essay about being latino

Being Latina and the struggle of the dualities of two worlds

Reflections on why our identities can help create a better world for all of us.

A few days ago, I attended a Zoom presentation organized by ASUN entitled “What does it mean to be Latinx?” Every time I witness the complexity of identities in the Latinx community in the United States, I am amazed. Amazed that we are always perceived as a homogenous group, when in reality, we couldn’t come from more different backgrounds, and we couldn’t have more different and complex identities. Also, the challenges we face are as different as each of our stories. So, in the spirit of Hispanic Heritage Month, please indulge me in letting me tell you my story.

There is a well-known character in Mexican history that invokes both love and condemnation from most Mexicans. Her name was Malintzin but history knows her as La Malinche . Her story is similar to that of U.S.A.’s Pocahontas ; the beautiful indigenous woman who abandons her tribe to help the white man. (The legends omit how she became the property of such White men, but that’s another story). 

La Malinche was a Nahúatl woman who was given to Hernán Cortés as a slave. Due to her upperclass education, she spoke two languages, an ability that made her very useful to Hernán Cortés in communicating with the indigenous people as he went about conquering Mexico. On one hand, she was intelligent and, clearly, resilient. But on the other hand, she helped Cortés begin the Spanish colonization of the Nuevo Mundo. This duality is what gives her such a complex identity. And this duality is one that follows me.

When I was in high school, several of my classmates would sometimes call me Malinchista . As you can imagine, that was NOT a compliment. By definition, a Malinchista is “a person who denies her own cultural heritage by preferring foreign cultural expressions” (I’m not making it up; look it up).

In my early teens, I discovered American football. While switching channels on the television, I stumbled across a game being played in several feet of snow. I had never seen this! The game was being played in Minnesota. That year, the Dallas Cowboys won the Super Bowl, and I became a die-hard fan of Roger Staubach and “America’s Team.” This marked the initiation of my love for all things American. I learned about Formula 1, Sports Illustrated and Tiger Beat. Yes, Tiger Beat introduced me to the American darlings of my generation. My bedroom walls were covered with pictures of American teen idols I had never seen before in my life (in the 1970s, Mexican TV programming didn’t broadcast many American TV shows; I only remember Dallas and The Partridge Family , which of course, I loved).

I also loved English-language songs. I used to spend my money buying cancioneros , books similar in format and quality to comic books, for people who were learning to play the guitar. The cancioneros had the lyrics of the songs along with the music notes. I literally used these cancioneros to practice my English. I would translate each word of the songs, and then I would play the records over and over until I memorized the lyrics and could actually follow the singer pronouncing the words. Do you know how hard it is to sing at full speed: “Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall?”

By the time I was in college, I had already spent time in the city of Dallas (and yes, I made the pilgrimage to Irving, Texas and the Cowboys’ stadium) – and perfected my English. I started studying English when I entered first grade. By middle school, my parents were paying a private tutor. In Mexico, English was accepted as the lingua franca needed to succeed in the world, and my parents were going to make sure I learned it. (My dad had taught himself English, and he shared my enthusiasm for English language magazines, although not for the Dallas Cowboys.) Learning a second language allowed me to learn about, navigate and integrate into a different culture. And, unlike La Malinche , I did this of my own volition.

When I made the decision to come to the United States to study, my father told me, “If you ever decide this is not for you or things don’t work out, come back home.” But I was not turning back. In my mind, America was the best place in the whole world (my small world, at least). I had spent a semester in an exchange program at the University of Oklahoma, and I knew back then I belonged in the United States. One of the things that caught my attention early on was the fact that people could wear their pajamas to class (I know you’ve seen it), and nobody blinked an eye. One could wear her hair in blue spikes or wear slippers to the grocery store, and no one would say a thing. To me, that was amazing! People didn’t bother you, judge you or care what you wore. I felt America was the place where not only public services worked, but where you could be yourself and you could be free to be whomever you wanted to be. There was a sense of freedom that was refreshing.

However, for a long time I felt like I didn’t belong here, and I didn’t belong in Mexico, either. Navigating two worlds was not precisely difficult  but sometimes unsettling . You spend your time “live switching” from English to Spanish to Spanglish and back again. You mix Cholula with Five Guys hamburgers. You watch American soccer but listen to the Mexican commentators (otherwise it’s like listening to golf announcers). And you truly think Mexican soccer fans are like the old Oakland Raiders fans, only worse. Women in Mexico are as rabid fans as many men, but, at least back in my day (I feel ancient now), you didn’t see many women go to the stadiums. As a woman, I never felt safe. I only went to a match if my male friends went with me. This is one of the most striking differences between the U.S. and Mexico: American soccer fans are so mild-mannered in comparison!

Another striking difference I noticed when I first came to the U.S. was that I was not getting cat calls out when I was out walking in the streets. In Mexico, everywhere I went (since I was a preteen, for goodness’ sake), I would be subjected to cat calls and whistles – and the harassment only got worse the older I got. My experience as a woman was of always being on high alert. But when I came to the U.S., I felt respected. I could exist without being harassed continually. Women here seemed to have a voice and the same opportunities as men to grow and pursue their dreams. I felt free to pursue a career and to not be expected to only dream of marrying and having children. Although, over the years, I’ve come to realize there still is much room for improvement.

Back in the 1500s La Malinche did what she could to survive (did I say historians think she died before she was 30?). History asked her to do a task she didn’t want, and she did her best. I am sure she considered her options and bought time, respect and the right to live in the best way she could. She used her skills to earn a place in history, and although her role continues to be debated, I cannot blame her. Did I turn my back on my country? Or did I look for a better life? My circle of Latina friends in the U.S. is full of intelligent, professional women who left their countries and built a better life ­– a different life – here in the United States. They all miss their families, and they all support their biological families in many ways. What they can do from here, however, is more than they could have done had they stayed in their countries of origin.

Being Latina in America is both an honor and a challenge. We struggle with the dualities of our worlds. We struggle with the adjectives that define us. We are a complex mix of races, traditions and experiences. We care for our people, and we work tirelessly to do what must be done to help each other. The complexity of our identities can help us create a better world for all of us, a world where our differences are not viewed as a threat but as an asset. A world where we all thrive. ¡Sí, se puede!

By: Claudia Ortega-Lukas Graphic Designer & Communications Professional

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Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

What Being a Hispanic/Latino Means to Me and How It has Influenced My Working and Personal Life

This blog post features a compilation of narratives from Duane Morris staff members in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.

By Yolanda Arnavat-Parga

I was born in Cuba and came to the U.S. in the early 1960s along with my parents and grandparents who were born in Spain and Cuba. Being Hispanic to me means having the opportunity to live with extended family, celebrating everything with delicious food, and enjoying our culture and heritage. As a child, it meant speaking Spanish exclusively at home, honoring your parents/grandparents, embracing your family’s expectations and traditions and changing hats depending on where we were in order to fit in. Later on, it meant working hard to excel at school/work and espousing the right ethics to honor our family and trying to mitigate any erroneous preconceived ideas about Hispanics. Today, it means embracing the richness of our diverse customs, culture and heritage and being proud of the current and future contributions of all Hispanics.

By A. Venissa Fernandez

I was born in the Dominican Republic and emigrated to the United States when I was three years old. Thinking back, I had no idea how lucky I was to have parents that made the incredible sacrifice in choosing to immigrate to the U.S. coming here with very little knowledge of the culture, the rules, and even the language to raise two young children.

Being Dominican is part of my personality, interests, and tastes in life. My identity gave me a starting place, and a whole tribe of people to relate to. Coming from a big family also taught me about community, loyalty, and respect. These things are crucial to my character, and I directly attribute them to growing up in a big Dominican household. I learned at a very young age that we were different, our culture, humor, music, food, even our birthday parties were different than everyone else’s.

In New York, the Dominican culture thrives in neighborhoods like Washington Heights, where I grew up, which experienced an influx of Dominican immigrants in the 1960s. Today, as you walk through the neighborhood, you experience how rich our culture is from the Bachata and Merengue music playing out of any open apartment window or store front, to the no frills local eateries offering a taste of home, or even the famous corner store called “Bodega”, selling all the local and island favorites. Similar to what was displayed, thanks to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musical “In the Heights”. While growing up in Washington Heights helped me appreciate my Dominican heritage, I am defined just as much, if not more so, by my life-long experiences as a New Yorker, a very special breed of person.

Hispanic Heritage Month grew out of National Hispanic Heritage Week, which President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law in 1968. In 1987, Representative Esteban Torres pushed for a month-long commemoration. He argued that supporters of his bill “want the American people to learn of our heritage. We want the public to know that we share a legacy with the rest of the country, a legacy that includes artists, writers, Olympic champions, and leaders in business, government, cinema, and science. [The month-long celebration] will allow our nation to properly observe and coordinate events and activities to celebrate Hispanic culture and achievement.” Torres’ bill did not pass, but a year later, a similar bill – proposed by Senator Paul Simon – did, with President Ronald Reagan signing it into law on August 17, 1988.

Unlike Black History Month, Women’s History Month, and Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Hispanic Heritage Month begins mid-way through September. This is because September 15 and 16 mark the independence days of Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Mexico.

Hispanic Heritage Month, serves as a means for all members of the Latino community, to connect with their heritage showcasing the beauty of our culture, and different traditions of other Hispanic countries.

