Stereotyping Rant

I was thinking about some of the worst Latin American stereotypes, and one that I've run into annoyingly often is that everyone in Latin America speaks Spanish. Why are people so quick to make such a generalization about such a huge area? America is supposed to be the multi-cultural place to be, yet we are often the most narrowminded and discriminatory. Many people don't even realize that Latin America has a native Indian population. I've met individuals who think the entire region is filled only with Mexicans.

I never realized how rampant this problem was until I spoke with a Guatamalan family about how often and badly they are stereotyped. They are almost always called Mexican, and even though their daughter spoke perfect English, she was often assumed to speak only Spanish. I live in the south and am really surprised at how little people know about Latin America and its culture.

Americans (and it seems southerners especially) are the worst about making sweeping generalizations about topics that they know little to nothing about and don't bother learning actual facts. This topic has been bugging me for a couple of weeks, so I feel a little better now getting it out there. I just wish there was some way to get people to learn the facts!