Thoughts on Latinidad
So I’ve been ruminating on this whole mess that is Latinidad and all the problematic aspects of umbrella identifiers such as Hispanic, Latinx, and Raza. As a Central American, I find that white people and North American society in general are always collapsing me into the racist Mexican melange of the white imaginary. And unfortunately, all the umbrella terms for Latin Americans simply perpetuate the homogenization process to make us more digestible to whiteness.
At the same time, I have to acknowledge my own privilege. I am on the lighter shade of brown. I LOOK like what a “Latinx” is supposed to look like, and thus I fit neatly into the “Brown-ish” phenotypical paradigm that white supremacy has created for Latin Americans. That’s not the case for Indigenous and Afro-Latinx communities, who get further marginalized because they were never intended to be part of Latinidad. As non-Black, non-indigenous Latinxs, we are complicit in this marginalization of our own people.
Anyway, I’ll get off my soapbox. These are just my thoughts and feelings on the matter. Let’s reflect and talk things through. Let’s not assume and speak for others. We can all speak with our own voices.
Sending my love to y’all! Have a great weekend!