October 24, 2003

The Complex Dynamics of Identity Politics

To the Editor:

It was with pleasure and a bit of puzzlement that I saw Richard Rodriguez's "'Blaxicans' and Other Reinvented Americans" (The Review, September 12). The pleasure stems from the fact that Rodriguez touches on many of the ideas developed in my book Living in Spanglish: The Search for Latino Identity in America (St. Martin's, 2002). The puzzlement results from several of the disingenuous points he makes. ...

He wrongly insists that Richard Nixon's administration