CRE 151 Who you calling Latinx

 

CRE 151 Who you calling Latinx

1.      PEW research less than 25 percent of people whom term claims to name have even heard of it…just 3% of these people use the term

2.      Latinx recent chapter in saga to label population that the people it applies to push back

3.      These groups have variously been labeled Hispanics, Latinos, and now Latinx -reflects twenty percent of U.S. population or 60 million

4.      39% say they have a lot in common with one another

5.      15% say they share only a little

6.      5% say they share almost nothing

7.      Fifteen years of polling data of Pew shows that most prefer collective names such as

a.      Mexicans (or Mexican Americans, or Chicanos), Puerto Ricans (or Boricuas), Cubans, Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Columbians, or any of the other nationalities of descent

b.      More people choose to identify as indigenous or as Black

c.      Some do not like the race categories. Preferring Border lander or mestizo -part indigenous, part European

d.      A Dominican might mark Hispanic/Latino and marks other rather for race

        i.      she’d like to mark herself Black and Taino –(which is a native American group_

  ii.      many look at Puerto Ricans as white, but many Puerto Ricans do not identify as white..as they do not want to identify with the hierarchies of a white-supremacist ideology

8.      Its complicated

a.      But to invent one term to bind them all ignores the many legacies of two continents of varied cultures, traditions, ethnicities, social status and even languages

b.      It also ignores the many ways they have been discriminated against by white majority in U.S.

c.      The one thing that they have in common is the discrimination they have experienced by white majority in U.S.

d.      Until half a century ago that discrimination was in housing, employment, education, health care, justice and influence

e.      All of these are hidden in the term Latinx and white

f.        That is why a coalition of Hispanic activists,  public officials and media executives lobbied Johnson and Nixon Administration to create new census category

g.       They chose the label Hispanic -or Hispanics -to highlight the Spanish language version by local communities

                          i.      New York Puerto Ricans supported Spanish Republican cause in 1930s and New Mexicans who to this day trace roots to Spanish conquistadores of 16^th century

                          ii.      First time questionnaires sent to sample populatio0n if they were Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, central or South American or other Spanish origin

                     iii.      9.1 million or 4.5 percent of U.S. population said they were Hispanic

h.      The 1980 Census Bureau incorporated question into decennial census that year -Hispanics reached 6.4 percent of population.

i.        Next year TV stations that later became Univision began packaging programs under this language

j.        For the first time a Spanish-language network was available in this country

k.       An Hispanic national audience was identified through operas, talk shows, and newscasts all in Spanish.

9.      1990s Hispanics came under heavy criticism by a new generation of activists and multiculturalists

a.      Objected to reference to Spain

b.      Country of history of colonial oppression in Latin America

c.      Glossing over the racial and ethnic diversity within various communities

d.      As pointed out by novelist Sandra Cisneros in 12992 To say Hispanics means youre so colonized you don’t even know for yourself or someone who named you never bothered to ask what you call yourself.

10.  Then came the term Latino -emerged during the civil rights era but waned

11.  Revived and included as synonym of Hispanics in 2000 census

a.      Redefining by then the roughly 12.5 percent of population as people of Latin American descent

            i.      A move that excluded Spani8ards but included Brazilians who speak Portuguese

b.      Hispanic and Latino became synonyms outside the census

c.      Recent Pew poll asked 61 percent preferred Hispanic and only 29% Latino

12.  Early 2000s young global movement for gender equity evolved

a.      They challenged the gendered Latino term which 0 is masculine a is feminine

b.      For a short time Latin@  and Latino/a was considered

c.      Mid 2000s -Latinx emerged particularly in the academics

d.      Latinx became more common after the 2016 shooting at Pulse -the LGBTQ night club in Orlando -when media, celebrities, and corporations and universities embraced the term

e.      Then in September 2018 editors of Meriam Webster Dictionary adopted the term

13.  Inside the community -initially LGBTQ groups, artists and academics used the term

a.      But many others mocked the term

b.      Some columnist thought it awkward and impossible to pronounce

c.      Latinx, they declared was bulldozing Spanish -Hector Louis Alimo -deputy editor of the news site Latino Rebels protested it

                             i.      He looked through the entire Spanish dictionary and found not a single word with x following a consonant

d.      Confusion reigned regarding how you pronounced it as well as its meaning

e.      Some argued that Latinx was an anglicization a colonialist residue an attack against the Spanish language

f.        Latin American countries -the proposed neuter form substitutes an e for an a or an o in case of Latine

14.  Latinx has become a polarizing term with defenders accusing detractors of machismo and homophobia

15.  Cesar Vargas a writer and advocate of Latinx label argues “You are our weakest link toward true progress, reciprocity and inclusivity. 

16.  Those who oppose the term ..have argued that they should “take your shitty misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic family members with you.

        Others argue such that Banishing the word Latino won’t eliminate homophobia; on the other hand, elimination of homophobia will change the meaning of Latino.

17.  Frances Negron Muntaner -Latino studies professor at Columbia University -argues that Latinx is part of generational response

18.  Has been only a few years that it has reached significant visibility which indicates its political reach

 

19.  Latinx communities more diverse than ever

a.      Women, young people, LGBTQ, Afro-Latinos, etc..

b.      These groups considered marginal in Latinx politics by other groups -men, middle class and whites

c.      They are redefining what is politics and who are  political actors

d.      Latinx population increasingly young and diverse

e.      2/3rds are millennials or younger

f.        About half younger than 18

g.       Quarter identify as Afro-Latino, Afro-Caribbean or African descent

h.      Of all U.S. born Latinos (about 80%of population 35 and younger)_40% have non-Latino spouses

20.  Pew study found that young most commonly identify as Latinx

a.      Young women (42%) between ages of 18 and 29 have heard of the term, 14% of women in that age use it

b.      Mostly older people, and immigrants (1/3 or Latino population) and those who don’t speak English have never heard of the term

c.      Some argue, like Moreles, this is the term of the future, -Latinx is futuristic because it subverts Spanish language by erasing gender binary.

                                                              i.      Only ethno-racial group that is even discussing a label which is gender neutral

21.  Regardless of what you think about term Hispanic -if the category hadn’t been invented, the government wouldn’t have counted us, and we would have no data to help shape public policy, assign federal funding, or apply civil rights or voter rights protections.

22.  There wouldn’t be electoral districts, where the Latino communities have elected candidates of their choice. Such as Thomas Saenz -president of Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational fund -who argues that the number of Latinos in government rose 61 percent between 1996 and 2016.

Maybe at some point we will just call ourselves -Americans -recognize the two continents that we claim.