As we all know, Hispanic culture has contributed much to the United States. A quick glance at the artistic, political, and social makeup of the nation confirms that Latinos are prime instigators when it comes to plotting the direction of the country.
Many of our new values have their roots in Latin America. However, there is one concept from the old world that should not be welcome here. Ironically, it is U.S. powerbrokers — people unlikely to be Latino — who are most clamoring for it to gain a foothold in this country.
I’m talking about the encomienda system, which hasn’t formally existed for hundreds of years, but which has never really gone away. Briefly, the encomienda system was set up by the Spanish Conquistadors, who divided Latin America among themselves. An encomienda was a land grant that gave a Spaniard property rights over Indian labor. Basically, the conquistador got a hacienda and indentured servants to make him rich.
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August 31st, 2011 on 6:01 am
[…] But for many Americans, this belief is really just a smokescreen that masks either their self-interest (i.e., they’re rich) or their acquiescence. For those who are not rich, insisting that the wealthy will give everybody jobs, if only we give them more cash to do so, is optimistic thinking at best. At worst, it is a pathetic delusion. It is the mindset of people who have learned their place. They have learned to love the rich. This love is one-sided, of course. We have scientific proof (sort of) that wealthy people are less empathetic, and have no real concern how the rest of us are doing. And we’re not doing so great. In fact, one wonders if we creating our very own version of the encomienda system. […]
June 27th, 2014 on 6:23 am
[…] course, the ironic part of all this remains that the super-rich (few of whom are black or Latino) are the more likely culprits for the vanishing middle […]