Zeki Doğukan Bayram

3102160022

Hispanic or Latino Americans are mostly descendents of Spanish explorers who spread
their cultural values over the Americas, and these descendents are considered to have
ancestral roots from United States of America, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominican
Republic, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Colombia. Hispanics aren’t usually considered
a race since they derive from many different races, they’re considered as an ethnicity.
After settling and going through many different conflicts on the sides of many different
forces, they are one of the cultures which created the foundation of the United States, and
this is another way of saying that they have always been there, from the beginning. Their
culture is one of the most oppressed cultures by the whites from racism to cultural
exclusion from many different aspects such as politics, media outlets, TV, cinema and it
has been visible for a long time, including today’s America. Their oppression mindset
mainly comes from the main identity of white American allegedly being the most
preferred in anywhere people want to see, people who represent trust, integrity, a range of
character trait diversity, being the ideal man, ideal father, ideal protector of the society
even in the superhero franchises such as Captain America, who is supposedly the
protector of the country and a representation of a multicultural society, the best option to
rely on, and who is a generic white-man with heavily outdated beliefs and values.
Amongst other races and ethnicities, Hispanic’s invisibility throughout the American
history is one of the most significant one in regards to the fact that they are the most
crowded ethnic Americans as they represent 18.5 percent of the total population.
Alongside this invisibility, there are other discriminating matters such as cultural
appropriation, stereotypes that can be seen in almost every corner of the American
culture, discrimination against migrants, policies against Hispanic immigration, many
loathsome derogatory words and phrases against Hispanic community and so on.
Surviving, let alone living a decent life or being a reputable and respected member of the
society under these circumstances is quite challenging, and the ones who made their
dreams possible, as rare as they are, are seen as jewels of their society, becoming an
inspiring example for the younger generations, role models for children to look up to, and
a symbol of hope for change.

Rita Moreno is an actress, dancer and singer who’s from Puerto Rico and is one of the
examples of Hispanic community who has faced many different hardships throughout her
career and who is fortunate enough to reach to the success that is well-deserved for many
different people who’re amongst the ethnic communities despite all the aforementioned
obstacles that they need to conquer. She has a vast list of works that she performed from
the 50’s to recently, and due to this fact she is one of the most experienced people who
has seen the extent of discrimination within TV industry. It starts with her name, because
of original one which is Rosa Dolores Alverío Marcano was hard to pronounce, and her
pseudonym ‘Rosita’ sounded ‘too Italian’, Hollywood directors decided to call her Rita
when she was 13 years old. When her career began, she’s played roles that represent
many different ethnicities such as Native-American, Egyptian, Hawaiian, Filipino and
she states that the reason for this was the directors didn’t know what to do with a Latina
girl. She caught success and popularity with West Side Story, but the process of making
of the film wasn’t innocent. During the filming, the makeup artists applied a dark tone to
her face in an effort to make her look more ethnic as a Puerto Rican. She also tried to
explain the fact that Puerto Ricans come with a variety of colors from black to white, but
her input was dismissed because the director of the movie required more ‘contrast’. This
explanation wasn’t enough for her and she states that she felt very demeaned by her
character Anita’s looks and accent, even though she loved acting as her since she’s a
strong ethnic woman that later became a role model and inspired Moreno to be like her in
the future. These can be considered as an example of exclusion and evidence of the lack
of Hispanic identity in Hollywood movies. Nonetheless, she won an Oscar for her
performance and she was in a state of disbelief when it was announced because it was a
musical, and was as rare as unprecedented. She states the delight of being supported by
her community, right after she learned how people who live in Spanish Harlem reacted to
her success, celebrating and cheering that she had done it, by bursting into tears and
realizing she had people with the common roots, she had her people. Genuinely
forgetting her roots signifies the magnitude of what she’s been through, almost losing the
identity that she had by getting caught of the alienating vortex white suppression.
As a result of these eye-opening event, knowing that she represents her community, she
took an early stand against stereotyping which can be considered as a bold act according
to those times, and rejected many roles cause she didn’t want to be ‘the house ethnic’.
She states that the offers that had nothing to do with being Hispanic, or a Hispanic with
dignity. This resulted her taking a break from movies and pausing her career as an actress
for seven years. By doing this, she had to face the hardships of her pre-famous life by
taking part of small roles, she didn’t have the opportunity to play a character that’s not
demeaning to her ancestral roots. She underlines her disappointment of not being
understood, and admits that things haven’t changed since that time, that Hispanic’s are
still stereotypically represented in the show business, or not represented at all. After the
depression of her career, she took different acting jobs and day by day, proved her merit
as an actress and took parts that she wanted to act. She’s been incredibly successful by
winning two Emmy’s, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony, reaching the status of EGOT,
joining the ranks of only 15 people that has ever reached to the honor. By reaching to this
level of success, she put the earlier prejudicial directors and executives to shame, proving
the world that it is reasonable to see beyond race, color, and ethnicity. Finally, she
decided to join to the crew of West Side Story, by taking the role of Valentina, and being
and executive producer of a remake which is going to be directed by Steven Spielberg.
The prospect of repercussion against the original work, adapting it into a non-divisive
artwork is exhilarating, and the effect of Moreno as an executive will surely be felt, given
the fact that she has experienced so much, and has many things to contribute.

As a conclusion, Moreno is one amongst many, amongst diminished people who did not,
does not, and will not have the opportunity to prove themselves as individuals, rather than
labeled personas of their ethnicity. Her example has become something to follow, even
though there still are many impediments for a Hispanic to thrive under the circumstances
which include racism and discrimination.