Spanish-language Univision's anchorman Jorge Ramos, who makes Gloria Vanderbilt's son Anderson Cooper look like the I-don't-have-to-show-you-no-stinking-badges undocumented federale in Treasure of the Sierra Madre, is the subject of a fawning write-up in The New Republic.
Immigration Reform’s Wild-Card Power Broker
Eliza Gray [Photos added by S. Sailer]
The night after the presidential election, the news anchors on the Spanish-language network Univision, Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Selena, began their nightly newscast with something of a celebration. As Ramos opened the broadcast, the screen lit up with the numbers 71 and 27—the share of the Hispanic electorate that voted, respectively, for Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. The surge in Latino voting was a coup for Ramos, who is as much an immigration activist as he is a news anchor. In an ABC News advertisement targeting Latino voters, Ramos explained the stakes: “I know we are 50 million strong, but it means nothing if we don’t vote. The lesson is very simple: If you vote, we will be powerful.” ...
Over the phone last week, Ramos told me that he sees Univision as a “social leader” in the Hispanic community. The network’s role in the community was especially clear in the weeks before the election, when it devoted extensive news coverage to the voter suppression efforts across the country and provided information for their viewers about voter registration in hopes of getting out the Latino vote. “Some people have really no other option than to watch us to find out what is going to happen with their life,” Ramos told me. In 2010, a survey from the Pew Hispanic Center found that Ramos was one of four people Hispanics identified as the “most important” national Latino leader—along with Sonia Sotomayor and Democratic Congressman Luis Gutierrez.
That's one way to put it. I covered that Pew Hispanic Center survey for VDARE.com last year, and the actual results are more amusing:
In the Pew survey, done in late summer 2010, random Hispanics were first asked an unprompted question: “In your opinion, who is the most important Hispanic / Latino leader in the country today?”
The landslide winner: “Don’t know”, with 64 percent.
The runner-up: “No one”, with ten percent
In third place: recently-appointed Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor, with seven percent. Then came the Congressional spokesman for amnesty, Luis Gutierrez, down at five percent; Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at three percent; and Univision news anchorman Jorge Ramos at two.
Nobody other than this Feeble Four broke the one percent barrier.
Back to TNR:
When the immigration debate begins in earnest, “from that table in Miami, he is a player in the negotiations,” says Roberto Suro, an expert on Latino politics and media at USC’s Annenberg School (and a friend to Ramos).
Ramos, who is 54, was born in Mexico, where he worked as a radio journalist until 1983 when government censorship compelled him to move to America. In 1986, at the age of 28, he became the anchorman for Univision, and in the years since, he has become an impassioned advocate for undocumented immigrants.
Ramos and Univision have not been shy about promoting their liberal stance on immigration. In A Country For All: An Immigrant Manifesto, one of several English-language books Ramos has written on the subject, he lays out his stance on immigration reform, making it clear that he wouldn’t accept anything short of citizenship—not even permanent legal residency—for the undocumented workers in this country.
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Univision’s activism in this regard, Ramos admits, sets it apart from its English-language counterparts. “Within the Hispanic community, since we are gravely under-represented politically, Univision and the Spanish language media have become social leaders or activists,” he says, adding that while Latinos make up nearly 17 percent of the population, they only have 28 members of Congress when they should have at least 75. “Something has to compensate for that. That’s where Univision and Spanish language media comes in. We do things you would not expect other networks to do in terms of giving guidance to our viewers on a lot of issues like immigration, health care, and voter registration.”
... If the GOP’s strategy of embracing immigration reform has any chance of wooing back Latino voters, it will have to depend on Spanish-language media, particularly Univision, to get its message across. Eighty-eight percent of Latinos watch Spanish-language television, according to the American Journalism Review, and Univision is the clear leader in that market. For many Latinos, Univision is their only source of news.“72 percent of Latinos who watch Univision’s main evening news broadcast with Ramos and Salinas do not see any other television news,” according to the Guardian.
Aren't you supposed to pass an English test to become a citizen? Or is that just too racist to enforce these days?
This will be difficult for Republicans, because Univision has helped drive the perception that the GOP is hostile to Latinos—for example, when the Spanish language networks covered Arizona’s immigration law, the authors of "Not Business as Usual" wrote that Telemundo and Univision “contributed to a discourse of fear by choosing to frequently include the most outrageous and polemic anti-immi-grants examples, such as the statements of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.”
Still, Republicans did little to counter their party’s image on the network. Only Newt Gingrich and Romney showed for Univision’s Republican primary debate and Romney’s forum with Univision during the general election was disastrous. According to reporting from Buzzfeed, when Ramos mentioned in Romney’s introduction that the candidate had agreed to a 35-minute segment, while the President had agreed to a whole hour, Romney “threw a tantrum” and refused to go on stage until they re-taped it. And, once the forum began, Romney’s audience—made up of campaign volunteers to make up for the lack of interest from University of Miami students— cheered for Romney and booed questions from the moderators, offending Ramos’ co-anchor, Maria Elena Salinas. (Romney’s unusually orangey-tan complexion during the forum also gave way to speculation that he’d intentionally made his face darker for the event, but the make-up artist at Univision later told reporters that the tan was natural.)
