Xenophobia Won't Let You Be Great
Xenophobia is one of the main talking points when it comes to American public discourse. It’s usually spoken by the usual suspects, snatching and grabbing on to the lowest hanging fruit for dear life, and without an ounce of nuance. America, and I mean all of America, will never be great as long as it keeps its racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia… and xenophobia alive.
Xenophobia, just like racism, exists anywhere and everywhere. One is exposed to it constantly. One is perpetuating it at every level and every angle. Xenophobia is one of those acceptable forms of prejudice that is openly practiced even by other marginalized groups.
There was this one time I was ghostwriting a script with a bunch of film school graduates for this Hollywood big shot. His assistant passed me over as soon as he saw my name and heard me speak, but this producer wasn’t really American and possibly saw something in me that his assistant didn’t. Anyway, this man asked us all what we thought of people with accents. Most said that they didn’t think that they were smart. Some even said that people with accents are stupid. I looked around in disbelief. Like, I am right here, fam. The most hysterical thing about that is that I didn’t think much of them either—safe for one young white guy who immediately bonded with me. But this just shows you all the barbaric things (people think are insignificant) we have to endure. This is the only constant in my schooling and my career as well as my advocacy—a leitmotif of an immigrant and those with “foreign” names.
Xenophobia will never let you see genius or expertise from anyone who isn’t from/of your in-group or part of the ruling majority.
Let’s do an exercise right now. I’d like to know how xenophobic you are.
Name ten Latinx intellectuals who aren’t necessarily validated by white America, by white institutions? [Don’t look them up!]
Name ten Latinx artists who aren’t singers and actors.
Name ten Latinx advocates.
Name ten Latinx pundits on TV that aren’t Mexican.
How many of those are Black Latinx?
I’ll wait.
Americans are so knee-deep in absurd stereotypes about “other” people that they couldn’t see the humanity (they say they fight so much for) in others if their lives depended on it. Oh, yes, indeed. We need all hands on deck to make America great. That means not being indifferent to our intellectuals. That means taking into consideration what we say regardless of what white institution gives us its stamp of approval. That also means not penalizing us for doing the right thing.
I see genius and brilliance in every space I enter, no matter the ethnicity, culture, country of origin, education, race, gender, sexuality.... Can you say the same for yourselves?
If you’re reading this, ask yourselves, do you really think I’d be here, writing independently, depending on your contributions for me to share my thoughts with you? Regardless of what you think of me, I can give you an entire list of my accomplishments, what I’ve managed to influence (a lot), privately and publicly (herculean acts, if I may say so myself) and many, many people will either be indifferent or diminish what I’ve done because one, I don’t fit the stereotype of a meek immigrant that navigates the world with the dangerous and self-defeating “respectability” as my guiding compass:
Respectability narratives are generally used in attempts to create a connection between the dominant group and marginalized ones. As Higginbotham writes, Civil Rights marchers “wanted to look clean cut because they wanted people to see them and say, ‘These are the respectable people. Look at these people. They're not even different from us. Their cause is something that we can identify with.’” However, even when they succeed in building a sense of shared values, these narratives do little to address systemic issues: “The problem is...how [the marchers are] dressed should not interfere with their right to vote. The truth of the matter is white people can dress any kind of way and have a right to vote.”
Nah. I refuse. You won’t catch me slipping in the name of respectability and tone-policing:
Tone policing is an oppression tactic—it systemically keeps oppressed people and the issues they raise silenced. So, it’s no surprise that there is long history of racist and misogynist tone policing—women, Black people and especially Black women are no strangers to this phenomenon.
Fine, I’ll list a fraction of my public accomplishments, but don’t fall into the traps of respectability politics and tone policing, fam:
Two, you’re a xenophobe. Plain and simple. That’s it.
It pains people to know that sometimes they aren’t the smartest person in some rooms. [Some of us have a fantastical, almost ethereal grasp of some topics but that doesn’t necessarily make us experts in them]. They experience a cognitive dissonance they won’t allow pass through them. So what do they do? Become violent, go on a gaslighting campaign to get you out and prevent you from entering any other space that might give you some credibility, or worse, funds to keep preaching your gospel no matter how righteous and holy it is.