By Josephine F. Garcia

I reminisce on the times my Abuelo Santiago and Abuela Carmen would tell me stories while growing up. My Abuelo had established his own milk company in Cuba with hard work and dedication. It was one of his most gratifying accomplishments, and one he was forever proud of in his life. My Abuela raised three beautiful daughters and was a dedicated housewife. While listening to their history, it was evident how much they loved the Country they had left behind. These anecdotes of their life in Cuba demonstrated to me the values and principles I live by today.

As a first generation Cuban-American, I was blessed with the opportunity to live with my grandparents alongside my parents for many years. It is a Cuban tradition for the family to all live together. The characteristics that were instilled in my family and I reflect the lives of my grandparents in Cuba. They were and will eternally remain my foundation. My grandparents were the humblest people I have ever known. They lived a life of honesty, trust, loyalty and dedication to their family and work.

Being bi-lingual has given me an advantage in my personal and work life, as we live in a diverse America where there are so many people of other Latin cultures and who speak the Spanish language. I love everything about the Cuban culture, and I will always be proud of being Cuban. I will forever keep my Cuban heritage alive and I have also taught my children to continue the legacy.

By  Andrew J. Hanna

I am a Chicano. A Chicano is a chosen identity for people of Mexican descent born in the States. My mother, who was born in Mexico, made it her mission to ensure that her children were raised to understand both of the cultures in which they were born. Being born and raised bi-racially has allowed me to accept and understand people that are different than me. As a person of mixed race and cultures, it has enabled me to help others in finding opportunities that lay quietly waiting to be discovered. Most importantly, being bi-racial has allowed me to witness the beauty of people and their contributions to our society and world.

By Sofia Lowenberg

There’s a broad range for what it means to be Hispanic in the U.S. It applies to someone who’s fourth-generation American, or, in my case, to someone who’s second generation (though there is some debate what first and second generation means). My first language was Spanish. My mother, Maria, was born in Bogotá, Colombia and my father, Fernando, in Guatemala City, Guatemala— both came to the USA in the early 60’ as adults, met in New York, and married in 1974. Both my parents came here to live the American Dream and they are extremely proud of both my brother and me. A New Yorker, born and raised in Queens, NY, I am fortunate enough to have obtained an education in the world’s finest city.

My paternal grandparents were from Spain. As a gift for my mother’s 75 th birthday, my mother and I went on a tour through Spain. We both felt a connection to Seville and Salamanca and I loved the vibe in Barcelona and Costa del Sol.

The Hispanic experience is incredibly diverse, it’s not just one point of view or perspective. For me, Hispanic Heritage Month serves as a means for all members of the Hispanic community, no matter their background, to connect with their heritage. I am sharing with my husband and my son the rich Hispanic culture, including teaching them Spanish and my love of music and dancing.

By Francisco Maldonado

I was born and raised in Puerto Rico. We are a friendly, family-oriented people who enjoy a rich Spanish influence. Being Hispanic has played a huge role in defining who I am and how I view the world. Of utmost importance are our really close-knit families and frequent family gatherings along with the Hispanic traditions that have shaped my experiences growing up. What better binds the family than food. Traditions such as Noche Buena (Christmas Eve), Año Viejo (New Years’ Eve), Los Reyes Magos (Three Kings’ Day), Fiestas de las Calles San Sebastián, Fiestas Patronales, Quinceañeros (Sweet Fifteen) to name a few. Something that cannot be absent during these family gatherings is delicious traditional food.

The taste and aromas of places, families and our histories are anchored in our memories by the foods and traditions we enjoy. My best memories go way back with my mother in the kitchen and my sisters hanging around watching her cook our daily meals and listening to what transpired during the day. The love and joy with which she cooked for us daily and the preparation of our traditional feasts significantly impacted me. Cooking was such a predominant part of our daily life that I chose to get a degree in Culinary Arts many years after college. As a result of my culinary training along with my childhood experiences and spending time in the kitchen with my mother, I have been able to mix and adapt my cuisine and eating habits. I cherish the memories of cooking special recipes passed down by my grandmother, my mother, and my aunts; I like to share them now with my family and friends. Nothing is more flavorful and portrays my Hispanic heritage more than a Pernil con Arroz con Gandules (Roast Pork with Rice and Pigeon Peas) for our Christmas Eve parties or mom’s Arroz relleno con Pollo (Baked Chicken and Rice) for special occasions, or Bistec con Arroz con Habichuelas y Tostones (Beefsteak, Rice and Beans and Fried Plantains) , after work. I enjoy integrating these traditions in the different events I plan for the Miami and Boca Raton offices as it is fulfilling sharing and teaching others about them.

By Diane Martinez 

I am proud to be Mexican-American. I was born in East Los Angeles, a predominately Hispanic side of the city. My parents were both born in the United States but my grandparents were of Mexican, Native American and European descent.

My father and father-in-law were born in poverty in 1932.   They both proudly served this country at a time when there was little opportunity. That experience opened the door for them to have successful careers and to provide a better living for their families than they had ever known. My father in-law was one of sixteen children. He grew up with little but his parents taught their children about devotion to God. The children learned to dance with each other and to have a joy for living. My father spent his entire career working on the very first space shuttle and subsequent shuttles for space exploration until he retired. He says that growing up he never imagined being a part of something so extraordinary.

What does it mean to identify with my heritage? It means that I am part of a people who have persevered and worked hard to succeed and live the American dream. We have strong family ties and family pride. We have faith, loyalty and passion and apply those traits to everything we do personally and professionally. My relatives have worked the land, served this country, and fought for civil rights. We are a family of humble beginnings, yet every generation has worked hard to succeed

It doesn’t hurt that we also make great music and some of the world’s best food!

By Laura I. Medina

Being a bilingual Puerto Rican in America comes with both advantages as well as some unfortunate “disadvantages.” Growing up in a Puerto Rican household, there is a dynamic culture such as amazing Spanish food, salsa dancing and telenovelas I grew up watching with my mom and my abuela (grandmother) just to name a few. My family stressed the importance of working hard every day, doing well in school so that I can get a scholarship to go to college (we didn’t have the money to pay for it), and I also found playing soccer to be an outlet. All of these things were vital to my success in America is what I taught.

Hispanics are the largest minority in the United States and only growing. Being fluent in reading and writing another language should come as a competitive advantage especially in the workforce. However, I quickly learned that this isn’t always the case as those same traditions I had embraced weren’t always embraced outside of home. As a child I remember struggling with balancing sticking with my culture and traditions, but at the same time trying not to show my roots to the world outside too much due to my experiences with prejudice. My brother, sister, and I only spoke only Spanish in the household then switched to English when we went to school.

As I got older, I learned that this carries over to the workforce and that it wasn’t just me. Hispanics suppress parts of their personas at work such as appearance and communication style to better fit in with the mainstream. I found myself doing the same to try to “make it” or get ahead. I was hiding the very things that make me who I am. Today I know that a large part of my success and drive comes from the morals and values from my Hispanic culture driven to me at a young age. It is my identity. If we instead embrace our differences and utilize them, we can actually be more competitive in a global market rather than trying to fit in to the one that currently exists

For me, being Latino means living between two worlds

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Being a Latino in  the U.S. can sometimes mean an evolving sense of identity. When I was a child, I identified simply as American — without a hyphen, asterisk or modifier.

I thought being American meant reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, learning about the War of 1812 in history class and watching blockbuster hits with friends. 

But being at home was living in another world.

Tell us your story >>

Ma would cook enchiladas en salsa verde  and, at least once a week, would shove the phone in my face, “Ten, habla con tu abuela que te quiere oír.” Translation: My grandma wanted to hear my voice. 

I loved being in two worlds. 

But that feeling of being a total American was short lived. When I was 7 or 8 years old, my parents told me I was born in Mexico. My American life was radically redefined. Later, I would come to be defined as a “dreamer,” still feeling no less American but with an asterisk.

In college, I did not feel like I was entirely from Mexico or the U.S. and toyed with identifying as Chicano. I was attracted by the feeling of nepantla — the Nahuatl word for “in the middle.” 

But I still felt more Mexican, though the only home I knew was here in the U.S. Most of my classmates were born here and seemed to have a better grasp on the two identities.

Feeling more Mexican than completely American, I wasn’t feeling Chicano. I’m not just one thing — and, ultimately, being Latino isn’t one specific experience either. 

That was five years ago. I’m working in Los Angeles on a permit through DACA , a policy that allows people brought here as children like me to work. And after having lived in Washington, D.C., — the mecca of American politics — surrounded by people from different backgrounds, I have a new sense of self. 

Now, every time someone asks, “What are you?” or “Where are you from?” my answer is: I’m an Angeleno who was born in Mexico.

Hispanic, Latinx, Chicano. Immigrant, naturalized or U.S. born. Black, white, brown, blended. 

Being Latino can mean so many different things, rooted in about two dozen  different places of origin. And though Latinos may have a language in common, there isn’t a singular voice or narrative for the Latino experience.

Some speak English at work, hablan español en la casa or speak both languages con nuestros amigos —  or no Spanish at all. Some fuse the two languages to say  donde nos parkeamos, or “where do we park.”  

There’s no denying that Latinos are changing politics , entertainment and the culture of the country. 

The U.S. Latino population is at 57 million and counting. In California, Latinos have surpassed whites as the largest ethnic group.

In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, The Times wants to hear about your Latino identity. We plan to publish a collection of stories that highlight the variety of voices and experiences within the Latino community.

So tell us your story: What does being Latino in 2016 mean to you? You can fill out the survey below or share your story on Instagram using #MyLatinoIdentity or #MiIdentidadLatina.  

