For the past year, I’ve been consumed by the question above. Like many others, I believed the Latinx category was a racial designation. However, I now realize that treating Latinx as a racial category harmfully excludes the Indigenous and Black populations who also comprise the Latinx identity.
I came to an understanding that the Latinx category evades race after taking a few Sociology and Spanish-language classes at Skidmore. In one class, my professor assigned an ethnography[1] that focused on how women with ethnic ties to Latin America navigated their relationships to sex, sexuality, and their sexual safety. This ethnography also focused on the cultural differences between how Mexican and Puerto Rican parents responded to their daughters’ sexuality. The only demographic information the researcher presents to readers are the interviewees’ country of ethnic origin, their age, and sexual orientation. The researcher never includes their race. I was quite puzzled by this and asked my professor why race is never mentioned; I never received an answer. From then, I began looking into the Latinx category and realized that race is obscured in many of the classes I take and discussions I listen to, creating an enormous misconception that the term Latinx is homogenous.
To help navigate my understanding of what it means to be Latinx, I sent an email to a few professors asking them the following question: “when we say that Latinx populations are people of color, who specifically are we referring to? Blacks, Indigenous, whites, mixed, (+)?”
This question was prompted by the fact that in some studies about Latinx people, race is often obscured. This erasure of race and racism in Latin America puzzles me because people are led to automatically assume that all Latin Americans are people of color—however, this is incorrect. The term Latinx refers to people who are culturally connected to countries within Latin America, a region where one can find Black, Indigenous, and Asian people. Throughout Latin America you can also find white people. Yep, I said it, and it is something that is often swept under the rug. It is as if people from both Latin America and the U.S. want to avoid the reality— that white Latinx people exist. And before you ask, no, being Latinx does not make white Latinxs people of color; it simply makes them white people who possess ethnic ties to Latin America.
While some researchers (Caldwell 2007; Hooker 2007; Telles and Paschel 2014) do acknowledge the existence of white people in Latin America, they primarily associate this existence to Brazil, and less as it pertains to Spanish-speaking countries. In addition, surveys often treat the Latinx category as a race. On job applications, people are asked to select their race OR if they are from Latin America. Here is an example of NPR’s demographic survey for its internship application.
The first question asks people to select their gender and the next asks about their ethnic origin, with specific regard for Latin America. I select “Not Hispanic/Latino” and a question regarding race proceeds. Now, look at the form when I select that yes, I am of “Hispanic/Latino” ethnic origin.
I am not asked to identify my race anymore. Instead, I can proceed to the next question on Veteran Status. I highlight this example because although the form acknowledges that the term Latinx refers to a region and ethnic origin[2], it still treats it as a racial group.
White People as the Norm for Representation
I already highlighted that considering Latinx to be a racial category obscures the existence of white people in the region; it also obscures the white supremacy and racism that permeates the region, rendering whiteness and white people a powerful dominant identity. When one imagines what someone from Latin America resembles, what skin tone, hair texture, eyes, and hair color come to mind? Does this imaginary person look like J-Lo, Sofia Vergara, or Selena Gomez? What about Gina Torres, Carolina Contreras, Janel Martinez, or Rosario Dawson? Or should we categorize and separate the latter names as Afro-Latinas? Hmm…something’s fishy… Why not bring the same energy for the first set of names, all of whom are white and culturally Latine? If this same example was done with Indigenous actresses, one would see a common theme: the non-racialization of white Latinx people and the separation of Afro and Indigenous people from the Latinx category. So, what then, does it truly mean to be Latinx?
In the entertainment industry, white people or white adjacent (a.k.a. socially white)[3] Latinx people are the norm. Latin American shows are overwhelmingly filled with white actors, except for the few Indigenous and Black actors cast as the help, drug lords, slaves, or “savages” during colonial times. In the U.S. entertainment industry, this Eurocentric representation prevails. While Mexico brings you La Doña and La Casa de Flores, the U.S. includes white Latinx people as main characters on I Love Lucy, Modern Family, LA’s Finest, Grown-ish, and One Day at a Time. The entertainment industry seems to encourage white Latin Americans to take roles that are supposedly for people of color, and rarely do we question it.