I know many of you have experienced this. Many of you are deeply and painfully aware of it. Let me tell you that those observations and how you feel about them are true. They are valid. It’s not you. It’s them.
Here’s a recent example of how indifference is weaponized against us:
Dr. Luisa Ossa is one of those Latinx scholars who hasn’t let the asphyxiating elitism of academia prevent her from seeing and publicly sharing my work because I’m not an academic. Best believe there are many of them who shoot themselves in the foot for being indifferent, antagonistic even, with some of us cultural critics who live freely and openly so. We need more academics like her and there are, but we need to change the entire culture to see a material, palpable difference.
I digress. The point here is that she read my piece, remembered it and saw that it answered the very same question that was asked. Lil’ ol’ me being ahead of people? My names are too Spanish for that. What do you think prompted little engagement? Just look at who reacted and the numbers it’s doing. Look at my Twitter and the engagement it gets. I get it, though. People are afraid of being associated with me but at the end of the day, internalized xenophobia is not going to do them any favors. And, as I’ve stated before, many influential people follow me. You wouldn’t believe how high and deep their influence is. They read and act on my stuff. They tell me so. Progress doesn’t always leave digital footprints even though I am hyper-present here. Trust.
Back to the point:
You might’ve won awards and gotten profiled here and there, but at the end of the day, the type of genius we offer this country, this world, is criminally underpaid and inhumanely unappreciated. I can’t and won’t settle for crumbs and white validated folks—that just doesn’t do it for me. I am aware of who I am and what I know and what I can and have contributed. Do I believe I’m a genius? Sometimes, when I’m not dissociating—when lucid. Do others believe I am? I could have a thousand genius awards for every person who has called me brilliant. But see, and this is something I’ve said before, we are only aware of the geniuses white people and institutions have knighted so. Many of them ni por los tobillos nos dan. And, I’m going to brag about that till my last breath.
I see genius in you. I’m not indifferent to it. It’s a reason why I engage all sorts of people, but especially the community where I come from. That unfortunately brings two types of unsavory characters into our timelines: people from the very same communities you advocate for who are unwilling to see and recognize your contributions (because they can’t possibly see themselves be great) and those elitist folks who think that association with the people devalues them and their work. Screw them, but at least the former can plead ignorance. We can sure do without their self-hate.
I see genius in me and you. If others can’t see it it’s because xenophobia (and most likely a bunch of other biases) won’t let them.
For that, they’ll never be great.
A mainstream or indie magazine would usually pay me between $250-$450 for one of my pieces. Since I decided to go solo for the sake of keeping my voice unedited and uncensored, I created this website. Keeping it afloat and these pieces coming is not just time-consuming, but it’s also costly because it angers a lot of those same mainstream papers and magazines (along with their donors) for calling them out—so their favorite retaliation tactic is deplatforming. Especially of unapologetic and unhypocritical Black and Brown voices. Ideally, I’d like to raise between $250-$450 per piece and many of you have actually stepped up to the plate and helped me accomplish that. For that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. If you would like to see more of these and support one of the few unbought indie voices, please contribute:
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César Vargas is an award-winning writer, advocate, strategist, speaker, and social critic with a loyal following and a robust social capital that spans from coast to coast: Editors, journalists, celebrities, activists, artists, executives, politicians, and multiple communities. He was named one of 40 Under 40: Latinos in American Politics by the Huffington Post. He’s written about internal and external community affairs to several news outlets and quoted in others: The Huffington Post, NBC, Fox News, Voxxi, Okayafrica, Okayplayer, Sky News, Salon, The Guardian, Latino Magazine, Vibe, The Hill, BET, and his own online magazine—which has a fan base of over 25,000 people and has reached over a million—UPLIFTT. He’s familiar with having a voice that informs, invigorates, and inspires people—creating content that usually goes viral. He recently won two awards from Fusion and the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts for his films Some Kind of Spanish and Black Latina Unapologetically. He attained a degree in Films Studies from Queens College, CUNY. He is currently raising and distributing funds for Haitians in Sosúa.
