Reflections on being Latina in the USA...

Reflections on being Latina in the USA...

As latinos we need to work to make sure we are fighting white supremacy and anti-blackness in our society, communities and within ourselves. This is a never ending problem that we wont really begin to put a dent in until we start to look inward and reflecting on our attitudes about race and blackness. I am not perfect I've had to challenge and push myself to be better- specially now that I am a teacher and understand the social economic factors and the history that creates the situations we see play out in our schools. The truth is that we need to do better because we don't want to find ourselves perpetuating the same white supremacist attitudes that we have been oppressed by.

At the same time we need to remember who we are as latinos and our own struggles and challenges and our history. Growing up in NYC I was never made to feel ashamed of my culture or ever felt the need to fit into white society. Yet it is disappointing and heart breaking how many latinos I've met within the education sphere who are latino but feel shamed of their culture and tone it down around white folks. Their desperation to fit in also terrifies me because as we become the majority I don't want us to perpetrate the same oppressive systems we've been living under.

Lastly latino/as have blackness in us. We need to understand that it is part of who we are. I am afro-latina and the struggle of black people are my own. It is not us versus them- we are together in this fight. I do a disservice to my students when I don't talk about our collective histories and how they're intertwined. What about our indigenous roots? those can't be forgotten either. Many indigenous groups are marginalized today in their countries by their own people. Yet many of our countries have been built on the backs of indigenous people. We need to celebrate all that we are as complex and yet beautiful in it's intricacies it is to be a latino/a. Again It's not a judgement because I too need to work on this but it's a reflection on how we must do better.