Consider Rosalia, a white Spanish artist that fuses flamenco, trap, and reggaeton genres in her music, and the heat she received from winning the Latin Grammy Awards for album of the year. Rosalia’s winnings sparked controversy because of her Spanish ethnicity, her non-ties to Latinidad, and, as some added, because she is white (Butler 2019). The question is: would Rosalia receive the same criticism if her ethnicity lied with Latin America. Would people question her whiteness, or would she simply be able to tap into the brown identity?
Who is Brown?
Brown is another problematic term; it appears to be indicating mixed-racedness and lighter skin, as well as reinforces a common misconception that everyone in Latin America is mestizo (mixed-raced). Using terms like Brown is problematic in that it privileges racial ambiguity and light-skinnedness (a feature of colorism); it also leaves spaces for the Rachel Dolezals and Jessica Krugs— undeniably white women—to lie about their racial identity by tapping into Brown racial ambiguity.
Prime examples of white Latinx people assuming the Brown (person of color) identity are Gina Rodriguez, Eva Longoria, and Lisa Vidal[4]. Not only do these white Latina women assume a POC identity, they also divide Black and racially marginalized people from Latin America. In 2020, after Kamala Harris and Joe Biden won the presidential election and voter data showed Black women as the main driving force behind their victory, Eva Longoria decided to take the credit for herself: “The women of color showed up in big ways. Of course, you saw in Georgia what Black women have done[,] but Latina women were the real heroines here…” (Chavez 2020). Longoria’s side-step acknowledgement of Black women’s accomplishment in the 2020 election created tensions that were uncalled for as well as silenced the labor of Black women.
Longoria later issued an apology on her Twitter, stating, “Latinas (many who identify as Afro-Latina) …and other women of color are standing with [Black women] so that we can grow our collective voice and power.” In light of the Longoria drama, my initial question, “what does it mean to be Latinx,” resurfaces and underlines the previously described pattern: the separation of Blackness from the Latinx category and the non-racialization of white Latinx people. Furthermore, Longoria’s refusal to acknowledge the existence of white Latinas in addition to Afro-Latinas allows her to assume Brownness and pass into the “we” category of people of color. Thus, passing as a brown Latina, she is not questioned on her white phenotypic identity.
The term Brown, coupled with the mestizo ideology, also erases Indigeneity. While Black undeniably means of African descent, I cannot put my finger on what Brown represents. In discussions of U.S. race relations, many often say “Black and Brown people are oppressed,” yet they rarely go into details about which Brown people they are referring to: South Asians? Indigenous? People who are mixed-race? Even less do we discuss the various ways white systems of dominance are oppressing these groups differently. The term Brown is too conflated, and it makes highlighting differences between groups difficult. Furthermore, how can societies center, uplift, and empower the most marginalized when they treat Indigenous people of the Americas as invisible, forgotten, and unimportant? By not highlighting racial differences, more harm than good is being done.
Indigeneity and Blackness are often only mentioned when convenient. For Lisa Vidal and Gina Rodriguez, this means claiming ancestral ties to Indigenous and Black people to avoid taking responsibility for their racist actions. In a Zoom call where a dark-skinned Black Latina called for representation and affirmation, Vidal used her white privilege to loudly silence the woman and invalidate her experiences. In this confrontation, Vidal suggests that the Afro-Latina was separating rather than uniting the Latinx communities. She justified her statements by proclaiming, “I am everything” (Milan 2020), referring to the supposedly many different races that comprise her identity. A similar stance was taken by Gina Rodriguez after receiving black-lash when she rudely silenced Yara Shahidi. She too claimed that she is “everything” and further deflected claims of being racist by stating that being labeled “anti-Black is like saying I’m anti-family… Puerto Ricans are African, Taino, and Spaniard” (Bossip Staff 2019). Despite their claims of Black and Indigenous roots, the disheartening reality is that both Vidal and Rodriguez fail to uplift Black and Indigenous communities. Furthermore, these two white Latina women deny the ways in which their whiteness contributed to their successful careers.