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“What Does Being Hispanic Mean to You?”

Members of the Hispanic Business Student Association share personal thoughts on their heritage and how it informs who they are and how they lead.

October 01, 2020

The Hispanic Business Student Association is a community of students interested in the cultural and professional issues that affect the Latino community. | Illustrations by Laura Pichardo

“For me, being Hispanic means standing on our ancestors’ shoulders to transform spaces not created for us and witnessing my parents’ sacrifices in pursuit of a better life — all while indulging in Mariachi music,” says Valeria Martinez, MBA ’21.

Hispanic Heritage Month begins each year on September 15 — the anniversary of independence for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16 and September 18. To mark this year’s celebration, members of Stanford GSB’s Hispanic Business Student Association answer the question, “What does being Hispanic mean to you?”

— Jenny Luna

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On Being Latina/o in Academe

By  Salvador Vidal-Ortiz

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Although I may be one of the first Latina/o faculty members to contribute to “Conditionally Accepted,” I want to start by stating the obvious: I am not speaking for all Latinas/os in academe. As a light-skinned, nonheterosexual Puerto Rican man, I have a specific social location that not even other Puerto Ricans or other queer Latina/o academics will share. That includes, as a Puerto Rican, having been born with U.S. citizenship, and coming from one of the only countries that has not achieved independence from its colonizers. And as a nonheterosexual faculty member, it includes the perks of being a multiply minoritized scholar, to use José Muñoz’s Disidentifications phrase.

Yet while I am only writing from my own experience, I have met and interacted with countless other nonwhite faculty members experiencing a range of issues like those I have faced. In this essay, I write from the self in ways that demonstrate a singular-social voice in order to situate the self in the social. Work on the humanities, communications and increasingly, the social sciences is doing this nowadays -- my own work on autoethnography attests to that.

For me, the writing from the self does not divorce from social categories or political ones inside and outside of academe. As a Latino, it is crucial for me to discuss that in 2016, after 15 years of the so-called threat of Latinas/os numerically surpassing African-Americans, Latinas/os are read in a multiplicity of ways: adhering to their own communities (whereas by nationality, region and/or as Latinas/os) while being charged with an assimilationist racial discourse in a (still) polarized black-white racial landscape. Latinas/os are racialized -- a practice that occurs irrespective of skin color or census-based ethno-racial categories . We are racialized in ways that mark us as people of color. But we are placed between the black and white racial binary, often forced to operate with those compass-like categories, pointing to ways of how to talk about race but always within the binary. All the while, our experience is trivialized as ethnic, not racial.

As a queer Latino faculty member, I'm sometimes asked by colleagues at many colleges and universities (including my home institution, American University) to address questions of gender and sexuality in diversity sessions, classrooms and other academic settings. But when such conversations turn to race and racial inequality, or when I queer a plain conversation intended for the sake of discussing only gender and sexuality by introducing racialized content, questions of power and issues of racism, the ambience is like a first date gone awfully wrong. However, that is how one makes waves happen.

As noted before, the differences between Latinas/os are immense. Yet it is often assumed inside and outside academe that we speak in a particular way. (Many of us often hear the so very offensive “Gosh, your English is so good!”) Or that we think in a particular way about social and economic issues, or that we are significantly more Catholic (or religious, for that matter). Even in academic settings, it is often assumed that we cannot challenge machismo practices (which, oddly enough, are only attributed to Latino culture!). Being “conditionally accepted” means managing a constant negotiation of these assumptions -- and tapping into self-control and our artful skills to challenge the tenets of such assumptions, be it about dancing, food, religion, family ties, immigration -- you name it.

For instance, I have had my share of experiences with white feminist scholars who speak to me in Spanish. I let out a few seconds of generous doubt about what that means, only to respond in English. I assume this is read as a warning, a symbolic one, before calling them out verbally the second (or third) time around. When I hear a mention of machismo, I tend to sigh and redirect to issues of heterosexism. When I hear that Latinos have a harder time coming out , I loop back to Allan Bérubé, John D’Emilio, and Gayle Rubin, all gay and lesbian historians and anthropologists, to explain that most urban gay cities were formed by white gay men who left their families and formed new communities -- for it is quite easy to come out a thousand miles away from family and when you are self-sufficient, but not when you live in the same household.

I am casually touched in a hallway or at my office in ways that seem to read acceptance into some sort of a club (as a light-skinned Latino), in contrast to how my black colleagues are often not touched, nor their personal space invaded. I am asked to represent my ethno-racial group when discussing race, just like a student is tokenized by being brought into a committee to speak for their group. Indeed, paternalism comes in all colors. I turn around to challenge this, and then I lose -- too angry to be collegial, too volatile to collaborate with. But the energy and patience it takes to not talk back is precious, and the point there is that it takes a hold of one.

Of course, my experiences as a faculty member at AU have somewhat influenced my writing. I have had my share of great department chairs and students, as well as wonderful relationships with its many administrators in more than a decade at the university -- and a lot of challenges at many of those levels as well.

Yet my writing comes, as I noted before, from many other places, experiences and tales told to me by colleagues at public and private institutions. The point is really not about a faculty member at a single institution but rather about the echo produced once a story is told and how it resonates with others in academe. In that, it is not just my story. It is also not an ethnography of the institution where I have worked for over a decade nor an autoethnography of myself in a place. It is constitutive of larger experiences of managing one’s own set of lived realities as “diversity workers” by virtue of being on those spaces, as Sara Ahmed so eloquently notes in her 2012 book, On Being Included: Racism and Diversity in Institutional Life .

The point of this first post is that, while I am writing solo, I am not alone, but I am also not representing all Puerto Ricans, all queer people or all Latinas/os. That brings a lot of excitement to the writing, and I look forward to hearing, and reading, the echo of many other voices for which these stories resonate -- Latina/o and non-Latina/o alike.

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Latino Identity

There is no singular Latino experience

What does it mean to be Latino? To be Hispanic? To be Latinx? What does it mean to be American? Identity, or how we understand and express ourselves, is very complex. The Latino community is incredibly diverse and many Latinos and Latinas having layered identities. As activist Jonathan Jayes Green has said “I am not willing to compartmentalize my identities. I am all that I am all the time.”

Latino identities are unique and shaped by factors such as geography, heritage, race, gender, and more. Learn more about identity in the stories and video below. You can also watch the Somos video to hear more stories.  

Watch Somos

My identity is comprised of many layers . . . living on the border and being a Fronteriza or a border person makes a difference. My identity is as a woman, as a grandmother. . . As a mother, as an educator, as a lesbian, as a mexicana, as an American. . .  These many layers of our identity help us to understand how complex society is, how complex geography is, how complex history is.  

Dr. Yolanda Leyva, Borderland Historian 

Xiuhtezcatl Martinez: Identity and Activism

Latino identity is rich and varied.  Xiuhtezcatl Martinez explains the complexity of his Indigenous identity and how it intersects with his climate justice activism. 

Stories from the Past

For centuries Latinos and Latinas have been expressing and preserving unique identities. Explore these two stories of identity from the 1800s. 

Cooking and preserving old recipes can be a powerful way to express identity and preserve cultural heritage. Encarnación Pinedo (1848–1902) grew up during the mid-1800s in California’s Santa Clara Valley. Her family, like many Californios, lost land, wealth, and privilege after the Mexican-American War. Nonetheless, Pinedo dedicated herself to cultivating her culinary and writing talents. She published El cocinero español ( The Spanish Cook ) in San Francisco in 1898. Pinedo's Mexican, Spanish, and Basque recipe collection preserved Californio culture by way of food. 

Pablo Tac (1822–1841) was an Indigenous Luiseño who was born in Mission San Luis Rey in present-day southern California. Following Mexican independence in 1821, Franciscan missionary Father Antonio Peyrí selected Tac to relocate to Europe with him. Tac arrived in Rome in 1834 to study for the priesthood. While there, he wrote about the history and lifestyle of Luiseño Indians. Later, Tac created the first Luiseño writing system. Tac’s efforts helped to preserve and perpetuate Luiseño culture and identity despite Spanish colonization.

Musical Expressions of Identity: The Puerto Rican Cuatro

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The Fundamental Paradox of Latinidad

In his new book, Héctor Tobar tries to pin down an inherently slippery concept.

For the writer Héctor Tobar, latinidad , which means something like “Latino-ness,” or the condition of being Latino, is both sweeping and particular: It encompasses all those who identify as Latino and at the same time nods to the fact that each Latino experience is highly individual. In his new book, Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of “Latino” , Tobar writes that Latinos “have crossed oceans and deserts, and entered into new and exotic urban ‘barrios’ and ‘ghettos,’ and planted roots in farm towns on vast and verdant plains.” But these shared histories have meant different things for those whose families come from Andalusia, Oaxaca, or Texas. As Tobar writes, Latinos “will not fit in any box.” The feeling of being ni de aquí, ni de allá —from neither here nor there—is the fundamental paradox of latinidad , its very essence.

A professor of journalism and Chicano and Latino studies at UC Irvine, Tobar is the author of several books, including The Tattooed Soldier , a novel about a Guatemalan refugee in Los Angeles who is still haunted by his home country’s civil war; Deep Down Dark , a nonfiction account of the dramatic story of the 33 miners who were trapped in an underground mine in Chile in 2010; and The Last Great Road Bum , a novel based on the adventurous life of Joe Sanderson , an American who died fighting with Central American guerrillas. These other works dovetail with his own lived experience in one way or another, but Our Migrant Souls , which begins with an address to his students, is even more personal. In it, Tobar uses the details of his own life and the broader past of Latinos in America to situate himself within the long sweep of Latino history.

