Black people are tired this week. Once more, three more members of their community have fallen victims to acts of police brutality and racism. And yet, many in our own Latinx community remain silent, pretending these acts of brutality and racism are separate from their own struggles.
When growing up, I never really understood why Latinos and Black folks were so interconnected, but yet, so disconnected at the same time. As children, we commonly attended the same schools. We were often neighbors in the same community. We listened to the same music, heck, sometimes we even made music together (I’m looking at you Snoop Dogg and Banda MS!). We are appropriated in culture and while our histories in the U.S. are wildly different, we have both been ripped apart from our families and our lives seen as dispensable time and time again.
Why is it that our Latinx community, one that has been through so much and historically derives from African heritage and culture, often turns a blind eye to Black oppression, especially when it’s so violent and blatantly unjust?
OUR INTERCONNECTED ROOTS
The answer lies largely in our brown identity, and our continued skewed approach to minority politics and issues. We don’t see perpetual black oppression as our own problem, and we mistakenly place the blame on the victims themselves. We see black people as “the other.” Even within Latinx culture, we consistently and systematically erase the Black Latinx identity and experience from our mainstream narrative and media portrayals.
We often hear our tios and tias express negative stereotypes about black people: “es que son un desmadre, no se saben comportar, no siguen las leyes…” “they’re rowdy and loud, they don’t know how to act, they don’t follow the laws…” We simply don’t see our experiences as the same or remotely similar: we come to the table with our colonized and colorist view of the world that further demonizes black as bad, and white as good.
This is where our history fails us. It’s where our “novelas” and upbringing have failed us. Our inability to see black existence as something worthy of power and life stems from our own ethnic cleansing inherited to us by our colonizers so long ago. I understand that our families were indoctrinated with the mantra that “lighter is beautiful.” It’s the primary reason why we have so much hate even within our own community. It’s why darker skinned Latinos face more challenges than lighter-skinned folks and why we fail to acknowledge that some Latinos are also Black in a shared identity. However, I want to call out our first-generation and second-generation Latinos who know better and CAN do better. It’s up to us to bring this change.
As segmented as we feel our struggle is, Black and brown experiences are intermixed primarily because the systems that exist oppress us in quite similar ways. The system is set up to place our children in poorer neighborhoods and schools, prevents us from living in better neighborhoods, and sets us back from providing generational wealth to our children– thus putting us at a disadvantage for a better quality of life.
We can’t keep ignoring the fact that Latinos have been the prime witnesses to Black oppression for decades and have benefitted from this. We fought on both sides during the Civil War (and most Latinos were on the correct side of history!). We’ve fought our own Chicano Civil Rights Movement influenced by the Black Civil Rights Movement. We rioted the streets of Los Angeles when Rodney King was beaten by police in South Central in the 90’s right alongside our black brothers and sisters. And yet, our community largely removes themselves from conversations revolving around black oppression even though we are so historically interconnected.
Today, Latinos have a long list of problems stemming from xenophobia: our children are being put in cages, our undocumented families are vulnerable and our ‘dreamers’ are at risk of waking to a living nightmare. Among these, protecting black lives must remain a priority within the Latinx community. Both Black and Latinx communities have been hit the hardest during this COVID-19 pandemic. Our communities have been more susceptible to disease and hit the hardest with unemployment. We make up 32 percent of the U.S. population and yet comprise 56 percent of those incarcerated. On top of that, the black community falls victim of cold-blooded murder at the hands of those that have been hired to protect us all.
A FUTURE WHERE BLACK LIVES MATTER
Black and Latinx communities know resiliency. We know what it is like to be targeted and feared. But we also understand being tired and feeling impotence to major violence and added microaggressions that kill the foundation of a better future for our communities.
Our Black neighbors need us. Ironically, help doesn’t have to come in drastic or big ways. It’s standing up to a family member when they make a racist comment, or calling out that boss that keeps singling out the person of color on your team. It’s checking in on your Black friends, offering them an ear to lean on, and solidarity through this difficult time. It’s stopping that neighbor from calling the cops on a “suspicious young black man” and pointing out the problematic tones of “I don’t see color” and proudly making a stance showing that #BlackLivesMatter. Our colonized history that separated us and continues to pit us against each other cannot continue, because we can no longer afford to just remain quiet. Losing another Black life is unacceptable. We form the same quilt, even as we come from different fabrics. Our complacency and inability to see our own privilege perpetuates Black oppression, which only contributes to continued systemic racism for both communities. In other words, if Black people are shining and thriving, we are too. When the Black community suffers, racism wins.
History has placed the Black community as America’s punching bag for far too long. It is time we stood alongside our neighbors, and took the punches in unity and solidarity. As Latinx community members who often benefit from a colorism privilege, we need to speak out against racism not only systemically but within our backyards as well. This includes the carne asadas with your tios and tias and daily dinner table conversations. Let us never again forget that, Black lives have always, do, and will continue to matter.
HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT
- Call out racist comments from your family, friends, and co-workers.
- Check on your Black friends, offer solidarity during this difficult time.
- Be careful of what you post online. Circulating false information can do more harm than good.
- Donate:
- Support the affected families:
- Vote like your life depends on it, because it does.