A "Coconut" Tale

Since When Is a Success Story a "White" Thing?

When my husband Blas and I started dating in high school, I remember telling a Hispanic friend of my new-found affection for my then-boyfriend, about whom he opined, "He's a coconut." Upon my asking for clarification as to this never-heard-before term, the friend quipped, "You know; brown on the outside, but white on the inside." I drew Blas's ire when I recounted the conversation to him.

My husband was the oldest son of a hard-working migrant worker. Having grown up in poverty and having worked the fields as young as eight, Blas decided by the time he reached junior high school that he would strive for economic success, which meant very hard work, and ultimately, a college education. Driven by ambition, he folded papers at 5:00 a.m. most mornings for a paper route at the age of eleven, stocked grocery shelves at thirteen, flipped burgers at fifteen, and continued being employed through high school while maintaining good grades, playing sports, and participating in the marching band. While in college, he often held several jobs simultaneously, then graduated with honors, and eventually earned an MBA. Blas is an American success story.

Considering Blas's ambition and the simultaneous embrace of his Hispanic culture, I found it curious that my high-school friend would indict him as a "coconut." After our marriage, I discussed with a Hispanic family member the plans I had for our young sons' education. To my surprise the family member asked, "Are you going to raise them white, or will they even know they have a Mexican heritage?" I asked, "What comprises a Mexican heritage, exactly?" Silently I wondered, "Why is planning for my sons' success, which would include college, necessarily a white thing?" Many people's opinion of how to be a successful minority is that one must "sell out" his own culture and embrace "whiteness" in whatever form that might take.

Sadly, in the era of raging multiculturalism, pejorative labels like "coconut" are not limited to Hispanic communities but find a very comfortable home among black Americans as well. Countless times we have witnessed remarkable black men and women being branded as "Uncle Toms" or "Oreos" rather than celebrated. What is there not to appreciate about such exemplars, who, having pulled themselves up from the dregs of poverty through dogged determination and brilliance, went on to achieve objective greatness? But instead, people such as Supreme Court Justice ­Clarence Thomas, economist Thomas Sowell, neurosurgeon Ben Carson, and businessman Herman Cain are branded as "sell-outs" to the dominant "white" culture. Attorney and documentary filmmaker Larry Elder addresses the impact of these poisonous designations and the dogma driving them in his recently released movie Uncle Tom.

The pressure on minorities to embrace elements of their culture that are not conducive to economic or familial success is exacerbated by these pejoratives. Because the religion of multi­culturalism preaches that all cultures are equally valid, these harmful elements are consequently sacrosanct against any efforts to change them. Thomas Sowell, in his book Intellectuals and Society (2010), tells us that these dogmas "simply complete the sealing off of a vision from facts—and sealing off many people in lagging groups from the advances available from other cultures around them, leaving nothing but an agenda of resentment-building. . . ."

Objectively, not all cultures are equal in their ability to foster familial or economic success. In the United States, economic success is formulaic: acquire a skill set through training, work experience, or a valued college education, save, and invest. This formula is not a "white" cultural construct, but rather an American one, and one that should be embraced by all who seek economic freedom.

—This article has been adapted from a Salvo blog (salvomag.com/posts) posted on July 8, 2020.