Why is Racializing White Latinx People Important?
[R]ace is something only applied to non-white peoples, [and] as long as white people are not racially seen and named, they…function as a human norm…The point of seeing the racing of whites is to dislodge them… from the position of power… by undercutting the authority with which they… speak and act in the world” (Dyer 2005: 10).
It is clear that our community is not doing an adequate job of racializing white people. Despite Skidmore’s employment of a few Black professors on campus, adequate representation is still lacking for both Black and Indigenous scholars. Take the languages department for example: how many Black professors are represented there? Given that my article specifically focuses on Latin America, how many Spanish professors are Black or Indigenous? Are you seriously telling me Skidmore could not find at least four[5] Black and Indigenous professor(s) to teach the Spanish language?[6] By refusing to hire Black and Indigenous professors, Skidmore reinforces the white supremacist notion that Black and Indigenous presence and knowledge do not matter. Having its employees represent the current demographic makeup of the U.S. race population does nothing to disrupt the status quo. Instead, Skidmore reinforces white supremacy by awarding white people with the majority of the job opportunities while leaving Black and Indigenous professors out in the cold (National Center for Educational Statistics 2019). Black and Indigenous professors exist and the funding to hire them has always been available— it was available when Skidmore decided to hire white Spanish speakers from Latin America and white Spanish speakers from the North, ones whose cultural ties do not lie in the ethnic region they study. By allowing white and white Latinx professors to be the sole representations of Latin America, Skidmore centers whiteness and erases Blackness and Indigeneity in the process.
Given that white people are the norm, their problems become ours, ours in turn are never understood, and so they are ignored. If we continue to homogenize people from Latin America, we ignore the differences in which various communities within the Latinx category are attacked and preyed upon by white people. Immigration and customs enforcement officers administer violence to certain members of the Latinx community. Certain phenotypic qualities make ICE more accustomed to check legal documentation and detain some members of the Latinx community over others. Certain phenotypic characteristics make some Latinxs more susceptible to labor trafficking and extorted to the fullest degree. Of course, this also means that certain phenotypes exempt some Latinx people from ever experiencing these situations, whether big or small. Thus, to get to the root of the problem and center the most marginalized, researchers and institutions (like Skidmore) need to highlight race within Latin America, and this includes racializing whites.
As members of the Skidmore community, we need to see and call out white people and whiteness. Doing so forces faculty and staff to be a part of the conversation on racial inequality, rather than allowing them to deflect, take a raincheck, and never address it. Professors should also do the work of reflecting and asking the following questions: Am I taking up too much space? Was I hired because I am white? How many Black and Indigenous scholars could benefit from this opportunity? How can I use my white privilege to aid Black and Indigenous professors and scholars to be included in my school’s community? For Latinx professors who check the box “other,” doing the work means reevaluating what this category means and assessing whether this is a genuine lack of knowledge or a power play to deny your white identity and your privilege. Doing the work also entails taking strides to figure out and specifically define your race. Remember, while your racial ambiguity allows you to claim whatever racial category you deem fit, some people do not have the luxury of conveniently passing as Brown because they are phenotypically categorized as Black and Indigenous by society.
Ending racism is a community effort; thus, in addition to professors and staff, students must also reflect and address the questions above. Change cannot occur within our community if we (Skidmore staff, faculty, and students) continue to refuse to racialize white people. Thus, the time for change is now.