Tobar’s book should be read in the context of other works that, for more than a century, have tried to elucidate the meaning of latinidad . In his 1891 essay “Our America,” José Martí, a Cuban writer then living in New York, argued that Latin American identity was defined, in part, by a rejection of the racism that he believed characterized the United States. The Mexican author Octavio Paz, in his 1950 book, The Labyrinth of Solitude , described the pachuco (a word used to refer to young Mexican American men, many of them gang members, in the mid-1900s) as a “pariah, a man who belongs nowhere,” alienated from his Mexican roots but not quite of the United States either. Gloria Anzaldúa, in her 1987 classic, Borderlands/La Frontera , described Chicana identity as the product of life along the U.S.-Mexico border, “una herida abierta [an open wound] where the Third World grates against the first and bleeds.”

More recent attempts to synthesize Latino history include Juan Gonzalez’s Harvest of Empire and Laura Gómez’s Inventing Latinos , which, like Tobar’s book, argue that the legacy of colonization of the Americas by Europeans is central to what it means to be Latino. Our Migrant Souls is, therefore, only the latest attempt to pin down an inherently slippery concept. More than these other works, though, it engages in contemporary debates and issues, such as how Latinos have related to Blackness and indigeneity, the question of why some Latinos choose to identify as white, and the political conservatism of certain Latino communities. It is also the most lyrical and literary of the genre, harnessing Tobar’s deep talents as a writer and his fluency in pop culture, and offers a more intimate look into the barrios, homes, and minds of people who, he argues, have been badly, and sometimes willfully, misunderstood.

Read: There’s no such thing as ‘the Latino vote’

Tobar describes the falsehoods and oversimplified narratives that get perpetuated about both Latinos and migrants—not just by bigots but also, at times, by the news media, activists, and “people who are entirely sympathetic with our ‘plight.’” ( Latino and migrant are not synonymous, of course, for the obvious reason that most Latinos living in the United States today were born here . But Tobar’s main focus is on how the migrant experience has shaped Latino identity.) Racist demagogues claim that Latin American migrants represent an existential threat to the United States, like “sheep heading stupidly northward to the United States, where they will become ‘Democratic voters’ and public charges,” as Tobar writes. More mundane but also damaging are the “visuals of immigrant suffering” on the news, or stories that show Latinos as one-dimensional people who are as “pure in heart and conduct as the martyrs in a Sunday-school story.” Then there are the unconscious assumptions that white Americans might make: Here Tobar mentions the families who hire Latinos as domestics or caretakers, then, when their work is done, imagine them heading home to the “grimy and overpopulated warrens of the immigrant barrio.”

“To be Latino in the United States,” Tobar writes, “is to see yourself portrayed, again and again, as an intellectually and physically diminished subject in stories told by others.” Tobar seeks to restore Latinos’ full humanity, arguing that we need to see them as people with rich, detailed lives. We need to see them in their homes, as Tobar suggests, surrounded by the small and beautiful objects they cherish, perhaps paintings of Don Quixote or prints of Diego Rivera’s work. We need to understand that they want the same freedoms, comforts, and securities that all people have wanted since the beginning of civilization: to have a “home with a place to paint, or a big, comfortable chair to sit in and read under a lamp, with a cushion under the small of our backs.”

According to Tobar, the restoration of Latino humanity—especially for migrants—depends on an acknowledgment of the harms they have endured. Too many Americans willfully ignore the dangerous treks that, after days of exposure, kill those trying to cross into the country. Even when migrants survive the journey and settle across the United States, Tobar sees a dark thread connecting them: “Our ancestors,” he writes, “have escaped marching armies, coups d’état, secret torture rooms, Stalinist surveillance, and the outrages of rural police forces.” Tobar is referring here to the domestic conflicts, fueled by the U.S. military, in Guatemala, Cuba, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and other countries during the Cold War, leading to unrest and forcing civilians in those places to flee northward. “And now we stand in the United States, on a Miami street corner, or in an Atlanta suburb, working to pull the strands of our family history together, and to make ourselves feel whole, again.” For Tobar, this history of violence is something all Latinos have in common, no matter where in the country they live.

Our Migrant Souls settles into a close-up look at Los Angeles, where Tobar has spent a lifetime trying to “unlock the code buried in the sidewalks and hidden in the street signs.” For him, Los Angeles is a city of runaways: among them, Black people from the South, migrants from Latin America, non-Latino white people, rich and poor, who have traveled there to reinvent themselves. Tobar makes a case for solidarity among these various groups, especially Black and Latino people. As he writes, Latinos “inhabit places that are never far from Black struggle and the history of white supremacy.” In a chapter titled “Walls,” he explores that proximity, telling the story of a human-smuggling ring that was discovered operating out of a home in Compton, a city with large Black and Latino populations. When 17 migrants were detained and handcuffed by immigration authorities, a Black neighbor heard the metal handcuffs hitting one another and told Tobar, “When I heard those chains, I shed a tear … Thinking of them being hungry and needy. It took me back to what we know, as Black people.”

Read: Solidarity doesn’t look like this

Tobar imagines Black and Latino people embracing their shared pasts. He laments that, in school, children “are taught a version of our national history in which each ethnic and racial group lives in its own narrative channel, following the logic of its own traditions and suffering.” He finds inspiration in an Atlanta mural by Yehimi Cambrón that depicts a “Blaxican [Black and Mexican] boy and his African American mother, reaching for butterflies”—a symbol of the undocumented—as well as in a 1970s wedding photograph of a “dapper African American man holding his Mexican bride.” He writes, “I want a theory of social revolution that begins in this kind of intimate space,” not in the symbols “appropriated by corporate America,” like the Black Lives Matter banners displayed at professional sporting events, or the CEO of JPMorgan Chase kneeling at a branch of his bank, which critics have read as virtue signaling. Mere intimacy and the recognition of common histories aren’t the same as justice, but they are necessary starting points for healing divisions.

Our Migrant Souls made me feel a personal connection with Tobar. It isn’t often in middle age that, after an encounter with literature, you find new meaning in childhood events that you’d understood one way for decades. Yet this was Tobar’s effect on me, and I’m sure I won’t be the only one.

His book made me wonder about the racial dynamics between the two halves of my family—my mother’s side, white, and my father’s, Latino—which I’ve never asked my parents about. When Tobar writes about high-school guidance counselors who discourage their Latino students from applying to the best universities, I remembered sitting in the office of my own guidance counselor and sinking in my chair as she did the same. When he recalls the homes his aunt Gladys cleaned in Beverly Hills, I remembered accompanying my grandma while she cleaned the houses of wealthy white families in Tucson. Tobar helped me see what seemed like ordinary childhood and adolescent memories through the lens of race.

Still, as skilled as Tobar is at connecting his experience to that of others, there are many Latino stories that he does not, and probably cannot, tell. For one, he conceives of Latino history as the history of a people who have endured traumas because of the actions of the U.S. But this framing wouldn’t appeal to Latinos who see the United States as the country where their dreams came true, where they’ve built careers, bought homes, provided for their families. Having written a book about Latino Republicans , I know they would object to Tobar’s characterizations of them as angry and duped by conservative rhetoric.

In Our Migrant Souls , Tobar suggests that these Latinos merely want to “fit” into the existing power structures of the U.S. He counters: “We can’t simply request ‘our seat at the table.’ If we do so we can achieve many personal liberations, while allowing the systems of inequality to reproduce themselves.” This feels like an oversimplification of the motivations and self-perceptions of Latinos who don’t see themselves in the same way that he does. If the small number of conservative Latinos Tobar interviewed are anything like the Hispanic Republicans I’ve talked with over the years, they would tell him that it is the Republican Party that best represents their economic, religious, and political values.

Of course, no one book could account for all of the 60 million Latinos in the United States, but even the migrants Tobar focuses on demonstrate a greater range of viewpoints than he acknowledges. If our aim is to understand the full story of Latinos—assuming such a thing is possible—we should explore all of the complexities of those who live in a country that is becoming more Latino by the day. For that, we’ll need other books besides Our Migrant Souls , ones that describe the inner worlds, motives, and ambitions of Latinos who see themselves and their place in this country differently. They, too, are part of the Latino story.

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Earth Day Isla Vista – Celebrating Through Music, Nature, and Fun

In photos: men’s basketball: gauchos vs uc davis, art as a weapon against invasion – film reminds us of…, opportunity for all uc office of the president yet to make…, the top boba places in isla vista – a journey into…, getting kozy: isla vista’s newest coffee shop, a call for natural sustainability: the story and mission of the…, tasa night market 2023: fostering community and featuring budding clubs at…, in photos – daedalum luminarium, an art installation, creating characters we love: the screenwriting process in our flag means…, indigo de souza and the best-case anticlimax, a spectrum of songs: ucsb’s college of creative studies set to…, nature in i.v. – black mold, southern california is in super bloom, from love to likes: social media’s role in relationships, the gloom continues: a gray may, the rise of ai girlfriends: connecting with desires and discussing controversy,…, letter to the editor: dining hall laborers have had enough, do…, is studying abroad worth it for a ucsb student, workers at ucsb spotlight: being a writing tutor for clas, the immense struggles of first-generation latino college students.