You might think this would be a good point to mention what Ramos looks like. But, that would be too ironic. The joke is that the typical Hispanic Leader Demanding Immigration "Reform" Now is a white person who makes his living off the sheer quantity of Hispanics in the country, and is of course constantly demanding more warm brown bodies to boost his bank account. (I reviewed Ramos's 2004 book about how Latinos were going to elect the next President and noted the huge number of product placement pitches in his constant stories about candidates who lost because they didn't buy enough ads on Univision.)
But jokes are funny, and immigration, diversity, race, and all that are too sacred for irony.
Back too TNR.
It also probably won’t help that the Republicans’ supposed leader on immigration reform, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, has a troubled history with the network regarding a dispute over its coverage of his family, a story detailed in The New Yorker by Ken Auletta.
It isn’t too late for Republicans to learn to better use Univision, and Democrats shouldn’t take their lead for granted. Ramos writes and speaks fondly about George W. Bush, who may have been the only presidential candidate to understand the importance of Spanish-language media, having hired Sonia Colin, a former Univision reporter, to handle his Latino outreach in his 2000 campaign.
Have you ever noticed how Mexican-American regard for George W. Bush as a natural amigo is never framed as reflecting the least bit badly on Mexican-Americans? I'm sure Bush would have won 10 to 1 over Romney in a poll of Latinos of who they'd rather watch Univision's Sabado Gigante with. But that Bush appealed to Mexicans because he seemed like kind of an idiot is always treated as a Good Thing in the context of liberal write-ups on immigration.
... Those in the GOP who think their party’s survival depends on winning the immigration reform debate would do well to pay attention to how their policies play with Ramos, who, like the president, supports a path to full citizenship (the White House’s blueprint proposes legal residency after eight years and possible citizenship five years after that). ...
In an email, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s spokesman Rory Cooper punted on the GOP’s specific plans for reform by reiterating the need for the Presidents’ leadership and, tellingly, referred to a Republican-backed STEM Visa program that would make it easier to keep immigrants with degrees in science and engineering—a proposal that, while good, is mostly unrelated to Latino immigration.
Huh? I thought from the press coverage that all those DREAMers were rocket scientists who are going to enable America to finally go to the Moon.
Why are obviously white people considered "Hispanics"?
ReplyDeleteStrange you would mention C-3PO ... Anthony Daniels / Dalrymple.
ReplyDeleteBack in the day, when I attended the Mexican Legal Studies Program in Mexico City, my confreres were drawn from all over the country. One of my fellow Texans was all about La Raza. Her name was Victoria de la Something or other. She made me look like a campesino. I always got a kick out of that. Her raza wasn't Mexican, it was Castillian. Pale skin, green eyes, blonde hair.
ReplyDeleteViva la Raza!
I think this guy went to UCLA. We educate them too.
ReplyDeleteUnivision is owned by Israeli-American Haim Saban.
ReplyDeleteIn the TV series, 'The Tudors', the role of Catherine of Aragon was played by Maria Doyle Kennedy (yes she speaks fluent Irish).
ReplyDeleteThe actress has very dark features.
Interestingly enough the real Catalina de Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand y Isabella was very light featured.
The world is very confusing.
Would Jose Maria Aznar qualify for affirmative accommodation in America? That whole Black Legend thing, I mean, it must have weighed on his mind lo these many years.
ReplyDelete"If you vote, we will be powerful". That's it in a nutshell, just a sheer grab for power and dominance over others, that's all it's really about. Only whites are befuddled by the abstract ideologies they themselves created, things like 'social justice' and other elaborated homilies. Other groups just have the practical approach of garnering what they can however it's done; morality, ethics play no part except as vehicles for their power grab. It's just coming out more and more now, less disguised than before. High minded principles will have to be abandoned as things just deteriorate into third world style tribal conflict, a four-cornered scrap for possession of the US in which race, class, ethnicity and geographic location will all be major factors. Weakness begets exploitation and attacks; that's an inescapable reality.
ReplyDelete"The world is very confusing" - Anony-mouse
ReplyDeleteRace isn't confusing, just follow the bloodlines. In Mr. Ramos' case, start with Visigothic Spain, then to Castile, with blond conquistadors to the New World, leading us to today's "Hispanic" elite, which, in Jorge's case, is far more Germanic than Amerind.
His nasal index suggests some non-white admixture.
