KVEA-TV Ethnic Dispute

I regret that station employees and Mexican-American organizations are protesting what they perceive to be biased hiring practices at KVEA-TV Channel 52 (Victor Valle’s series of articles).

It is true that the majority of Hispanics in Los Angeles are of Mexican descent. But it is amazing how we cease to be all Hispanics when Mexican-Americans start losing their monopoly over the term.

Having been raised in Los Angeles, I’ve grown up with Cinco de Mayo celebrations, Mexican Independence Day parades and other “Hispanic” celebrations that have exclusively celebrated Mexican culture.

There are 20 different countries that make up Latin America. And 20 different cultures. I think KVEA has done a superior job of providing programs that touch the ground shared by all Hispanic-Americans. This is evident in the popularity of KVEA with the Spanish-speaking public.

Ethnocentrism is a completely natural human tendency. But those Mexican-American organizations that have spent so much energy protesting the dominance of Anglo culture in Los Angeles would do well to recognize the tendency in themselves and not interchange the labels of Hispanic and Mexican-American.

MARIA ELENA GIL

Huntington Beach