have already been announced so there’s nothing that can be done about that. But let’s hope that by next year, the Kennedy Center will have awakened to the fact that artists come in more than black and white, and that they come from every section of the country. If you want to nudge them in that direction, go the Honors’ webpage, scroll to the bottom to the “Submit Feedback” link and give them your thoughts.
Juan Ramón Palomo is a former Houston Post columnist who works for a national trade association in Washington.
