Same-race discrimination and colorism among the Latino community has always existed. Whether Latin American populations or those in Latin America and the Caribbean, racial attitudes toward Latinos, blacks, and darker Afro-Latinos has been constant and is a deep-rooted issue that not only has psychological effects, but also manifests itself in every aspect of other aspects of life, such as the workforce, the criminal justice system, the police, housing, and even schools.
It is an ideal that many Latinos themselves reject and deny, some vehemently. It is also a topic that has not been widely, if ever, addressed or studied.
Considering the large Latino population in the states, and almost 1 billion people in Latin America, it needs a long view and action to fight its continued existence. More reason and importance, there is finally a comprehensive and researched book that covers this very topic and its ramifications.
The first of its kind, Racial Innocence: Unmasking Latino Anti-Black Prejudice and the Struggle for Equality is a comprehensive study of colorism within the community.
Through legal cases, personal accounts and statistics, Professor Tanya Katerí Hernández, an author and professor at Fordham University School of Law, uncovers and illuminates the problem that many Latin Americans deny is real. While it is a researched and comprehensive look at the issue, it is also a personal project for Hernández.
When asked if Latinos themselves seem aware of the issue, she said it can be complicated because Latinos themselves experience discrimination in the US as part of what is still seen in the mainstream as a monolithic community.
“As a community that has experienced discrimination, then there is often a resistance to admit that we too can be part of the problem of discrimination, that the victims themselves are also aggressors,” said Hernández. “When it comes to issues of discrimination, I call it a psychological barrier and certainly a social dynamic that is quite pervasive.”
Another factor is the recent efforts to break the monolithic mold and the recognition of racial differences in “Latinidad” among Latinos, which is increasingly pushed by the younger generations.
“Young people in our communities are pushing this further for us. And so that, at least, was revealed,” said Hernández. “But for the longest time, it was seen as a kind of act of discrimination to highlight our racial differences, let alone the way in which our racial differences within Latinidad positioned us differently in terms of experiencing discrimination. That there is a difference between a lighter-skinned Latino and a darker-skinned Latino in terms of experiencing discrimination or targeting.”
Racial illiteracy
The book looks at how colorism and racial attitudes toward dark and Afro-Latinos affect many different aspects of life. This includes discrimination in schools, workplaces and the criminal justice system. While the book seeks to shed light on the issue and further expose the realities of the situation, it aims to open the eyes of the community to the problem.
In Hernández’s opinion, there is still a lot of work to be done on this front.
“Unfortunately, right now, we’re blocked from improving this situation … because all of us unfortunately suffer from racial illiteracy … Latinos, African-Americans, the rest of society, are racially illiterate, especially when it comes to issues how people of color, including Latinos, can be part of the problem of racism,” she said. “It can’t be faced, addressed and resolved if we’re so busy hiding from it that we don’t even realize it’s in our mix.”
“I think building a greater sense of understanding about the situation is certainly the first step,” Hernández continued.
One of the most surprising insights from the book is that darker-skinned and Afro-Latinos experience discrimination in schools from K-12 through college, especially in majority Latino schools and at the hands of other Latinos. There, Hernández also said that teachers were not helpful to those who clearly experience hatred.
“It was heartbreaking to hear about black, African-American, Afro-Latino kids being treated differently and in a very impressive and demeaning way by Latino school teachers,” she said.
At one point, when they interviewed a Latino educator who does ongoing training for teachers serving a majority Latino population, they found that “issues of discrimination are seen as trivial.”
“Teachers of Latinos and Latino students think ‘yeah that’s none of our business,'” Hernandez recalled being told.
It returned to her earlier realization of “racial illiteracy” among communities of color, but also presented an access point for slowly making changes.
“I was both dismayed to hear about these accounts, but I also realized that this is a real target area, that in-service training needs to be culturally tailored to be able to intervene in Latino advocacy against raising issues of concern about racism. , by directly addressing it,” said Hernández.
In terms of the workplace, the book also explores Latino racial attitudes in the labor market, where despite the marginalization of Latinos in the workforce, Latino workers with Latino supervisors earn less and are unlikely to ever hold positions of power.
It gives the impression that Latinos are able to take advantage of theirs. Hernández said some of it has to do with the old adage that “power corrupts” and racism is amplified when it comes from an unchecked source.
