U.S. Latino youth encounter persistent stereotyping, according to new study

By Katie Utken

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Senior Dahiana Lopez-Rodriguez’s breaking point came in biology. When her class was assigned a lab to do in groups, students said, “Ugh, I don’t want to be partners with her,” and “She doesn’t even speak English.” Lopez-Rodriguez said that incident, combined with her transition to the United States from her native Dominican Republic, was painful and difficult.

“That experience changed me dramatically ‘cause I was such an outgoing person,” Lopez-Rodriguez, who moved to Carmel four years ago, said. “My life was always making friends; I always like to talk to people. That’s how I am. But because of that time of my life, that marked me. They were saying all these things, and I’m like ‘I’m here, it’s not like I’m invisible or that I don’t understand English means I cannot understand you.’ That was really something that changed who I was. I became more closed than I was before to people.”

Lopez-Rodriguez’s situation is not an isolated one. An October 2010 study conducted by the National Council of La Raza, the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, found that Latino youth experience pervasive stereotyping based on assumptions about their ethnicity.

Additionally, Latinos as a whole have been singled out in recent months. During last spring’s immigration crackdown, the state of Arizona declared that ethnic studies programs for Latinos, such as the Tucson Unified School District’s Mexican-American program, were illegal, while similar programs for African American, Asian and American Indian students were not affected.

Compared to Arizona, the state of Indiana has much smaller Latino populations. According to the Indiana Department of Education’s website, 97 Latinos were enrolled here during the 2009-2010 school year. In a school of over 4,500, that means approximately 2 percent of the student body are of Hispanic or Latino descent. In Indiana, Latinos represent about 5 percent of the population. While they compromise about 15 percent of the population nationwide, Latinos remain a distinct minority in this state and school. And for students like Lopez-Rodriguez, that can lead to problems.

“Moving here to Carmel was painful, at least for me. I couldn’t speak English, but I could understand what people said, and one of the things for me was that this is a huge school,” Lopez-Rodriguez said. “Then, for me to go to lunch and sit down by myself with nobody around, it was like, ‘There’s a lot of people here and I feel alone.’ When people don’t want to work with you ‘cause you’re just different or you don’t speak their language, that’s tough.

“I mean, nobody should exclude anyone just because the way they look or that they don’t speak your language. What they should do is try to help them out ‘cause it’s really hard moving from your place you’ve been your whole life and you’re just trying your best but it’s not as easy.”

However, Lorena Flamenco, former English as a New Language (ENL) teacher here and Lopez-Rodriguez’s teacher, said she believes Lopez-Rodriguez’s experience is a rare one in Carmel Clay.

“I do not recall any Latino students indicating to me that they felt stereotyped,” Flamenco said via e-mail. “Sometimes, it’s hard for students who have felt stereotyped to express this to teachers. However, I have had some students mention to me that they have felt ‘uncomfortable’ in some classes because some students do not want to work with them because of their language skills. The mutual uneasiness goes away when ENL students feel more comfortable with their English skills, and English speaking students get to know them better.”

Flamenco added that students in ENL, a program that helps students learn English and aids in their academics, learn from each other’s cultures and ethnic backgrounds, which helps whatever stereotype that might have existed disappear.
Like Lopez-Rodriguez, junior Christina Ortuzar, who moved here from Chile when she was 14 years old, said she has felt stereotyped based on her ethnicity. Ortuzar said her counselor would not allow her to sign up for challenging classes, such as honors chemistry.

“At least for me, I feel like the stereotypes people make about us aren’t true,” Ortuzar said. “I feel like I’m very educated; I want to go to college and graduate.”

Lopez-Rodriguez said she agrees with Ortuzar about the stereotype and said people often have a negative image of Latinos.

“If you ask people about Hispanics, they will say, ‘They just come here to do drugs and take jobs away,’ but they don’t understand our point of view,” Lopez-Rodriguez said. “We come here ‘cause we’re coming for a better life. My parents came here not just because of their job; they came because they want to give us better opportunities. They say we’re lazy and that we’re just here taking peoples’ money. We’re not.”

Despite her difficult initial transition, Lopez-Rodriguez said she remains optimistic and has changed who she works around so she does not have to go through the same experience again.

“I just think that people, instead of judging others because of the way they look or where they come from, should be more understanding,” Lopez-Rodriguez said. “When we come here without knowing the language, it’s like you have to think about yourself going to our countries, to our school where there is no English for you and you’re just thrown there. I just wish people would put themselves in our shoes before they talk about us and that they actually see the good things about us. I’m taking AP classes and I’m trying to manage my grades. I can be as smart as any other kid here.”

Flamenco said she agrees with Lopez-Rodriguez’s suggestions and said cultural education is one of the keys to erasing stereotypes.

“Every child should have the opportunity to learn about other cultures, other people, other ways of life,” Flamenco said. “ENL students can be sources of knowledge and can share their cultures with students. The more we learn about ‘different’ people and make friends with them, the less stereotypes we will have.”