Perception Assignment #2--The Uneducated Latino Perception 

Far too many times, I have been troubled with the perception that Latino's are uneducated. And, if someone from this culture shows that he or she is educated, there seems to be shock or amazement. Pictured to the left is a friend a mine, Javier Fernandez-Han. He is a young inventor, at the age of 17. To me, I wasn't surprised. I thought, 'Of course he's an inventor. He has always been brilliant.' Yet, people are making memes of him, shocked that he could do such a thing in his position. Just because he's in a minority group doesn't mean it merits shock with a meme tagged along with it. Even though Javier's example was not extreme (in fact, I might have looked to closely into the situation), it's a continuing theme of what I see in the media--that we just expect this minority group to be uneducated, but when they're not it's shocking. (The meme isn't given, but was only stated in the article to have been made.) 

Hummer can be dangerous--it makes offensive messages seem okay. To some, this meme (pictured on the right) may seem funny and half-truthful. Yet, it perpetuates false assumptions of the Latin community. This encourages a negative assumption about this minority group. Seeing this image makes you think less of their capacity to learn. 

Recent news on the media also encourages this type of thought. One article gave description of Trump's speech: ""I love the poorly educated!" Trump enthused. There was one group Trump was most pleased to count among his legion of supporters, though. "You know what I really am happy about?" he asked the crowd. "Forty-six percent were the Hispanics . . ." We cannot continue to perpetuate this idea. The educated and uneducated alike exist within each culture. People like Javier should not be labeled as the "Latino inventor" and them be made into a meme. We are all equal and have the same opportunities of gaining education. This is the message I gathered after analyzing the issue of labeling Latinos as uneducated.