Since the founding of the United States, people of Latin American ethnicity and lineage have seen various terms and labels created for their classification.
Among the many, such terms include Hispanic, Latino, Chicano, and Afro-Latino.
My personal favorites are Chicano and Mexican-American.
At one point, Chicano was used in a derogatory manner against Mexican-Americans. Nonetheless, in a political act during the 1960s, Mexican-Americans would change its connotation when they adopted it as a term of cultural identity.
They fought to be identified as Chicanos, which is incredibly important to me.
In recent years, LatinX has gained a surge in popularity, with many organizations adopting the name for Latin ethnic-based events.
The new generation who use the term hopes to be inclusive of the larger number of immigrants and their descendants from all Latin American nations. They see a shared experience of struggle and a kinship that will move us forward together. They are also fighting for gender equality and the inclusion of LGBTQ+ people.
Although it appears that the current generation has fully accepted LatinX, there is a division in the acceptance of the term’s usage.
Among many Delta students, there was like-mindedness on the dislike for its continued use.
Andrew Solbtor, a third-year Delta college student, said his upbringing in Mexico makes it hard for him to identify with the term.
“I personally don’t see the point in using LatinX. I think we should keep trying to find these new terms. We should just try to make sure they’re incorporating our culture and not incorporating outside influence. It’s easier to say the letter x in a word in English than it is in Spanish so it’s kinda like we’re bringing in outside influence into Latin American culture to try and fix this issue when we can do that with the way our language has developed,” Solbtor said.
The aspect of outside influence finding its way to dictate and classify Latin ethnic people is a serious point to consider.
In the U.S. government’s official classification of Latin people, many cultures were left feeling misrepresented and obsolete.
When filling out any official form, the only two options for us were Hispanic and Latino. Even though I would spend most of my life checking off those terms, I never fully identified with them.
Delta student Nayely Mendez was also critical of the use of LatinX and Latino and how it may promote a continuous colonial classification of Latin ethnicities.
“There’s not really a gender base concept within the Spanish language. I understand why by using LatinX and ChicanX that you incorporate all genders, but you’re taking a language that already doesn’t have that genderization as much. For Hispanic and Latino it’s a concept of colonialism to label us and grouping everybody excludes all the traditions and cultures that we have,” Mendez said.
Sarah Seekatz, Professor and Cultural Awareness Program Chairperson at Delta, noted her learning experience from her mentor in college.
“There has never been one word that all folks agreed on to talk about Latinx folks. It didn’t exist historically, and it doesn’t exist today. I think that’s because what we call ourselves (and what we choose to call others) is a political act, an act that has power. I choose to be informed on the history of each term and use the ones I think are the most appropriate and am grateful to see others exploring the same,” Seekatz said.
From my experience speaking with Latin ethnic people on campus, I found there is an agreement in that there is a benefit to having various different labels for Latin ethnic people to identify with. It allows everyone to feel connected to their culture and not struggle with cultural identity. Although there may always be the struggle to find the one term for everyone to unite under, for now, at least the people can bridge their cultural identities to feel connected to their respective traditions.