Edward Colmenares

Editor-in-Chief

Imagine being tasked with setting the precedent of success for your entire family at 17 years old. No matter the personal cost, it is now your responsibility to lift your family out of poverty. This is the crucial promise many first-generation Latine college students make when they head off to higher education. Once they reach college, however, these students only uncover a disheartening reality. They were set up to fail from the start.

Stricken with discouragement when comparing childhoods with their wealthier peers, these first-generation Latine students recognize that university was not intended for them. Since the inception of higher education institutions, and up until a couple of generations ago, there was no reasonable path for these students to even attend university, and the few lucky enough to enroll could only do so under the demeaning conditions of systematic racism.

From K-12, Latine students are at a disadvantage. Born to immigrant, working-class parents, Latine children begin their educational journey with a lack of socioeconomic privileges that their peers have become accustomed to by pre-school. Often, neither parent in the household speaks English fluently enough to teach their child(ren) the language. Spanish is all these kids know, as they suddenly enter an environment where they will be excluded because of the simple fact that they speak a different language that isn’t English. Thus, a striking 82 percent of all students K-12 situated in California English language learning programs are Latine. 

Any English learned at school then becomes a tool for the parents and family as these students commonly become a resource for translating, whether spoken in a movie or present in billing letters. It is important to note that a large portion of Latine parents did not make it past high school due to a lack of educational resources in their home country, so it is particularly difficult for them to learn English upon reaching the U.S.

Many Latine children are familiar with poverty. Representing 17 percent of the American workforce , Latine families are actively working to improve the lives of their children but can commonly only do so through exhausting manual labor. In agricultural, construction, or housekeeping occupations, the Latine population composes over half or close to half of the labor force . However, the unreliability and unlivable wages of these jobs severely limits the financial capacities of these working families.

As a result, Latine children in California K-12 schools account for 71 percent of all economically disadvantaged students and 73 percent of all homeless students. Considering that these same Latine children make up over one-half of all California students, it is an unfortunate reality that poverty strikes these children at disproportionately high rates.

When looking at Latine high school seniors graduating and potentially enrolling in the University of California (UC) or California State University (CSU) system, only 44 percent would even be eligible to apply. In order to qualify for either of these public institutions, a series of A-G courses must first be completed in high school, but the low-income school districts where these students are from are not sufficiently informing or preparing them for the admission requirements of higher education. 

Getting into a four-year university is simply not a possibility for a majority of first-generation Latine. Out of 1,391,503 Latine undergraduates in California, 72 percent enroll in community colleges optimistically planning to transfer after two years. However, after six years, only about a third of these students actually end up enrolling in four-year colleges or universities while the rest drop out or postpone their education indefinitely. 

The good news is that Latine students who are lucky enough to attend a major California four-year institution do tend to be first-generation. In both the UC and CSU system three out of four Latino students are the first in their family to reach higher education, which is over double that of other races. This luck has a limit though, as these students will face certain struggles the rest of the student body does not.

First and foremost comes the stress of paying for higher education, and Latine communities are granted less state and federal financial aid when compared to other races. Furthermore, expected contributions from parents and family members are significantly lower. On average, families of Latine students are expected to pay $5,911, compared to $13,319 for white families .

To make up for a lack of family funds, a majority of Latine students find employment to cover tuition and the cost of living. At the expense of academic performance and social participation, about 32 percent of all employed Latine students are working full-time with the rest being employed part-time. It is discouraging that so many of these Latine students must work long hours while trying to maintain a reasonable commitment to school, and this stress contributes to higher dropout rates.

Each year, the amount of Latine students entering higher education rises, so it’s not all bad news. However, proportional to the number of other races, Latine are at a severe disadvantage on all academic grounds, especially those who desire to be the first in their families to attend college. Without proper accommodations and consideration, beginning from grade school, Latine students will commonly find themselves unable to reach any adequate mantle of success for their families and will continue in poverty.

• Science & Tech

What do you think? Leave a respectful comment.

This author traveled across the country to ask: what does it mean to be latino.

Jeffrey Brown Jeffrey Brown

Anne Azzi Davenport Anne Azzi Davenport

• Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/this-author-traveled-across-the-country-to-ask-what-does-it-mean-to-be-latino

What does it mean to be Latino? Author Hector Tobar took a 9,000-mile road trip across the country last winter exploring exactly that. In an essay for Harper’s and a forthcoming book, “A Migrant’s Light,” he captures the history and experience of Latinos everywhere from Los Angeles to Texas, Florida and New York. He talks to Jeffrey Brown about what he saw and how he thinks about his own identity.

Read the Full Transcript

Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.

William Brangham:

The numbers are in. Latinos account for more than half of population growth in the U.S., according to the latest census, and this evolution will continue to transform the American landscape.

But what does it mean to be Latino? That question is explored in an extended essay in the current issue of "Harper's Magazine."

Jeffrey Brown talks with author Hector Tobar for our arts and culture series, Canvas.

Hector Tobar:

It's this name, this term that hangs on to us during our entire lives. We're just forced to choose tribes in this country.

Jeffrey Brown:

As a child in Los Angeles, Hector Tobar was considered Guatemalan American. Later, on a census form, he checked Hispanic.

Now he's Latino.

What do these tribes mean? We're presented with these names of these different races, these ethnic groups as if they mean something to us.

It's being used to judge our actions, to make comments on how we approach our politics. And so I have been spending a couple of years now actually trying to sort of take apart the origins of the term and its meaning, and what it means both for us and how others see us.

As described in the current "Harper's Magazine," Tobar took a 9,000-mile road trip around the U.S. last winter amid the pandemic to see the diversity of history and experience of people of Latin American heritage, L.A., Oregon, Idaho, south to New Mexico, east to Texas, then Georgia, Florida, New York, and points west on the way home.

The article is accompanied by photographs by others capturing some of the spirit of specific places.

You have all these different stories of how people arrived at Latino identity.

So, in New Mexico, for example, people really think of themselves as Spanish, because that was the place that was most colonized by the Spanish during the Spanish empire. So, that identity, that Latino identity, is something very different from, let's say, South Florida, where you have this Cuban migration.

And so to be Latino means so many different things from New York to Los Angeles, to Dallas, Texas, to El Paso.

And you write: "We are brown, Black, white, indigenous, European, and African. Some of us speak Spanish. Some of us don't."

How much is that diversity understood?

I don't think it's understood very well at all.

I think that there is a real failure to understand the intimacies at the heart of the Latino experience, the ambivalence that people feel. You know, your average Latino immigrant, first-generation immigrant, is really conflicted about his or her or their identity. Where do I really belong? You know, am I really Mexican? Am I really Honduran? Am I really Cuban? I have American children now. Does that make me American?

You know, the inner turmoil of the Latino experience really is part of what defines us as a people.

The labels, though, you suggest, are always about distinguishing some part of the population from the dominant white population, especially now.

So, tell me what you see happening.

The United States people, the people of North America, have always sort of struggled with words to describe the people who come from the south, right, who come from Mexico, who come from the Caribbean.

In the 1930 census, Mexican was a race category, because American people sought to sort of explain or describe these darker-skinned mestizo people from Mexico, saw them as different. And so, for that one census, Mexican was a race. And now, most recently, I would say in the last 20 to 30 years, with all this furor over undocumented people and illegal immigration, Latino people have become this sort of brown race of people who are threatening to the United States, in the eyes of many people.

And so, there's been this racialization of Latino people.

Tobar notes differences in voting patterns among people he visited, strong reaction against the rhetoric of the Trump years, but also a move toward then-President Trump in some areas.

The 2020 election was, in many ways, a traumatic event for Latino people across the United States, because our people were at the center of the election.

And I think that remains true in United States politics, but especially in the 2020 election, where you had this politician whose rise in the GOP is linked to his xenophobic statements, to his statements against Mexican immigrants.

At the same time, when we go to the voting booth, that's not the only thing that's going to determine how we vote. And so this sort of failing to understand all of these different complications and subtleties in the Latino thinking process I think is what's been most frustrating to me.

Today, some people, young people especially — and you write about your own children using the term Latinx. You can't help but think that the evolution of terms continues.

Oh, absolutely.

Latinx is something used by people who are kind of uncomfortable with the binaries in the Spanish language itself, with the masculine and the feminine genders that are assigned to nouns and subjects in Spanish language.

So, this new term Latinx has evolved, and now people are starting to use that term in ways that are not just about gender, but also about deconstructing Latino itself, because Latino is a term that is very Euro-centric. It's saying that we are tied to this European past, to this Spanish past.

A lot of us are very uncomfortable with that, because we have this indigenous descent. I'm part Mayan. Latino cancels out my Mayan identity. So, Latinx is a response also to that.

Tobar cites studies showing very few people using the term Latinx so far. But the use of different terms, he says, remains fluid.

His road trip and article are part of a larger project, an upcoming book on Latino identity today.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Jeffrey Brown.

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In his more than 30-year career with the News Hour, Brown has served as co-anchor, studio moderator, and field reporter on a wide range of national and international issues, with work taking him around the country and to many parts of the globe. As arts correspondent he has profiled many of the world's leading writers, musicians, actors and other artists. Among his signature works at the News Hour: a multi-year series, “Culture at Risk,” about threatened cultural heritage in the United States and abroad; the creation of the NewsHour’s online “Art Beat”; and hosting the monthly book club, “Now Read This,” a collaboration with The New York Times.

Anne Azzi Davenport is the Senior Producer of CANVAS at PBS News Hour.

