“Black” Latinos challenge U.S. racial categories
CVK
An article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette discusses the difficulties that Latinos of African descent face when they move to the U.S.:
Mrs. Del Orbe loved and embraced all the strands of her heritage. She was never just black — until she came to this country. For her, and thousands of other black Latinos, coming to America can be culturally isolating as they suddenly find themselves put in rigid racial categories that don’t exist in their home countries.
The new identity that’s foisted upon dark-skinned Latinos “is weird,” she said, “because we’re black, but we’re not black.”
Initially categorized as black by their appearance, then as Latino by their accents, they often find discrimination from the mainstream and unease or even distrust from black Americans. They may feel separated from black people by music and social customs and by some black Americans who feel the Latinos are denying their African history. Many can’t fit easily into either culture here…
Despite the African blood in the family tree, becoming “black” is a different concept for many Latinos, many of whom hail from countries where mixed heritage is a norm and people are not pushed to extremes such as being black or white. That changes in America, where the racial tradition rules that any person who looks black — or is known to have African heritage — is black.
Ben wrote:
What? Diversity within races? Black people from other countries? Nooooooooo! How will I know what to think of somebody without interacting with them?
Whither prejudice? Whither discrimination? Whither the fragile structure of our entire society?!
Posted 27 Feb 2006 at 10:21 am ¶
Keya wrote:
I’m Black, I don’t see them as “Black” -meaning Black Americans. I see them as Black hispanic Americans. Usually when we as Blacks talk about blacks from other countries, we would refer to them as what country their from. Example “oh he’s Jamaican, or she’s Hatian, or he’s Dominican” etc
Posted 27 Feb 2006 at 7:49 pm ¶
Merq wrote:
And that isn’t exactly right, ’cause we’re still black. The only difference is that most of us identify first with out cultures (although a prolonged stay in the US will gradually change that).
Still, I guess it beats calling every black person you meet “African American” because you want to remain PC.
Posted 01 Mar 2006 at 2:47 am ¶
Dave wrote:
Lots of latinos have both black and white heritage. And it’s not true that anyone in America with know african ancestry is sorted into the black column. Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, Mark Shriver, and literally millions of other Americans are considered white but have recent african ancestry. I welcome latinos who have european, african, and/or amerindian heritage continuing to embrace all of their heritage.
At http://www.mulatto.org we have several latino members who proudly identify as mulatto, rather than monoracially as either black or white.
Posted 03 Mar 2006 at 6:53 am ¶
Leelee wrote:
These people just don’t want to be identified with African Americans in anyway due to ignorant, white racist stereotypes in the U.S.
I know bullsh*t when I smell it. I can guarantee if they are stopped by the cops they will not get special treatment just because they have a Spanish accent.
Posted 03 Mar 2006 at 12:09 pm ¶
mr guy wrote:
“These people just don’t want to be identified with African Americans in anyway due to ignorant, white racist stereotypes in the U.S.”
I disagree it’s more complicated then that.And who said they wanted special treatment in the first place?Let’s not assume anyone who does not identify as a black american at least culturally is a “sellout”.
Posted 04 Mar 2006 at 8:14 pm ¶
Lyonside wrote:
The fact remains that people of African descent have had different experiences in different countried.
In the US, there’s been Jim Crow, de facto segregation (north and west), areas where there are hardly any African-Americans, and generally AAs are a numerical minority.
Compare that to Haiti - where people of African descent are impoverished but make up the majority of the population.
Compare that to Puerto Rico or other Spanish-speaking (or Portugeuse) nations, where the color lines were blurred (although still some economic disparity).
Compare that to South Africa and apartheid, with a different set of color lines and earlier migration from Southeast Asia (than typical of the US).
Posted 06 Mar 2006 at 9:59 am ¶
Joel Guerra wrote:
Blacks come in many many spectrums and types of people. Cultures can be very different. If you are of mixed race, it doesn’t really matter how other people see you. Just because black Americans may claim an Afro Hispanic as being just black, it does not erase their genetic coding which is the ultimate truth.
Posted 25 Mar 2006 at 12:16 pm ¶
kdub wrote:
im dominican and in ithink people should not care whats in the outside but whats in the inside
Posted 19 Apr 2006 at 1:03 pm ¶
Portia DeLaine wrote:
I’m half Afro-Rican, half Afro-American. I identify as black because I was raised in the U.S. I don’t know who’d I be if I were raised somewhere else.
But I think ppl should identify as black, and if not black then what? What I think is funny is that black latinos who come to the U.S. who don’t want to be identified as black would be called black in their own country, sure you have the option of being dillusional by calling yoursef Indian, mulato, or white, eventhough you may be none of that. Just because you had a ancestor somewhere down the line that wasn’t black doesn’t make you
mixed. The world would be crazy if everyone did this! I have some European & Indian ancestry on both sides (see Black Latinos & Black Americans have even more in common) but I don’t stress that. My reality is that of a Black woman, it would be wrong of me to call myself anything other than Black, or African (I would identify by my ethnic origins in Africa, but sadly that was stolen from me). I could never sell my family out. It saddens me so much to see pictures of the holocaust. We don’t have pictures of the African holocaust (well some from recent wars) but imagine a black face, then try & deny those ppl who worked their fingers to the bone for hundreds of years without pay! It’s unimagineable! It’s disgusting as far as I’m concerned.
I don’t think Black Latinos should have to adhere to racist U.S. racial categories, but yet you must realize that Black Americans are the most advanced when it comes to economic and social gains in their society. If they (Black Latinos) were smart they would try to emulate this model. I don’t necessarily agree with putting all mixed ppl who have a drop of blackness in the black category, which is done in the U.S., but we (Black Americans) are stronger and more united because of this. You can call yourself brown, tan, mulato, indian, white, red, yellow, black, or whatever, just don’t forget that ppl that look like you are OVERWHELMINGLY DISPROPORTIONATELY DISADVANTGED especially in Latin America, but also the rest of the world. So what are you really trying to accomplish by using these terms. It doesn’t matter what you call yourself, that doesn’t make your social or economic reality any different. A black in Brazil who calls themselves white (even if they aren’t mixed), will be treated the same as a black who identifies as such.
What these ppl really are trying to do is separate themselves from Black Americans because of the negative image of them in the U.S. The problem is that these ppl (me) look just like the Black Americans so it doesn’t matter.
It’s a shame some countries in Latin America which are predominately Black are not even ruled by blacks. In fact Blacks in govt. in Latin America are scarce to none. ppl are so concerned with these racial title they can’t see what’s really going on. It’s like if someone was dangling a ball of yarn in front of a kitten. Don’t let ppl take you for a fool. Whites in Latin America want blacks, & indians to list white on the census, so they can have larger numbers, and have an actual reason for ruling instead of “just because”. But thse ppl won’t be treated as any different. When you don’t identify as black, then you don’t want to be represented in govt. or the media, and you don’t want advancement for your people.
Posted 06 Jul 2006 at 4:02 pm ¶