The Latinx Othering of Blackness is Harming the Conversation on Race

As well meaning as the slogan “Latinx for Black Lives Matter (BLM)” may seem, it doesn’t sit well with many in the Latinx world. The phrase immediately positions all Latinos outside of the realm of Blackness, and it implies a sense of allyship to BLM rather than a bonafide solidarity. The slogan erases Black Latinos.

This positioning of people like me, an Afro-descended Dominican woman, stems from the limitations on how Latinx peoples have historically defined themselves or been defined.

Latinx is a multi-racial, gender neutral ethnic label that comes from the category of Latino. Meant to be inclusive, it serves as an umbrella of identities, with language, religion and regional colonial histories believed to be the glue that binds.

But anti-Blackness, a form of internalized racism, can also be added to the list of arbitrary factors that make us “Latino.” What this means is that groups of color, like Latinx communities, are socialized in the ways of whiteness. As a result, many Black Latinos have been led to believe that we carry Blackness “detras de la oreja/behind the ears.” Blackness as Latinx people is in the back room, if even mentionable. A rainbow of complexions supposedly makes us “one” because a variety of shades can run through many of our families.

This oneness is a myth.

Much like the United States, Latin American societies are designed as pigmentocracies. Skin tone determines how one experiences life, with lighter skin valued over dark skin. One’s success is often based on how much you can emulate Euro-centric ways of being, as Blackness is pejoratively confined to the bottom rung of social hierarchies. We learn these ways in school and the media, and they are further reinforced by families.

In the race for survival, the whiter a person is perceived to be, the likelier they are to thrive. How many Latinx folks, of all races, have been told, “hay que mejorar la raza/we must improve the race” by having children with lighter skinned people? Many are left to betray their hearts. Or worse, put themselves at risk by bleaching their skin or undergoing unsafe aesthetic augmentations of the face and body.

As so-called “racialized minorities,” most Latinos in the United States exist outside the sphere of whiteness. Because of anti-Black racism in the form of colorism, darker skinned Black Latinos navigate racism in the United States in a much different way than their lighter-skinned counterparts. For example, Black Latinos’ experiences with state-sanctioned forms of racism—like mass incarceration and birth injustice— parallel that of our African American counterparts. Black Latinos in the United States are also more likely to live in poverty and be brutalized by law enforcement.

However, the United States’ limited scope on race, focused solely on African-American-vs-white, often leaves most Latinos, including Black ones, out of national discussions. For example, as a doula, I am well aware of the maternal health crisis that exists in this country. Birthing Black women die at disproportionately higher rates than our white counterparts. But when it comes to race-based studies of obstetrics violence, the experiences of Black Latinas are often left out. This is because Latinx is constructed to exist outside the sphere of Blackness. Moreover, the legacies of anti-Black racism among Latinos often lead Black Latinos to exist on the margins of Latinidad. As such, existing studies on Latinas and obstetrics violence do not always include the experiences of Black Latinas, particularly dark-skinned ones.

Black Latinos are potentially erased from both Black and Latinx narratives on racism. This makes it difficult to sustain a full conversation on race and the Latinx community.

But all hope is not lost.

The Latinx community must continue having difficult conversations around racism. All of us must call out the colorism that plagues our communities. We must correct the abuela that still says ‘pelo malo/bad hair’ when referring to curlier “Afro-centric” hair. And we must ask for clarification when the tio refers to African Americans as “esa gente/those people”. This is a verbal othering that creates a cognitive distance between “us and them.”

Now, more than ever, is the time to unite. The United States is experiencing waves of racial uprisings and Latinx communities must rise to the occasion. If not, we serve as a ball and chain that causes stagnation in the movement for the eradication of racism.

Closing the gap between “us and them” includes challenging how we are boxed in by certain phrases. For me and many others, “Latinx for Black Lives Matter” does not resonate. We do not see ourselves existing on the periphery of the movement, serving as allies. We are part of the movement. Black Latinos know exactly what racism feels like. It lives under our skin and makes our blood boil. The same way it does to millions of disenfranchised and dehumanized Afro-descendants across Latin America.

“'Latinx for Black Lives Matter' does not resonate with many of us in the Latinx community. We do not see ourselves existing on the periphery of the movement...We are part of the movement.”

We live the risk and harm every day. The field of epigenetics is providing more insight on the ways in which persistent racism wears away at our genes. Because of the intergenerational inheritance of trauma, African-Americans and Latinos in the United are predisposed to diseases like hypertension, diabetes and colon-related disorders. On top of this, we often live in toxic neighborhoods, eating toxic foods and being brutalized by the state. The present pandemic exacerbated conditions for communities of color, which have been afflicted by COVID at disproportionately higher rates than white people. So abolishing racist oppression is indeed a matter of saving lives.

More Black Latinos are sharing our views on racism. Our lived experiences, as Black people in the United States, are valid, and our voices deserve a seat at both the US and the Latin American tables. This dialogue can only strengthen movements for change. Without our voices, movements like BLM will not include Black Latinx stories, and slogans like “Latinx for Black Lives Matter” will continue to misrepresent us. It’s time to do better because the status of black people is a matter of life and death.