Among the Latino community is a diversity of cultures, with many nationalities and people of varying racial backgrounds. As we use accessible resources to educate ourselves and embrace various traditions, we also look to form bonds of unity.
It’s expected to receive negative feedback from those who are not a part of Latino culture, but it becomes alarming when there are patterns of prejudice within the community from one Latino to another.
The negative influence from previous eras has signs of continuation into the current age stemming from systemic complexity.
Maro Bello, a first-year Delta student, said part of the issue lies in Latinos not being empathetic towards each other as people focus on their individual paths.
“When we run into that it marginalizes other groups. The marginalization is what causes the divide and ignorance where Latino people face issues with eurocentrism where we glorify other cultures while we alienate our indigenous roots which have just as much validity in our own existence,” Bello said.
An example of such division could be seen in the arts of dance and music. The dance style of Folkorico sees dancers wear suits and dresses, and displays of their work tend to garner positive reception and are viewed as a positive image for representation.
However, a group of indigenous-centered dancing and tribal singing will still receive a more negative reception, sometimes laughed at and seen as nonrepresentative.
The like-mindedness among Latino students was more understanding of multi-racial roots, where they could appreciate the differences in traditions.
The question then arises as to why viewing racial differences with negativity within the community continues.
David Espinoza, a second-year Delta student, said his experience has shown him that there are issues stemming from a lack of proper education for all groups of Latino descent leading to such debates.
“It’s messed up that Native people are ridiculed. I’ve heard of older people defending colonizers, and sometimes even say that they were here first. But no, it was the Natives of course. It’s always weird to hear of Latino people fighting about that, and makes you wonder how people came to believe that,” Espinoza said.
Espinoza also said that while all Latinos should take pride in their respective traditions and culture, creating competition between right and wrong in a historical sense must stop if it will prevent uniting parties looking to make positive change.
With the contrasting stances of cultural belonging, connecting Latino-based groups advocating for growth and improvement within the community becomes challenging.
Isabel Zacarias, a first-year Delta student, said she is optimistic about Latinos’ advancements in becoming more aware of multicultural origins.
“Latinos are welcoming people. We can grow because the information is out there so we can learn. The resources we have are enough to help bring exposure, we don’t have to come up with new ways to spread awareness. Hate is specific to each person and we can see it within all groups, but we don’t give enough credit to most people that are nice to each other,” Zacarias said.
Zacarias also felt that the split between people is that some do not care about the diversity within Latin America, and others do, but we can’t expect perfection.
Overall, as the Latino community continues to grow and advance, people must learn to embrace their lineage and not seclude other Latinos of a different racial group.
Rather than fixate on one specific umbrella image to represent everyone, there needs to be a focus on representing each subcultural group through varying presentations of pride.
