So, what is ‘Hispandering?’

*I read the title and was compelled to read. Hispandering is one of those things you recognize when you see it, but it’s also one of those words that I find clever yet imprecise. It’s a flag used to mark duplicity; it’s a neologism invented out of a need for economy of words; it’s become a pun in some cases and a shield against passive-bias in others. But it’s never felt substantive to me. I think it has to do with the fact that it’s not a Latino word, it’s not ours. It was conjured by a non-Latino writer in an effort to paint an image of Latinos as if from a film negative, not a print – you know what I mean? At times it feels paternalistic, as if  we need to be told when retail pandering is inflicted on us because we’re unable to see it for ourselves, as if pandering toward “Hispanics” is not real pandering but a quaint derivative of the real thing. It’s not about us, it’s about a writer, writing about us. And yet, this is a good read. VL

---

By Phillip Bump, The Washington Post

Debate moderator Maria Elena Salinas turned her attention to Hillary Clinton during Wednesday night’s debate. “So, secretary, I have a question for you,” Salinas said. “In 2003, you said on a radio show, specifically it was John Gambling’s radio show in New York, that you were adamantly against illegal immigrants and that people have to stop employing illegal immigrants. … So, are you flip-flopping on this issue? Or are you pandering to Latinos, what some would call ‘Hispandering?'”

The term — referring to attempts by politicians to curry favors with Hispanic voters — is not new, by Internet standards. I remembered it as being fairly common when I lived in California a decade ago, so I reached out to my friend Cristina Uribe, who works in politics in the state, to see when she first heard the term.

I was surprised.

“I didn’t hear it until this year,” Uribe said, “when people accused Hillary Clinton of doing it when talking about how she’s like my abuelita.” You may remember that kerfuffle: Clinton’s campaign produced a list of ways she’s like an Hispanic grandmother, or abuela. It was received poorly by the community, since things like this come off as … inauthentic.

Click HERE to read the full story.

---

---

[Photo courtesy of Instagram]

Suggested reading

Rick Rivera’s first novel charts the sometimes hilarious, sometimes bitter-sweet saga of growing up in two cultures with the American Dream as a guiding light. In a series of poignant vignettes, the reader follows Ricky Coronado’s search for identity—a search made more difficult by the specter of his father’s suicide and the pressures placed upon him by his strong-willed mother. The narrator is a quiet but mischievous boy who retells the antics of his close-knit and often eccentric family. The amusing adventures of the clan include his stepfather’s proposal to his mother, visits to the psychiatrist and the comic misconstruction of Catholic catechism by well-meaning nuns. In his journey of self-discovery that harkens to the pioneer work of Oscar Zeta Acosta’s Brown Buffalo adventures, Ricky comes to the same solution that generations of hyphenated Americans have reached: the painful but rewarding creation of a new self that combines elements of both ethnic realities.

[cc_product sku=”978-1-55885-130-6″ display=”inline” quantity=”true” price=”true”]