Sources
Bossip Staff. 2019. “Why Lie?! Gina Rodriguez Reimagined Her Dad’s Melanin to Refute Anti-Black Criticism & Got Dragged to A Dumpster.” Bossip. Accessed April 12th, 2021 at https://bossip.com/1695394/why-lie-gina-rodriguez-reimagined-her-dads-melanin-to-refute-anti-black-criticism-got-dragged-to-a-dumpster/
Butler, Bethonie. 2019. “Does Rosalía’s Music Belong at the Latin Grammys? It’s Complicated.” The Washington Post. Accessed April 12th, 2021 at (Latin Grammys 2019: Does Rosalía music belong at the Latin Grammys? It’s complicated. - The Washington Post)
Caldwell, Kia Lilly. 2007. “Women in and out of Place: Engendering Brazil’s Racial Democracy” in Negras In Brazil: Re-Envisioning Black Women, Citizenship, and the Politics of Identity. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press.
Chavez, Nicole. 2020. “Eva Longoria apologizes and clarifies why she said Latinas were the ‘real heroines’ of the election.” CNN Entertainment. Accessed April 12th, 2021 at https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/09/entertainment/eva-longoria-black-women-voters-apology-trnd/index.html
Dyer, Richard. 2005. “The Matter of Whiteness.” Pp. 9-14 in White Privilege: Essential Readings on the Other Side of Racism, edited by Paula Rothenberg. New York, NY: Worth Publishers.
Fowler, Yara Rodrigues. 2020. “White Latinos.” London Review of Books. Accessed April 12th, 2021 at https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2020/november/white-latinos
Hooker, Juliet. 2005. “Indigenous Inclusion/Black Exclusion: Race, Ethnicity and Multicultural Citizenship in Latin America.” Journal of Latin American Studies 37(2): 285–310.
National Center for Educational Statistics. 2019. Full-time Staff by Race/Ethnicity and Occupational Category. (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x2hoafGGbf3cysHP3vK2MJaV_xW8j2C0/view)
Milan, Paris. 2020. “Jlo Says ‘I’m a Blk Girl from the Bronx’ 5 Non Blk LATHEENAS Who NOW Identify as Blk| Maluma Pa Ti.” YouTube. Accessed April 12th, 2021 at https://youtu.be/sMh1A5y1Hgs Clip (9:07 to 11:50 min)
Murray, Christine. 2020. “‘It’s time to raise our voice’ - Mexican actors condemn racism in entertainment.” Reuters. Accessed April 12th, 2021 at https://www.reuters.com/article/us-minneapolis-police-mexico-racism-trfn/its-time-to-raise-our-voice-mexican-actors-condemn-racism-in-entertainment-idUSKBN23I3DW
Telles, Edward and Paschel, Tianna. 2014. “Who is Black, White or Mixed Race? How Skin Color, Status, and Nation Shape Racial Classification in Latin America.” The American Journal Of Sociology. 120(3): 864–907.
Endnotes
[1] An ethnography is a field of study in which researchers observe, interact, and interview people in their own setting for a prolonged period. The ethnography mentioned is: Garcia, Lorena. 2012. Respect Yourself, Protect Yourself: Latina Girls and Sexual Identity. New York, NY: New York University Press.
[2] Although Asian and African are also ethnic categories, these are separate from Latin America in that the two refer to non-white, precolonial groups of people.
[3] One may hear this term refer to racially marginalized people who possess a lighter complexion in skin tone and can be confused with white people. One may also see this term used if one person cannot figure out the race of another individual, and, in an attempt to not mis-race them, use “socially” white. Can also be seen as avoidant, especially if scholars refuse to call out and racialize white people.
[4] Passing, black/indigenous face/fishing is quite easy. Tan a little and one can assume any identity.
[5] Notice my refusal to say one. This forces Skidmore to surpass the bare minimum as well as represent both Black and Indigenous scholars instead of choosing one or the other.
[6] The continent of Africa alone houses more languages than one can count, and in this region exists the languages of the colonizers, languages that, through force, the colonized possess as well.