ReplyDeleteRace isn't confusing, just follow the bloodlines. In Mr. Ramos' case, start with Visigothic Spain, then to Castile, with blond conquistadors to the New World, leading us to today's "Hispanic" elite, which, in Jorge's case, is far more Germanic than Amerind.
ReplyDeleteThe Visigoths didn't make much of a genetic impact on Spain:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2010/05/the-genes-in-spain-fall-rather-evenly/
And the conquistadors, like most Spaniards, generally had dark hair.
Massive OT:
ReplyDeleteMormon or Black? The Video
http://youtu.be/BfIehCrO4Zs
Univision, MSNBC for hispanics
ReplyDelete…he says, adding that while Latinos make up nearly 17 percent of the population, they only have 28 members of Congress when they should have at least 75.
ReplyDeleteWhy should they?
Seriously. Why?
Furthermore, if there were, say, 150 Latino congresscritters...would Mr. Ramos opine that there should be 75 fewer?
And the conquistadors, like most Spaniards, generally had dark hair.
ReplyDeleteLet's not forget that probably a third of the Conquistadores were Jewish.
…he says, adding that while Latinos make up nearly 17 percent of the population, they only have 28 members of Congress when they should have at least 75.
No, obviously they SHOULD have zero. It's someone else's country. And having Mexican Congressmen matters only if there is an inherent and ineradicable conflict of interest between Mexicans and Americans.
But at least he's openly conceding that we are right - that there is such a conflict of interest, and immigration takes control of this country away from us.
Wow, he's really handsome in that first picture.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete…he says, adding that while Latinos make up nearly 17 percent of the population, they only have 28 members of Congress when they should have at least 75.
I think there is a brewing black-hispanic conflict here and I am interested to see how this plays out. I expect they will find a way to keep both sides happy at the expense of whites.
"The Visigoths didn't make much of a genetic impact on Spain"
ReplyDeleteThe attached link didn't say anything about this topic. There isn't any way to know this because we don't have a sample of pre-Visigothic Spain to compare modern Spanish with.
The various german groups that settled in spain were not just a few warrior bands, but entire populations that were being forced out of NE europe by huns and other nomadic groups moving west. Spain at the time was partially depopulated due to Roman civil wars, constant drafts of able-bodied males, and taxes so high that they surpressed birth rates.
After the Goths took over Spain, they intermarried with the local elite population, raped much of the non-elite population, and adopted Roman language and culture, and probably had a much higher birth rate than the rest of the population.
The "ez" ending on many Spanish names is from the Visigoths, e.g., Rodriguez = Son of Roderick.
You'll notice that these "ez" ending Spanish names generally have German roots as well. There are not any "Juanez" or "Jesusez" but many Martinez, Fernandez, Gomez (from the Visigothic "Gom"), and Gonzalez (from the Visigothic Gundisalv).
While the Spanish are darker than modern Germans, they are also lighter than Moraccans just to the south, and may have been more even darker before the gothic conquest.
The 1500 years of spanish heat between the gothic conquest and the invention of air conditioning also probably removed some of the skin-cancer-prone pale skin genes from the population, especially in southern spain, while the "darker" gothic genes carried on to modern time.
"If you vote, we will be powerful"
ReplyDeleteUm, SURE... if the votes of your raza support the goals of the ruling class, they will be powerful. So, yeah, vote vote vote Latinos!
White Americans? You can NEVER be powerful ever again! Your votes are pitiful and don't count - especially if you want to cast a xenophobic vote in favor of less immigration - good luck finding a party or candidate, losers!
Okay, he is pretty. If a significant number of Hispanics looked like that, Whiskey would have a point regarding women trying to elect a new group of potential mates by supporting immigration.
ReplyDeleteRamos is not a typical member of the Latin American racial elite, his physiognomy is unusually, indeed spectacularly, Germanic. I mean, the guy looks like a transportation minister or whatever for the state of Lower Saxony. More characteristic are, say, the politicians Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, both Cuban-Americans with little or no Amerindian or African admixture since their Spanish forebears arrived centuries ago. Which is totally unlike the typical Mexican or Guatemalan, the "Hispanics" that the Republicans are supposed to win over with guys like Rubio and Cruz. By now you should all see where this is going, that it's about race, and anyone who doesn't think so is in for a disappointment, to say the least.
ReplyDelete"In A Country For All: An Immigrant Manifesto, one of several English-language books Ramos has written on the subject, he lays out his stance on immigration reform, making it clear that he wouldn’t accept anything short of citizenship—not even permanent legal residency—for the undocumented workers in this country."
ReplyDeleteExcuse me?
This guy certainly has a nerve.
When immigrants move into this country and then start making demands on the host society, I feel nothing but a deep revulsion and a sense of personal insult - as if we have invited invaders, rather than immigrants, into our midst.
"Why are obviously white people considered "Hispanics"?
