Racism Within A Biblical/Theological Framework: Americans of Central and South American Descent

Racism Within A Biblical/Theological Framework: Americans of Central and South American Descent

In this essay, we will focus on Latinos/as who have come to the U.S.A. from the strip of land known as Central America and from the South American continent.  We will discover that there is a similar pattern with Latinos/as who have migrated here for economic and political reasons.

Himilce Novas informs and reminds us in her book, Everything You Need to Know About Latino History:

Latinos with roots in Central America include Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Nicaraguans, Hondurans, Panamanians, and Costa Ricans.  While Central Americans began entering the United States in small numbers, as early as the nineteenth century, immigration from Central America to the United States did not reach significant high levels until the late twentieth century, and so Latinos with roots in Central America are truly newcomers.  They are such newcomers that in 2000, 34.5 percent of the foreign-born population in the United States was from Central America, according to the March 2000 Census Bureau Data.  Scourges of every kind-from military dictatorships, right-wing death squads, and guerilla insurgencies to grinding poverty and hunger-are what triggered the movement north of peoples from most Spanish-speaking Central American countries.  In the 1990´s, with democracy in place in some Central American countries, economic chaos was the primary factor motivating Central Americans to head north to the United States.  Economic upheaval continues to drive Central American immigration to this day (Novas, p. 241).

We may want to stop here for a moment and ask if our brothers and sisters from Central America should be ¨grateful¨ for the opportunity to better their economic and social conditions, and also, to live free from the fear of death squads?  The answer of this writer would be a resounding ¨no!¨  While economic conditions and corrupt politics were present in their countries, driving them to come here,  we should never overlook the fact that those economic conditions were generated, in part, by our foreign economic policies.  Our market economy (capitalism) has penetrated these countries and wreaked havoc on the populations of Central America.  Furthermore, we have provided military and economic support (as we shall see in subsequent essays) to many of the dictatorships in Central and South America, which in turn, deny their citizens the same democratic rights that we have here in the U.S.A.

A significant percentage of the Central American population in the United States has relatively low levels of educational attainment.  Among the foreign born aged twenty-five or older, only 44.3 percent have at least a high school diploma, according to Census 2000 Data.  The high school graduation rate is is lowest among those born in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, and highest among those born in Costa Rica and Panama.  As a consequence, the overwhelming majority of Central Americans are employed in low-paying jobs, and a good number live in poverty (Novas, p. 241).

Before moving on to discuss the issue of Latinos from Spanish-speaking South American countries, I stop here momentarily to raise the following questions:

1. Since race-based discrimination and injustice are the central themes of this and of previous essays, what, if any, is the relevance of discrimination based on country of origin and social class relative to the people who have come here from Central America?  Is it the same as race-based discrimination and injustice?

2.  Is there, in your opinion, a Christian theological response relative to the socio-economic conditions of Latinos of Central American background who are living in the U.S.A?

3.  What is the role of the Church relative to the socio-economic conditions of our sisters and brothers of Central America living in the U.S.A.?

4.  In your opinion, does a ¨Heaven-bound¨ Gospel message have anything to say to our sisters and brothers from Central America living in such deplorable and inhumane conditions in the U.S.A?

Your response to the above questions will help us establish the basis for a healthy dialogue on this issue.

Please feel free to share your opinions, perspectives, and views on this subject.

In the Name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Redeemer. Amen.

Dr. Juan A. Carmona