thoughts on latinx rep in the rpc
the rpc has a long way to go when it comes to representing the latinx community ( honestly, it has a long way to go when it comes to representation in general, but as a latinx, this is the one subject i can speak confidently about ). i’m not saying i’m the authority on this subject, but i am a born and raised puerto rican woman. so i have something to say on the subject. the first thing i wanna get out of the way is that latinx =/= hispanic. i know this has been said a lot, but people still get the two confused. the term hispanic refers to a person originating from a spanish-speaking country, someone whose native language is spanish. latinx refers to a person originating from latin america. a person can be both hispanic and latinx. in fact, most of us are ! but it’s dangerous to chuck the two together, or use hispanic as an ethnic label. on top of that, most latinxs are hispanic, but not all. someone from brazil would be latinx, since brazil is a latin american country, but they wouldn’t be hispanic, because their native language would be portuguese. someone from spain would be hispanic, but not latinx, since spain is in europe and not latin america.
now that we got that out of the way, let’s get to the good stuff.
the second thing the rpc needs to learn is that latinx is not a race, nor an ethnicity. it’s a culture. the term latinamerican ( latinoamericano, in spanish ) or just latino became a common identifier in the 1940s, but was originated in the 1800s when the us was trying to establish their influence in mexico with the monroe doctrine. france fought back by arguing that spanish is a latin-based language, and therefore had more in common with france than the us. gabe gonzalez does a better job at explaining this in this video. in the 1970s, the term hispanic was included in the us census to track the people who weren’t “ white-white, ” those of us who could be of non-white or non-european heritage, whose native language wasn’t english. it was a term invented by our oppressors to “ other ” the hispanic and latinx community ( because to a lot of people these words are synonyms, despite the distinctions i mentioned above ). both terms, despite being rooted in racism and xenofobia, have been reclaimed. and despite latinx experiences being vastly different, and our identities multiple, the umbrella term creates a unified struggle. it created a shared experience because we looked, or sounded foreign.
so latinx is a tricky term to pin down. it unites us as a community despite racial or national identities, but treating us like a homogeneous block is dangerous, and, to use the term that the rpc loves to use when it comes to racial and ethnic issues – gross. this is where the rpc struggles. so let me take this opportunity to say NOT ALL LATINXS ARE POC. latinxs can be white. a lot of us are. we’re still marginalized, because as we all face discrimination from outside of the community, our struggles intersect. i’m a white latinx. i was born and raised in puerto rico, my native tongue is spanish and despite having a privileged education and being fluent in english, i still trip over certain sounds, you can still hear the spanish in the way i pronounce my vowels. i’ve certainly faced discrimination, but compared to latinxs who are poc, i’m extremely privileged. that’s the key to bettering latinx rep in the rpc. understanding that there are levels of privilege in the latinx community, and that despite our struggles being similar, they are by no means equal. there is a narrative of unity in the latinx community, and while many of us do find comfort in that, there is a great divide when it comes to our racial history. i’ll get to that in a second.
i’ll start with my personal experience, because, well, it’s what i have to offer. puerto rico is a particular case because of our colonial history. in summary, before 1492, it was inhabited by indigenous people, the taínos. according to the pr department of education, the taíno people were docile, welcoming, and hospitable people who welcomed christopher colombus with open arms. it’s why we still celebrate him every year. according to the puerto rican imaginary, they make up 1/3 of our racial identity. this version of the taínos fits in nicely with the “ christopher colombus was a brave explorer who was kind and generous to the savages inhabiting the americas ” narrative. many puerto ricans still believe this fairytale, to the point of erecting the tallest sculpture in north america in his honor. you can read more about it here, and pay attention to the fact that multiple cities rejected it before it found a home in arecibo, puerto rico. not only is it a gigantic eyesore that pays homage to a genocidal maniac, it also came at a huge expense to a country already deep in debt.
the real story ( which many of us only learn when we reach high school, or in some cases, college, if you’re able to afford a college education ), is that the taínos were fierce, and brave ( agüeybaná wasn’t called “ el bravo ” for nothing ), who were enslaved by the spanish colonizers, and later exterminated. a small percentage of the taíno population was able to the center of the island, where it was harder for the spaniards to capture them. that small percentage survived, and assimilated into spanish culture. there are still people with taíno blood, but taíno does not represent, by any means 1/3 of every puerto rican’s genetic makeup.
the other two thirds of our racial combo, if you wanna call it that, are made up by the spanish colonizers and the african slaves they brought over once the taínos had been exterminated. again, history will have you believe that these three races, taíno, african, and spanish combined harmoniously, that taíno and african women were not raped by the spanish, and that they all lived happily ever after, intertwining and mixing into a perfect, equal blend to create the puerto rican race. this, simply put, is bullshit. we’re not equal. we’re not treated the same. we don’t experience discrimination the same way. and in order to represent us accurately in the rpc, white folks need to understand that “ latinx ” encompasses a variety of races, ethnicities, and identities. we ourselves struggle to understand it. part of being latinx is embracing the messiness of that term, and grappling with its meaning. it’s having an identity crisis every time you go to the doctor and have to decide if you’re going to check the “ hispanic ” or “ white “ or “ black “ box, when you identify as more than one, ( and why is hispanic on that list when that isn’t even relevant ??? ). the rpc still has a lot to learn about nuance.
now, this is a good moment to direct you to @pitayarpt and this post, specifically, as a way to understand the racial nuances in latin america. the biggest takeaway from this being that there are different levels of privilege amongst latinxs. it’s important to understand that, when it comes to portraying latinxs in the rpc, and casting fcs. i know the rpc likes to be totally accurate, and totally pc, but by failing to understand the nuance that exists in these identities, the rpc ignores the latinx experience and perpetuates stereotypes. @leeradziwill has a great guide on ohw to portray latinxs and avoid these mistakes here.
racial politics in latin america are complicated. when it comes to ancestry in latin america, many of our histories have been erased due to colonialism. many of us only know the pansy ass fairytale they told us in elementary school, which we had to unlearn in college. it’s only when we unlearn that that we can face the reality that racism and colorism exists in latin america, despite all of us being “ equal ”. i’m not even kidding when i say that when i was younger i thought we were all the same, and that i would be treated the same way an afro-boricua would be treated outside of the island. or even in puerto rico. they make us believe that racism doesn’t exist, while upholding the same racial, and class divisions.
a lot of latinxs can’t tell you where our ancestors came from, but it’s fair to say that a lot of them came from spain. a lot of them are white. latinxs aren’t treated as “ white white ” people in “ white white ” countries ( despite many of us being of european descent ). we are still “ other ”, and that should be respected. but we can’t ignore that there are white latinxs, there are indigenous ( amerindian ) latinxs, afro-latinxs, and even asian latinxs. this isn’t the same as saying a person can be ½ white and ½ latinx, or ½ black and ½ latinx, a person can be 100% both.
latinx is a fluid, plural identity. it’s messy. things aren’t just black and white. we’re a community, but it’s important to pay attention to our differences. there are many different experiences under the latinx umbrella. like i said, the rpc has a long way to go, but it can start by listening. it can start by getting it’s collective head out of it’s collective ass and understanding that just because a person is latinx doesn’t mean they can’t be also white, or just because a person is black doesn’t mean they can’t be also latinx. it can start by listening to latinx roleplayers. do your research, take white history with a grain of salt, unlearn colonial history and listen to “ other ” voices. we are so much more than what your history books say we are.