ReplyDelete@Anon
Obviously "Hispanic" was a way to prevent Mexicans from coming into the country by classifying them as non-white. I am not sure why they just didn't go with "Amerindian"...perhaps it was so that mestizos wouldn't lie about being "white" when they were actually only halfies or less.
As a (White. WHITE. WHIIIIITE!!!) Hispanic I think I can shed some insight into why some people who are obviously white like to identify as Hispanic.
For one, all our media, our education system, politics tell us: Whites are bad. They are inherently evil and mean spirited. More prescient to young people, is the fact that Whites are depicted as uncool, lame, lacking in rhythm, not fun, dorky, losers, uptight, etc.
You are able to truly choose your own identity when you are in your teens. So what do you choose? To be an evil dork? Or someone who is seen as a victim, vibrant, fun, cool, decent, kind, someone who has a grievance, who can openly hate....
The choice is pretty clear. Our media and educational system has done it for us.
Jorge Ramos, is a traitor, but he is a traitor doing it purely out of self interest. He is taking the path that will be most easily rewarded, and the path that makes his ego feel the best.
Another reason is that due to the ethnic division between Latin American countries, most people just identify with their home countries, rather than their race. Ironically, the white elite- and even white proles are very protective of their race- but they never say the white race- they will say "non indian" or their token European ethnicity. My aunt, a blonde Slav, married a mestizo 20 years ago, and she's still getting grief about it. From me. lol.
"anony-mouse said...
ReplyDeleteIn the TV series, 'The Tudors', the role of Catherine of Aragon was played by Maria Doyle Kennedy (yes she speaks fluent Irish).
The actress has very dark features.
Interestingly enough the real Catalina de Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand y Isabella was very light featured.
The world is very confusing.
11/26/12 5:09 PM"
Not at all. Spain was Celtic before the Romans conquered it. The original inhabitants of Ireland and Britain came from Spain. We are genetically indistinguishable and look like co-ethnics.
Also...
Ramos is setting my gaydar off something terrible. Either that boy is a flamer or I'm an englishman.
ZZ: Since I mocked your writing sample in another post, it is incumbent upon me to praise this one. Good stuff, there. I hadn't known about the "ez" endings, and thank you for pointing it out.
ReplyDeleteY'r obd't etc.
How is a super pale, green/blue eyed irish woman with dark hair someone with "Dark features"- she's just a Irish chick w/ black hair.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI think there is a brewing black-hispanic conflict here and I am interested to see how this plays out. I expect they will find a way to keep both sides happy at the expense of whites.
"I think there is a brewing England-Colonies conflict here and I'm interested to see how this plays out." -- Chief Metacomet, 1676.
"A third of the conquistadores were Jews."
ReplyDeleteI have never heard or read of this. And I have read a great deal about the Spanish conquest of the Americas. Sources please?
How is a super pale, green/blue eyed irish woman with dark hair someone with "Dark features"- she's just a Irish chick w/ black hair.
ReplyDeleteIt's "dark" relative to Northern Europeans.
The attached link didn't say anything about this topic. There isn't any way to know this because we don't have a sample of pre-Visigothic Spain to compare modern Spanish with.
ReplyDeleteThe link shows that the incursions into Spain from the Visigoths, Berbers, and Arabs didn't have much of a genetic impact in general.
You don't need samples from pre-Visigothic Spain. You can compare Spain with other European and other populations.
The "ez" ending on many Spanish names is from the Visigoths, e.g., Rodriguez = Son of Roderick.
You'll notice that these "ez" ending Spanish names generally have German roots as well. There are not any "Juanez" or "Jesusez" but many Martinez, Fernandez, Gomez (from the Visigothic "Gom"), and Gonzalez (from the Visigothic Gundisalv).
You'll notice that the Turks speak Turkish despite being mostly Caucasian. The Hungarians call themselves "Huns" and speak Magyar, despite being European. Etc. There are many examples of this sort of thing where culture persists despite genetics not making a huge impact.
Ramos is not a typical member of the Latin American racial elite, his physiognomy is unusually, indeed spectacularly, Germanic. I mean, the guy looks like a transportation minister or whatever for the state of Lower Saxony.
ReplyDeleteHe actually doesn't look "Germanic". He just has light eyes and skin. He looks like a light eyed Southern European.
Actually upon further analysis, I think Ramos does have a bit of indigenous blood. Us white Latins can suss it out like nobody's business.
ReplyDeletehttp://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/US/07/30/immigration.jorge.ramos.interview/t1larg.ramos.closeup.cnn.jpg
It's a bit in the nose and cheekbones. I could be wrong....but I have my doubts now.
It is very intelligent though of the establishment to get behind the face of a white(ish), very attractive, intelligent, articulate man and use him as the face of what actually is a bunch of indian wanna be fruit picker welfare queens.