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Ethnicity, Race, and Migration

Being a white latina: a reflection on racial and ethnic identities.

We live in a country where race is a dichotomy and people are literally separated into categories of black and white – but human identities are not that simple. When speaking about my own racial identity, it is impossible not to also talk about my ethnic identity. These two concepts go hand-in-hand. How one regards themselves ethnically and the cultural background that one has grown up with, will inevitably shape the way one sees themselves through a racial lens; it will also affect the way they are perceived from the outside. When talking about my own racial identity I cannot just speak about the color of my skin nor the box I check off on applications. Not only would that would be an injustice to myself, but it would also negate the reality of the complexities and nuances that arise when we try to essentialize and simplify people’s ethnological narratives.

My racial and ethnic identification have been majorly affected by the fact that I grew up in New York City, “the central diasporic location for [many] transnational communities historically and in our times” according to scholar Juan Flores, the director of Latino Studies at NYU. I was born and raised in Queens to an Argentine mother and an Italian-American father, but spent my formative years with my grandmother and mother in a Spanish speaking home. Growing up in Queens, the most diverse borough of New York, almost every single one of my friends was either an immigrant or the child of immigrant parents. Because of the wide variety of races and ethnicities, while living in Queens “where are you from?,” “what’s your nationality?,” and “what are you?” are common questions to receive and to ask starting at a very young age. Even if the person’s nationality is American and they were born in the States, they automatically connect themselves to their parent’s or grandparent’s countries, since this is what is expected. I have never heard anyone say “I am American” even if they technically were.

When presented with these questions, I used to respond with “I’m Hispanic, from Argentina,” and thought it was just as easy as that. I never identified with my skin color or with the racial categorization of “white” and always found myself connecting to a greater pan-Latino community, regardless of the race of these other students. My identification as a Latina from this young age is reflected in the AOL Instant Messenger username I made when I was 12 years old: BaNgInLaTiNa17. However, after entering college and starting to travel internationally and taking Ethnicity, Race, and Migration (ER&M) classes, I realized my ethnic identification was complicated by both my race and my United States nationality. Since then, my ethnic and racial identity has been something I have constantly struggled with.

Although my family is from Argentina, I am from the United States, which complicates my ethnic and racial identity. The spring semester of my sophomore year at Yale I decided to take a semester off of school in order to go live with my family in Buenos Aires. This had been one of my first experiences outside of the States, and was the first time I realized my racial/ethnic identity changed according to context (I should address that this was before taking any ER&M classes). I found out that within the context of Argentina itself, I was considered estadounidense [American] and that people considered me una gringa [a foreign white woman]; the labels “Latina” and “Argentine” did not travel with me to Argentina itself. As I continued to backpack across several other countries in South America, and eventually to several countries in Europe, I realized that the self-identifications I had grown so comfortable with since my elementary school days in Queens were often times not considered valid outside of the United States.

After returning from my semester off I had decided to take my first ER&M class at Yale,  Latino New York . During the critical discussions of  latinidad  and how  latinidad intersects with race, my whole outlook on my racial identification changed. Though I had become aware of my “whiteness” while in South America, I had been reluctant to identify as being white and to accept that I was  una gringa . Although I still dismiss the notion of being a gringa, reading scholarly material and discussing racial relations with my classmates in my  Latino New York  seminar made it clear to me that despite being Latina, I have white privilege. Under the limited racial categories available to us in our vernacular, I am white.

During and after my  Latino New York  class, I began to spend much time thinking critically about my race and trying to understand how it has influenced and shaped my life. I wanted to know how my experience as a white-Latina varied from the lived experiences of other Latinos. I took note of the fact that with my European features and light skin color comes white privilege and the ability to merge into what is considered “American,” which is not an option many other people of Latino descent have. For fair-skinned Latinos the racial category of “white” is often assigned to us and available to us, which in a way seems a bit like an oxymoron. The term Latino has often been associated with marginalization and repression while the term white is associated with control and domination – these two words combined together is in and of itself a very complicated phrase to come to terms with and to reflect on.

Although I certainly cannot complain about being in a position of privilege when it comes to my skin color and Anglo features, I have realized it has shaped the way in which I connect to my  latinidad  and to the community at large. After a few Latino studies courses, I became aware that in order to be regarded as “Latina” I have to assert my  latinidad  and constantly prove it – either through my use of Spanish, my ability to dance to Latin dances, or by explaining my family history. This contrasts greatly with the lived experiences of many other Latinos, especially those of color. As one Dominican man who moved to Providence as a teenager said:

I think my children will be Dominican-Americans, my grandchildren, I don’t know. But you know, we will always be Latinos. You Argentinians look like Italians, you can merge in this country, but look how we look, our skin is different, our color is different, and also our culture is different and you know how much we value very much our ways. We can never merge, we are going to be like other communities, different, powerful but different. We are going always to be Latinos.    

My experiences have also been affected by the fact that I am a second-generation immigrant. I first realized this after reading Jorge Duany’s book  Blurred Borders: Transnational Migration between the Hispanic Caribbean and the United States during the summer of 2013. According to the concept of “segmented assimilation” he discusses, it is common for second-generation immigrations of racialized groups such as Afro-Dominicans and Haitians to be stuck in a path of “downward assimilation,” a phenomena in which a group of people adopts perceived “negative traits” from the culture they are assimilating into rather than “mainstream values and customs” due to their inability to find support within the mainstream culture. However, most second-generation Latinos that are not racialized, such as many Cubans, experience “selective acculturation,” the acquiring of certain “normative” aspects of society, and upward mobility in the United States. Through the lens of this framework, I relate more to the Cuban experience, in that my lived experience is very different than the many Latinos in NYC that have been racialized and continued to stay within what is considered the “minority,” thus not receiving the same opportunities that I have access to. Because of my fair skin and my “whiteness,” I am allowed the privilege of selecting which parts of “Latino culture” I want to relate to, ergo exercising selective acculturation. After reading Duany, realize that I can hide my Latina identity when needed in order to move upwards in our prejudice society, yet use my Spanish and experiences of growing up in a South American immigrant household when I so choose.

My cultural identity is not static and is constantly changing depending on my geographical location, the situation, and who I am speaking with. Race and ethnicity are imagined concepts, and they are extremely complicated to understand and define. I am Argentine, I am white, I am non-white, I am Latina, I am gringa, I am European, I am South American, I am American – I am all of these things. We must not forget that race and ethnicity should not be viewed as separate, independent entities; they are concepts that are constantly at play with each other and with multiple other factors. These various forms of self-identification and of assigned-identifications have had and continue have enormous influences on people’s self perceptions, their lived experiences, and the way in which communities function. None of these issues are simple nor straightforward, and there is definitely a need to create more spaces in which people can reflect on their own racial and ethnic identities and how they have shaped their lives and the lives of their fellow humans.

Nicholle Lamartina Palacios is a recent graduate of Yale University. She received her B.A. in Ethnicity, Race & Migration, with a concentration in Latino and African studies. She is a native New Yorker and comes from an Argentine household. She recently worked at the Bronx Defenders as a Policy & Community Outreach Intern. Currently, she is working with New Haven based activist group Unidad Latina en Acción on migrant issues, with a specific focus on unaccompanied Central American youth.

You can visit her personal blog, Let’s Talk Race, at  this link.   You can contact her at  NicholleLP@gmail.com

• Personal Essay

For the White Latina Struggling With Her Identity — I've Been There, Too

For most of my life, I would shrug off the fact that my parents left everything behind in their native land to ensure that their three kids could reach their potential — something that couldn't be achieved back home in Argentina. I didn't realize until recently that everything that I have and will achieve in life is due to them overcoming their fears of leaving our home and our family and diving headfirst into the unknown. I owe it to them – and to the ones still struggling with their Latino identity — to write this.

In my first school in the United States, my bilingual teacher asked me to speak to her. Anything at all. With the option to either speak in English or Spanish, I refused both. Angry at having to choose one or the other, at having to choose who I was, I didn't talk for two months. That was my first encounter of my confused identity.

I knew early on I didn't fit any specific mold. No one assumed that I spoke Spanish at school. My last name didn't have anything "Hispanic" about it. I didn't fit the stereotypical Latina label for my peers. My cousins would tell me that I had no choice but to think in English, being the "gringa" that I was. I didn't fit the stereotypical Argentinian label for them, and no matter how hard I tried, I didn't fit the stereotypical American label for myself. It was exhausting. But in my own house, surrounded by my supportive family, I knew what I was: I was a young immigrant. I was born in Argentina. But why didn't I feel as Argentinian as I should?

Being a white, blond, blue-eyed, Jewish Argentinian challenged everyone's views of what they thought a Latinx was. "How are you Hispanic AND Jewish? It's not possible!" I got this question way too many times. Since I moved to the United States at the age of 3, the American lifestyle was all that I knew. My older brothers had the connection to Argentina that, for the majority of my childhood, was nonexistent. While they had the slight accents to have others question their nationality, no one batted an eye when I spoke. While they had the middle school with a large Latino community, I had a white, private school. While they had the memories imprinted in their brains of what home was, I had only the stories I heard and easily forgot.

I remember when my family would make fun of my Spanish accent through our FaceTime calls; I felt betrayed by my own tongue. I remember when my parents' broken English would embarrass me. I struggled with being an Americanized Latina. I didn't know which side I wanted to embrace. Little did I know that I didn't have to choose just one; I could be both. But instead of trying to accept my ethnicity and my differences, I would do anything to avoid the whole Latina stereotype. The most diverse title I would have accepted in my preteen years would have been Jewish.

