Latinos’ Optimism About Racism Tied To History, Could Change In Future

*Race relations from a Latino immigrant point of view. Latinos are a transformative wave, and it seems to be evident in race relations as well. It’s not all positive, but I like the hope that underlies this story. VL

 Julia Glum, International Business Times

Hispanics are consistently positive about race relations in the United States because of their inherent optimism and personal experiences, but that could change. Academic experts predict a younger generation of Hispanics will grow ambivalent as they see and experience discrimination firsthand.

For now, despite Americans’ overall dark outlook on racism after the police killings of black men in Missouri, New York and other parts of the nation, 51 percent of Hispanic respondents to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey said they felt good about race relations. Compared with 40 percent of whites and 35 percent of blacks who felt the same, Hispanics were the most optimistic group in the survey, which was released Wednesday.

This can largely be attributed to the makeup of the Latino demographic, roughly 36 percent of which is foreign-born, according to academic experts. Immigrants don’t have the experience seeing and dealing with racism and civil rights in the U.S. as most Americans do, Nestor Rodriguez, a sociology professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said. They think race relations are “less of a structural feature and more about individuals who have not done enough to improve their situation,” Rodriguez said.

Click HERE to read the full story.

[Photo by jvoves/Flickr]

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