Category: Research based articles

Note: This is the first part of the series “Not Latinx Enough: Examining the Expectations, Assumptions, and Stereotypes of being a Latinx Person in the U.S”

Following Mandarin, Spanish is the second most spoken language worldwide. According to a Pew Research Center study conducted in 2011, 37.5 million people in the United States speak Spanish, 2.8 million of them are non- Hispanic or Latinx people. Though English proficiency among Latinx and Hispanic people is rising, with most of those born in the U.S speaking English and more than a quarter of those outside of the U.S speaking English, 35.8 million Latinx and Hispanic people were found in 2015 to be actively speaking Spanish at home. It was reported in the 2011 National Survey of Latinos Dataset gathered by The Pew Research Center that “More than eight-in-ten (82%) Latino adults say they speak Spanish, and nearly all (95%) say it is important for future generations to continue to do so.” Therefore, as these stats show, speaking and knowing Spanish is very prevalent and important to many Latinx people. Thus, one of the ways Latinx people are policed by others within the community and outside the community is through the knowledge of Spanish (or lack of). As mentioned previously, I did not grow up speaking Spanish. My mom did not grow up speaking Spanish as well so she did not have the opportunity to teach my brother and I. Whenever I tell people I am part Mexican and don’t speak Spanish, they are shocked and ask in a judgmental tone why I do not. When researching for this article, I discovered many other Latinx people discussing this same issue.

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For my whole life I felt that I am not Mexican enough. It seems like there is a checklist of characteristics you have to have in order to claim a Latinx identity, specifically in my case a Mexican identity. It is both people inside and outside the community who enforce this “checklist.” These characteristics include: speaking Spanish, having a brown skin tone, and having a recent immigration history from yourself and/or your parents into the United States. If any or all of these were seen as the true test to claim a Latinx identity, I would fail. I did not grow up speaking Spanish and my Mexican mom did not grow up speaking it as well. I have fair skin. Though my mom is Mexican and indigenous, she has fair skin as well. I am also not full Latinx, my dad is Italian and so I identify as a white Latinx person. My parents were both born in the United States and my Latinx family has been in the U.S for quite a while. Thus, when I say I am Mexican and Latinx I feel like I am an imposter. I never felt like I fully belong with Latinx communities.

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Due to the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement  this year, you have probably heard the term “white privilege” being tossed around a lot. You might have even been called out and told your “white privilege is showing.” For a lot of people in America the idea of being told they have any type of privilege, defined as “a special advantage or right possessed by an individual or group,” is seen as an insult because we have been taught and encouraged to “pull ourselves up by our bootstraps,” meaning that successful Americans have achieved the American dream because of their hard work alone. Thus, saying someone had any type of advantage to get where they are today can be hurtful to some people and disrupts their notion that individualistic hard work leads to success. However, privilege exists and we all have it in one form or another. In addition to racial privilege, there are other types of privilege that impact someone’s life. These types of privilege include but are not limited to: gender, sexuality, citizenship, ability, socio-economic/class, and religious privilege. All of these are important because these identities overlap.

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