Perception #2 - Hispanics - Marinda Risk

Hispanic culture and Spanish as a language has always had a special place in my family, although we are just about as white as can be and neither of my parents served Spanish speaking missions. Growing up, my dad was always in and out of our local Spanish branch Bishopric since he taught himself Spanish (he had no background in it initially) because he saw that the branch needed support and he realized how wonderful the people in the branch were. I attended various parties, gatherings, and even the branch with him throughout my childhood and into adulthood. We often read the scriptures in Spanish when I was growing up and would translate them into English because my father wanted us to be proficient with Spanish and have a working knowledge of it.

I observed during those early years (and still today) the hard-working, positive, friendly, service-oriented attitudes of those Hispanic saints back in my hometown of rural Virginia.  Honestly, not everyone in that branch is even legally here, so they get what jobs they possibly can - in the turkey plants, apple orchards, janitorial positions, and other jobs that many people consider beneath them. Even considering this, these people were always very happy, excited and grateful for the time we'd spend visiting with them or attending their parties. 

I personally have a very positive view of all the Hispanics I know, and my family continues to find all possible ways to serve them as possible since my dad has a very soft place in his heart for them. I find that I, too, want to improve my Spanish (I lost a lot of it when I served a Taglog speaking mission) and I always try to view Latinos as some of the best people I know, because very often they are. Of course, there's reasons behind every stereotype, but I've found that a lot of the Latinos I've met have been some of the very best people I know.

Story #1 - The "cholo" or gangster

https://www.policeone.com/gangs/articles/121253-Understanding-East-Coast-Mexican-gangs-Part-2/

Obviously this picture is a parody with Edward Cullen hanging out in the back, but the attitude of Hispanic men being gangsters is a common one. The connotations with drug trafficking and other unsavory practices is also commonly upheld.

Story #2 - Illegal Immigrants

http://www.ibtimes.com/immigration-reform-2015-illegal-mexican-border-crossings-down-nationwide-study-finds-2019586

The assumption that all Hispanics are illegal immigrants who are determined to bring as many drugs as they can over the border is a pretty crazy one. Although yes, some of them are, it's more and more prevalent to just assume they all are, especially if they don't speak good English, and a whole lot of them have the proper documentation like visas to be here.

Story #3 - Lazy

http://www.cvindependent.com/index.php/en-US/opinion/ask-a-mexican/item/617-ask-a-mexican-what-happened-to-the-lazy-mexican-stereotype

While growing up, there were definitely people who labeled Hispanics as simply mooching off the system and living off government programs while not working or hardly working. Of course this may be true in some cases, but in reality they often are some of the hardest working people who hold multiple jobs that are sometimes ones that other people wouldn't even dream of doing.

Story #4 - All Hispanics come from "bad backgrounds"

http://thoughtcatalog.com/analda-muy/2012/06/overcoming-the-hispanic-stereotype/

One typical stereotype is that if someone speaks Spanish and looks Hispanic, then they must come from a bad background - possibly a single mother, living in poor communities, having had poor education, perhaps not traditionally intelligent. This is a difficult stereotype because many Hispanics are very successful in school and come from stable family backgrounds.