Looking back, I wish that I had gotten over the fact that we weren't your typical Brady Bunch family sooner. But I'm glad that I realized that I didn't care that we didn't fit any specific label. I got out of my sheltered bubble, and I appreciate it all in a way I never thought I could.

While I used to be embarrassed about something as minuscule as my parents' accents, I now realize how ridiculous that was. My dad works hour after hour as a doctor, even going to work in the middle of a Category 4 hurricane to help his patients. My mom donates not only her time and effort but also her whole heart to anyone in need. My two older brothers study and work their whole days but will do anything to brighten people's days. Despite the negative stigma and reputation that immigrants get repeatedly here, I know first-hand that it isn't the least bit true, and it won't ever tear down the pride I have for my family and my community.

I realized that my parents' accents didn't stop them from impacting the world, from impacting us. Their dedication — from learning a new language to working hard just to be able to spoil us and give us a better life – paved a path for me to follow. They taught me to embrace our differences, for they are the ones that make us who we are. They taught me to speak out for what I believe in. They taught me to stay humble, empathetic, and grateful.

While I learned to take pride in my roots, I still struggle with some of my identity today. My small but noticeable Spanish accent makes me stand out to my family. My common Argentinian name is still mocked at school. But that doesn't make me any less proud of who I am. I can't imagine a life without the support of my loud, loving, Hispanic family, a life without blasting our favorite Spanish music, a life without showing our whole city who we are — Latinos. And am I proud to be one.

• Community Websites

Being Latino Means I am Breaking the Status Quo and Enlightening the World of my Culture and Heritage (by Leri Argueta)

Home / News / Being Latino Means I am Breaking the Status Quo and Enlightening the World of my Culture and Heritage (by Leri Argueta)

(This essay was originally posted @  GALEO.org  website. We are re-posting in an effort to increase awareness of the voices and opinions of Latinos in Georgia)

I am the son of Latino immigrants, whose footsteps crossed the deserts of Mexico, whose sweat, blood and teardrops stained the path that crossed 3 countries and 4 states as they escaped a country torn by civil war.

My parents are from El Salvador, the smallest country in Central America. In the 1970s they both ran away from the one place they called home in hopes of a better life in America. I was born in California, but I might as well have been raised in El Salvador. I remember growing up not being allowed to watch TV, but helping my dad work and living off whatever we could afford. $2.50 an hour, that’s what my parents earned because they did not have “papers.” From a young age, I learned that we had to help one another (no matter what age) so that we can eat and have a place to sleep in. 

“No hables inglés,” is what my mother told me when I was home. She made sure that we acknowledge our culture and heritage as I grew up in American and learned English at school. At home I learned how to make the food of my parent’s country and speak Spanish. My father taught me one of the best lessons in my life, “el que no quiere su patria no quiere a su madre.” I am American pero soy Salvadoreño tambien.

Being Latino means so much to me. It means my roots, unity, family, my past, present, and future, it means my daughter, it means my culture, and it is the one thing you cannot take away from me for I own it, accept it, and embrace it every step I take and every move I make. Being Latino is doing what they say I cannot do, it’s about being who I was born to be. Being Latino also means upholding the spirits of my ancestors, fullfilling the dreams of my people, and continuing the footsteps that got us here.

Being Latino in education to me means I am breaking the status quo and enlightening the world of my culture and heritage.

One thing we can all do to support my community is just listen to the stories of my people. History class does not tell one either the true stories of ours or all of it, so we need to listen to the voices and stories to better understand and then we can stand for our human rights as well.

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‘Street race’ may be a more accurate reflection of Latinos’ racial differences, new report shows

Asking Latinos about their “street race,” or how they're perceived racially by strangers based on their physical appearance, could help improve how the government collects data about race and ethnicity, according to a new report from the Latino Policy and Politics Institute at UCLA.

The ways in which federal government agencies, such as the U.S. Census Bureau, inquire about race and ethnicity — especially if one chooses just "Hispanic" or "Latino" — may not accurately reflect people's experiences. This is particularly true for Black Latinos, according to the authors.

“There is a problem when we pretend that race and ethnicity are the same thing,” Nancy Lopez, a sociology professor at the University of New Mexico and a co-author of the report, told NBC News. “We may be missing an opportunity to make visible differences with anti-blackness, " even within the Latino community, she said.

The report comes after the government announced changes that will include the choice of "Latino" or "Hispanic" as a combined race/ethnic group on census and other forms.

While Latinos of every color can face overt and subtle racism and discrimination , these experiences will vary depending on how they’re perceived by others.

That’s why Lopez argues in the report that asking people about their “street race” could provide necessary insight into the different ways Latinos are racially categorized.

According to the Pew Research Center, Black Latinos are more likely than non-Black Latinos to report having experienced discrimination based on race. Afro-Latinos also face disproportionate levels of policing and higher poverty rates compared to non-Black Latinos as well as worse health and labor outcomes, according to the UCLA report.

“I want to make clear that ‘street race’ is not just skin color,” Lopez said, adding that Latinos who may have facial features that resemble those of East Asian people may have a lighter skin color and still be “subjected to Asian hate based on what they look like.” Lopez said the same is true about Latinos who are categorized as Black and subjected to anti-Blackness.

The U.S. Office of Management and Budget, which creates guidelines for federal data collection on race and ethnicity, largely relies on how people choose to self-identify.

Previously, Latinos had a two-part question for their identity in federal forms such as the census. They were asked whether they were Hispanic or Latino, and then asked to pick a race: “American Indian or Alaskan Native,” “Asian or Pacific Islander,” “Black,” “White” or “some other.”

OMB changed this method in March to allow people to choose "Hispanic" or "Latino" as a combined race/ethnicity category. They can still mark other more specific categories, such as "Black" or "white," as well.

OMB made the change in response to the results from the 2020 census, which showed that most Hispanics did not identify their race as white, Black or Asian, but instead were  more likely  to choose “some other race” on the census or to check “two or more races.”

While some scholars say being able to mark "Latino" or "Hispanic" as a combined race/ethnicity reflects the way many people identify, others worry that marking just "Hispanic" or "Latino" can dilute important information about Latinos' racial differences.

The newest OMB guidelines apply to all federal agencies. Lopez and the co-authors of the report say that additional questions could still be added to official forms, including the “street race” question.

“Race is not simply about how you identify, though that’s important. No one wants to be told how to identify, and I think we absolutely should ask people how they self-identify,” Lopez said. “But we also need a question on perceived race.”

For more from NBC Latino,  sign up for our weekly newsletter .

Nicole Acevedo is a reporter for NBC Latino.

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Election 2024: Key Facts About Latino Voters

• Juliana Phan,
• Rodrigo Dominguez-Villegas,
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In 2024, Latino voters will have the power to decide the next presidential election and which party will control Congress. Growing by almost 4 million eligible voters and representing half of the total growth in eligible voters since 2020, the potential impact of Latinos on elections is more significant than ever.

Ucla lppi will release a series of data briefs utilizing the  latino data hub to focus on latino voters in critical states and counties, starting with the swing states of arizona and nevada. subsequent data analyses will be published through the summer and fall, including latino voter profiles for california, pennsylvania, and florida., key facts about latino voters in arizona, key facts about latino voters in nevada, contributors.

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Poll: Harris jumps to a small national lead over Trump

Domenico Montanaro

Left: U.S. Vice President Harris arrives for an NCAA championship teams celebration on the South Lawn of the White House on July 22 in Washington, D.C. Right: Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump holds a rally at the Van Andel Arena on July 20 in Grand Rapids, Mich. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images; Bill Pugliano/Getty Images hide caption

Vice President Harris has upended the presidential race and has now built a 51%-48% lead over former President Trump, according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll .

That result is 4 points better than just after Harris got into the race two weeks ago when President Biden bowed out. Harris maintains a 3-point lead (48%-45%) when third-party choices are offered, too.

Fueling her rise are Black voters, white women with college degrees and women who identify as political independents. She is doing 20 to 30 points better with them than when she first got in, leading to improvement in the suburbs and with white voters overall.

On the issues, the negative views of the economy are not sticking to Harris the way they did Biden. Trump is still more trusted on the economy, but only by 3 points over Harris (51%-48%), compared to 9 points over Biden (54%-45%) in June.

Harris is also seeing improvement on how she would handle immigration, though Trump is still more trusted on that topic by 6 points (52%-46%). Harris’ best issue is handling abortion rights. She has a 15-point advantage on that.

The survey was conducted from Thursday through Sunday, before Harris picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her vice-presidential running mate. Marist interviewed 1,613 adults via cellphone, landline and online research panels in English and in Spanish. The survey has a margin of error of +/- 3.3 percentage points, meaning results could be roughly 3 points higher or lower.

Women, Black voters and independents have all moved toward Harris

Because of Harris’ gains with certain groups, she’s also improved her standing in the suburbs and with white voters overall.

But there’s now a 22-point gender gap , which is wider than the margin between Trump and Biden in July. Harris now leads by 13 points with women (55%-42%), but is losing men by 9 points (54%-45%). Considering the margin of error, those are close to the results of the 2020 presidential election, according to exit polls .

Harris’ biggest boost is coming with Black voters. She has gone from a 23-point lead with Black voters over Trump a couple of weeks ago, when many voters moved into the undecided camp, to a 54-point lead now. Harris is moving closer to territory where Democrats need to be with Black voters.

