Don’t Be Fooled: Latino = Indigenous

*Regardless of whether you call yourself Hispanic, Latino or something else, if you can trace your family to Latin America, there is an overwhelming chance that you “come from family clans that stretch back for thousands of years of Indigenous tradition.” This part of the conversation needs to have a larger part of the “Latino identity”question. VL

By Santy Quinde Baidal, Indian Country Today

Late last night, my father and I talked about how the ethnic term Latino mislabels Indigenous and mixed-Indigenous people from Mexico, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, etc. For a long time, we believed Latino and Hispanic correctly defined the Spanish-speaking mixed-Indigenous and Indigenous people in Latin America.

As we crossed the George Washington Bridge, I wondered, Why is this so? I mean it’s true. We do speak Spanish and we practice Spanish culture. But we also come from a land that is still governed by our Indigenous relatives. I thought hard about how to politely counter argue his belief. His opinion. His Latino identity.

Latino or Hispanic is a term coined by the United States to identify Spanish-speaking people coming from south of Mexico. The reality is Spanish-speaking people from Latin America come from a variety of racial and cultural backgrounds. We are like a rainbow.

However, since 2011, Latinos or Hispanics now start to identify as Native American, census shows. Even the New York Times features their article on the cultural change and perspective of Indigenous identity among mestizos, mulattos, and Indigenous people.

Click HERE to read the full story.

[Photo by Mary Anne Enriquez/Flickr]

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