“When Latinos have this power and their racial attitudes are unchecked because they are perceived or perceive themselves as not part of the American issue of racism, then they are allowed to consciously and unconsciously have their racial attitudes back in actions that harm and subjugate others,” she said. “Because at the end of the day, it’s all about anti-blackness, regardless of what you know, ethnicity.”
Against black in flats
Racial segregation also exists in many different forms. One that is specifically mentioned and talked about in the book is housing segregation. This informs many aspects of life and even affects the distribution of community and educational resources. As a result, inequality arises in all its forms.
“It’s all about where you live. We don’t tend to think about how key that is, but it is and so in the housing market, which is already racially segregated, then you have a second level of segregation,” Hernández said.
This second tier sees Latinos perpetrating the same housing discrimination that has long been in place in urban and suburban areas for centuries.
“When Latinos say, ‘no, no, not here, I don’t want any black people here,’ that means there’s a further level of anti-blackness that’s hindering the ways in which African-Latinos, African-Americans approach each other. have access to social mobility in our country,” said Hernández.
Colorism, law enforcement, and white supremacy
In law enforcement, there are the same racial attitudes toward blacks and Afro-Latinos. With the historical context that has seen blacks and Afro-Latinos mistreated by the police and criminal justice system, it only deepens when Latinos themselves are adding to the problem.
Additionally, as the book notes, some Latinos have become involved with white supremacist groups, such as the few who joined the Charlottesville rally in 2017. When asked if that number is expected to grow, Hernández said it is hard to tell, but it provided further explanation as to why some Latinos join. For him, there is a very psychological motivation.
“They get a big boost. The wages of whiteness. They are associated with whiteness,” Hernández said. “It might not put dollars in their pocket, but it gives them a psychological boost.”
When Latinos themselves are partially responsible for their oppression, it raises questions of why and how. Historically and generally, Latinos as a whole are an oppressed and marginalized group. They cannot get basic rights, health care, education needs and are priced out of their neighborhoods where for example they own a business and employ other white and Latino people.
Hernández says the next election will be a big sign of the community’s progress or regression.
“We are at a turning point. We have to make some decisions as a community. Are we just going to accept the token form of inclusion, which is, ‘you’re welcome, as long as you’re not black?’ Or are you welcome, as long as you also say you don’t want to be with black people, but have no other access to social mobility? she said. “Or we’re going to really dig deep and both do internal examinations of our own racial attitudes so that we can be more accountable and take responsibility for how we can be a part of undoing racism and creating some kind of liberation for all of us together?”
Family discrimination
The book also delves into Hernandez’s personal history regarding the topic of colorism and discrimination within the Latino community. More specifically, it explores how families can handle and distribute family resources among their children when one is lighter in color than the other.
This also includes hairstyles in which straight hair is considered “beautiful” compared to curly hair. For better or worse, these kinds of experiences in their hands
parents and family are what shape a person, his thoughts and ideals.
“I spent a lot of time in the book talking about the family and the memories of Afro-Latinos, the pain they’ve experienced about the difference within their families,” Hernandez said.
“As Latinos, we are always proud to say that we are this rainbow of colors, we have everything and we don’t have black and white because all together we are just one happy rainbow family. However, within these rainbow families, I hear from time to time, and these memories certainly parallel the Latino family always knowing which person is the black person,” she continued. “Families are busy creating a gigantic order and distributing family resources, according to the color group, like a spectrum. This then becomes about how we are creating tears of oppression within our communities. It starts with family.”
Be part of the solution
The issue that has existed for a long time within the community has been denied, ignored and remained unacknowledged. However, much has to be said about how this has not been covered, talked about or studied much.
To have a book now entirely devoted to the issue and perhaps some suggestions and how to improve the reality, Hernández hopes to create awareness, but more importantly, while Latinos themselves have been part of the reason for group oppression, which makes Latinos more capable. to look at yourself in the mirror and be part of the ongoing solution.
“I want to create awareness. But then with that awareness, to be able to give people the tools to be able to identify and rule out when there’s avoidance of actual cases of discrimination and racism being protected with it, what I call pseudo-protection against racism. ,” she said. “I want people to be able to have the tools put in place by reading the book, to be able to say, ‘oh, wait a minute. this racial cloak that you’re racially innocent in, you’re part of the problem. And that means you can be part of the solution.'”
