Prometheus 6

Growing up in the 70s, my working-class neighborhood and my family's social circle were very racially mixed. Yet the multi-racial world around me wasn't reflected in popular culture, which instead was depicted in Black and white. Lacking brown role models and popular figures, my friends and I looked to African-American culture. We weren't white, and we embraced what non-white popular culture was presented to us. Over my lifetime, Latino immigration has become a subject of increasing public discussion, but the distinct issues facing Chicanos still get little public play, and our shared popular culture is still colored in Black and white to a large degree. Even in progressive circles, race relations often are discussed in terms of Black-white-immigrant. Certainly, I have yet to see a nuanced understanding of the multi-dimensional and multi-racial nature of today's US become the common assumption and vision shared by progressives.