Brad speaks with Dr. Arlene Sanchez-Walsh, author of Latino Pentecostal Identity, about how and why many Latinx Evangelicals have signed on to Trump's brand of Christian nationalism. They discuss the history of Latinx conversion to evangelicalism and Pentecostalism and how such conversions require participation in an American colonial project that demands assimilation. They also discuss the religious-political Latinx leaders who have risen to prominence in the Trump era and sometimes inescapable allure of power and influence that has led many of them into the heart of MAGA Nation.
Latino Pentecostal Identity: http://cup.columbia.edu/book/latino-pentecostal-identity/9780231127332
Pentecostals in America: http://cup.columbia.edu/book/pentecostals-in-america/9780231141833
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Welcome to Straight White American Jesus.
My name is Brad Onishi, faculty at the University of San Francisco.
Our show is hosted in partnership with the Kapp Center at UCSB.
And today I have a wonderful guest who is in some ways a kindred spirit and in ways I've just learned has kind of broken my heart a little bit.
So Arlene Sanchez Walsh, thanks for joining me.
You're not the only person that starts an interview like that, Brett, just so you know.
Many people start with that saying, you're awesome, but I have to tell you, this is really disappointing me.
Here's what's going on is, you know, we met on Twitter and you are a diehard Lakers fan like me.
Generations long.
You're an Angeleno.
So you, you know, from Los Angeles, you went to Cal State LA, which is where my father graduated.
And so I saw the anguish on your Twitter feed regarding the Lakers last year and I felt it.
And then we signed on to do this interview and behind you is a San Francisco Giants Insignia, which is, you know, it's just really hard, especially because Vin Scully just died.
Rest in peace.
The legend, the greatest of all time, Vin Scully.
I've agreed to continue the interview, but, you know, this was an unexpected turn in the story.
I'm not going to lie.
I, you know, I thank you.
I thank you for being gracious enough to continue because otherwise it would be over.
Right.
And I explained already that the Dodgers broke my heart when I was 11.
And it's hard to get over that, but I see your point.
I see your point where I should have been much more tactful, especially on the day of mourning, and I truly mean that.
I do.
I understand, because my husband is upset.
We may have to go to the memorial at Dodger Stadium and just lay some flowers down, just like he went with me with Kobe.
You know, it's like, hey, you're going to me.
We're going to the Staples with Kobe.
That sets it.
Right.
And I don't care how long we have to stand.
We're going to sign the little thing.
So I get it.
I get it.
So thank you again for continuing this interview.
Well, all kidding aside, let me introduce folks to you.
You are the author of the award-winning book, Latino Pentecostal Identity, Evangelical Fate, Self, and Society.
You're somebody who served as a media expert for places like the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and On Being with Krista Tippett, which I know many folks listening will be fans of that show, and currently working on a number of projects.
Related to Latinx communities in the United States, especially as they relate to Pentecostalism.
I know you're actually just beginning to work on the Latinx Latter-day Saint communities, and so that's fascinating, and I hope we can have you back to talk about that.
Today, we've been talking for some time, and I really want to get into a discussion about Latinx evangelicals, Latinx Christians in general, and Christian nationalism.
I pulled up some headlines from the 2020 election.
And it was a time when I think many in the media finally started.
Well, they started in some ways, at least, to notice the kinds of vexing questions surrounding Latinx folks, religious identity, political identity, cultural identities.
So the New York Times had a piece, Latino, Evangelical and Politically Homeless, that kind of made the rounds during the election.
There's a piece from the Daily Beast.
Here's what's behind Trump's surprising Latino support in Arizona.
And you know, talking there about what was going on with various religious communities.
And then Christianity Today talks about Latino evangelicals narrowly favor Trump and the kinds of support that Latino or Latinx evangelicals had for Trump in 2016 or 15 and also 2020.
So I guess the first question would be, About Pentecostalism and charismatic traditions.
And I think that there's a lot of Latinx Christians in this country who are part of those traditions and who are in some ways supporters of Trump, of Maga Nation, of conservative politicians in Arizona or in California.
So what is the brief history there of Latinx people in this country converting to forms of charismatic Christianity?
Latinx folks have been converting to some form of Protestantism since the middle of the 19th century.
Mostly Texas, Borderlands, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterians, your classical mainline groups.
You don't get the growth into the Pentecostal holiness kind of movements until the late 19th, early 20th century.
But you have to think of it this way.
Pentecostals have been sowing.
In that harvest, or whatever that's called.
I'm mixing that metaphor, so don't tell anyone, right?
Since 1906, right?
It's over 100 years.
So there have been conversions to Pentecostalism from Latinx communities along the borderlines, especially on the East Coast as well, but mostly borderlands.
For over a hundred years.
So you have some folks in the Assemblance of God, for example, four or five generations.
So they've already established themselves in these churches, in these denominations, for many, many generations.
So it's kind of like a no-brainer to say, when this new political movement comes along, and I'm not sure, you know this better than I do, that it's so new.
I think it's got different clothes.
Okay.
And so when this new kind of clothing comes along and says, by the way, I have put everything together.
If you follow me, all your dreams will be, uh, you know, the, the skies are open for you.
And I think that's part of it.
Part of it is they Latinx Pentecostals finally see in Trump and in that movement, in the MAGA movement, someone who they can finally kind of slough off.
The piety thing, right?
This is oh, good, you know, because we've been holding on to that for way too long, right?
We know that we live in a sinful, broken world.
So, you know, what's the big deal?
It's just one more step.
It's one more step to the strong man, the man who's going to take us back to what we've been promised for years, for decades.
And he's going to deliver.
So we're just going to hold our nose because he claims to be able to do it because only a guy like that with no scruples can do it.
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