Some Black voters, who appeared to be considering Trump, have moved away from him, as he’s dropped 10 points with them.

Harris is also now winning independents, something Biden was not doing. Harris is up 9 points with independents (53%-44%). She was down 14 points with them last month. And in early July, Trump was beating Biden by 4 points with the group.

Harris has also improved with white voters overall. Harris has gone from 40% with white voters overall to 46% in this survey, which is closer to where Biden was, and that’s very high for a Democrat. In fact, no Democrat has scored that high with white voters in a presidential election since Jimmy Carter in 1976. Biden got 41% in 2020, Barack Obama in 2008 won 43%.

That improvement is mostly because of college-educated white women. White voters without degrees, a core Trump base group, are heavily in Trump’s favor and their margin is unchanged. Two-thirds of college-educated white women, though, are now in Harris’ camp, which would be far higher than the percentage that sided with Biden in 2020.

She’s also winning with older voters. Harris is leading Trump by 11 points with baby boomers (55%-44%), for example.

Latinos have also moved in Harris’ favor. Fifty-eight percent say they would vote for her now, compared to 51% last month. That’s still below the 65% Biden won in 2020 .

Harris is not where she needs to be with voters under 45 at this point. Biden won them in 2020 by 14 points. Harris and Trump right now are tied with the group. Where Harris does far better than Biden with the group, though, is retaining them when third parties are introduced.

Biden was seeing double-digit drop-offs with Gen Z/millennials, for example. Harris, on the other hand, maintains and slightly expands her margin when respondents have a choice of candidates other than the two major-party picks.

Harris is benefiting from a boost in enthusiasm with core Democratic voter groups

Black, Latino and younger voters are saying they’re more fired up to vote now that Harris is in the race.

Black voters, Latinos and Gen Z/millennial voters have all jumped double-digits in saying they’re definitely voting.

In July, just 71% of Black voters, 68% of Latinos and 65% of Gen Z/millennials said they were definitely voting, among the lowest of any groups.

But now, that’s up to 81% with Black voters, 84% with Latinos and 80% with Gen Z/millennials, closer to being on par with white voters than in previous surveys.

Third parties seeing their lowest marks of the election

With Harris in the race, people appear to be moving away from third parties.

All of the third-party candidates are seeing their worst scores since Marist started asking about them in April. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., running as an independent, is down to just 5%. Professor Cornel West, also running as an independent, Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Libertarian Chase Oliver are all polling at or below 1%.

Kennedy still does best with those who have an unfavorable opinion of both Trump and Harris, pulling in about a third of those voters.

People are split on who they think will win, but far more say Harris will than they said of Biden

Last month, respondents were 20 points more likely to say Trump would beat Biden (59%-39%). Now, they’re split (48%-48%).

Notably, independents have flipped from 58% thinking Trump would win to 52% now saying they think Harris will.

People are also more satisfied with their choices , though only 47% say they are compared to 50% who say they are not. In June, there was a 10-point difference between people satisfied (42%) and those who were dissatisfied with their choices (52%).

Being honest and trustworthy is the most important quality for a president

While trustworthiness was the most important quality for Democrats and independent voters, a plurality of Republicans said a “strong leader” was most important to them.

All signs continue to point to a close election — not just in the presidential but also for Congress

Forty-seven percent said they want to see Democrats in control of Congress, while 45% said Republicans. That 2-point advantage is unchanged from June.

Democrats traditionally need a wider advantage in that score to make significant gains — in 2022, when they denied Republicans from winning a wave of House seats, they had a 4-point edge in the Marist poll; in 2020, it was 8, but Democrats lost House seats; they were +6 in 2018 and made significant gains, however; in 2014, when Republicans won seats, Republicans were +5 on the question.

The congressional ballot and the change in numbers of seats don’t always correlate cleanly because of where the most competitive seats are that cycle. In this cycle, for example, many are in suburban areas in New York, California and around Philadelphia, where Democrats have advantages in presidential years because of higher turnout among their core voter groups.

Biden’s approval is up

Now that Biden has dropped out of the race, his approval rating is seeing a bounce.

His approval is now 46%, which is the highest since February of 2023 and up 5 points since last month.

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Walz Instead of Shapiro Excites Left, but May Alienate Jewish Voters

Many Jewish organizations backed Harris’s pick for running mate, but beneath that public sentiment is unease over antisemitism on both the left and the right.

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By Jonathan Weisman

• Aug. 6, 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris faced a difficult choice when it came to Israel and her running mate: Selecting Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania could mollify many Jewish voters and other centrists over a subject that has bedeviled the Biden-Harris administration for nearly a year, Israel’s war in Gaza. It could also inflame the left, which has been protesting the administration for months.

Ms. Harris’s selection of Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota likely avoided fueling the Gaza demonstrations. But it could come at the expense of reassuring the center. And it may well have created a new point of friction with Jewish voters leery of a lurch to the left from the Democratic Party.

Was her decision to sidestep Mr. Shapiro, some wonder, overly deferential to progressive activists who many Jews believe have veered past anti-Israel fervor into anti-Jewish bigotry?

Nathan Diament, executive director of public policy for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, conceded there were “scores of reasons” why the vice president might have chosen someone other than Mr. Shapiro that had nothing to do with the campaign that the pro-Palestinian left had been waging against him.

But, he added, “The extremists who have been waging this campaign are going to declare victory, whether it’s true or not.”

Now, Mr. Diament said, Ms. Harris must “clearly say and demonstrate that those antisemitic campaigns had nothing to do with her choice, that she absolutely repudiates that sentiment.”

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Americans’ views of offensive speech aren’t necessarily clear-cut

About six-in-ten U.S. adults (62%) say that “people being too easily offended by things others say” is a major problem in the country today.

In a separate question, 47% say that “people saying things that are very offensive to others” is a major problem, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in April.

Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to understand Americans’ views on whether offensive speech – and people being too easily offended by what others say – are major problems for the country. For this analysis, we surveyed 8,709 U.S. adults from April 8 to 14, 2024.

Everyone who took part in this survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP’s methodology . Here are the questions used for this analysis , along with responses, and its methodology .

There are substantial differences in these views between Republicans and Democrats.

• Eight-in-ten Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say people being too easily offended by what others say is a major problem. By comparison, 45% of Democrats and Democratic leaners say the same.
• In contrast, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say that people saying things that are very offensive is a major problem in the country today. A 59% majority of Democrats say this, compared with 34% of Republicans.

Looking at Americans’ views on these two questions together, about a third (32%) say that people being too easily offended by things others say and people saying very offensive things to others are both major problems.

About as many Americans (30%) say people taking offense too easily is a major problem, but very offensive speech is not. A much smaller share (15%) say that people saying very offensive things is a major problem, but people too easily taking offense isn’t. And another 23% say that neither is a major problem in the country.

Sizable shares within both parties say both issues are major problems – 30% of Republicans and 32% of Democrats say this.

However, half of Republicans, compared with just 12% of Democrats, say people being too easily offended is a major problem, but people saying very offensive things isn’t. Slightly more than half of conservative Republicans (53%) hold this combination of views, along with 44% of moderate and liberal Republicans.

By contrast, about a quarter of Democrats (26%) – and a third of liberal Democrats – say people saying very offensive things is a major problem, but people being too easily offended is not. Just 4% of Republicans hold this combination of views.

Another 29% of Democrats, but just 15% of Republicans, say neither of these is a major problem.

There are also significant demographic differences in attitudes about offensive speech.

Race and ethnicity

While at least half of Americans across racial and ethnic groups say being too easily offended is a major problem in the country, White adults are particularly likely to say this. Nearly two-thirds of White adults (65%) say this is a major problem, as do 59% of Hispanic, 59% of Asian and 50% of Black adults.

No more than about one-in-ten in any of these groups say people getting offended too easily is not a problem in the country today.

Conversely, Black (63%), Asian (58%) and Hispanic (55%) adults are more likely than White adults (42%) to say that people saying very offensive things to others is a major problem.

Men (62%) and women (63%) are about equally likely to say people being too easily offended is a major problem.

But women (54%) are far more likely than men (40%) to say offensive speech is a major problem.

Within political parties, there are some differences by gender, race and ethnicity on these questions.

On whether people being too easily offended is a major problem:

• Hispanic Republicans (71%) are less likely than White Republicans (83%) to say this is a major problem. (The sample size for Black and Asian Republicans is too small to evaluate these groups individually.)
• There are no gaps between men and women in either party.

On whether offensive speech is a major problem:

• Democratic and Republican women are more likely than men in their parties to say offensive speech is a major problem. Among Democrats, 63% of women and 54% of men say this. And in the GOP, 43% of women and 27% of men say the same.
• While roughly two-thirds of Black (67%), Hispanic (65%) and Asian Democrats (64%) say this is a major issue, a narrower majority of White Democrats (54%) share that view.

Note: This is an update of a post originally published Dec. 14, 2021. Here are the questions used for this analysis , along with responses, and its methodology .

• Discrimination & Prejudice
• Free Speech & Press
• Political Ideals & Systems

J. Baxter Oliphant is a senior researcher focusing on politics at Pew Research Center .

Many adults in East and Southeast Asia support free speech, are open to societal change

Americans’ views of technology companies, most americans say a free press is highly important to society, ­most americans favor restrictions on false information, violent content online, freedom of speech and lgbt rights: americans’ views of issues in supreme court case, most popular.

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