L.A. Latinos grapple with familiar colorism against Black and Indigenous people in racist tape
by Steve Vladeck
When L.A. Latinos and other communities of color began to speak out against the growing racist hate crimes and stereotypes that have been directed at them, they encountered a powerful backlash from white liberals who claim to be on their side; but they also find themselves fighting for their lives to protect their community. There is simply no denying the fact that, for white liberals, the threat of racist crimes and violence is real and they are willing to do whatever it takes to reduce it and to win it.
The most recent attack on Latino communities began with a viral video posted last Wednesday by an individual, who goes by the name “The Racist Jew,” who is a former member of a neo-nazi group called “The Base.” The video, which has received more than 2.5 million views on YouTube, is a crude comedy skit in which he attempts to draw parallels between Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, and Adolf Hitler.
In the video, he attempts to make the analogy that Latino immigrants are a threat to white people because of their color, which is akin to Hitler’s belief that Jews were a threat to Christian people because of their race. He begins by saying that people of color “invited Hitler to come here to our country and he didn’t know what to do with us.”
A few minutes later he says, “Now we are welcoming Hitler here. We are going to start shooting at them and send in the police or the army,” before throwing a racial slur at an Hispanic man, who then confronts him about his offensive, racist joke.
The second man says, “You are a Nazi, Nazi, Nazi.” As the man begins to scream, Hitler yells, “I’m done now. I’m done now,” and the video ends.
The video has outraged many Latinos, who believe
