At a time when the Latino/a/x community is under relentless attack by the Trump administration, from repealing DACA to ICE raids to family separation at the border, using "Latinx" can be a political statement, Ramos said, a show of solidarity with Dreamers, undocumented and trans people. After the 2016 election, she observed the word on the rise in activist circles. "It's a political term because it forces you not to think about us as a monolith," Ramos said. (And indeed, we are not: despite the Trump administration war on Latinos, according to one recent poll, Trump slightly led Biden in Latino voter support in the key state of Florida.)
But as "Latinx" increasingly pops up in news headlines and corporate tweets, it is plagued by one of the core critiques of "Hispanic:" that it is a term being imposed, rather than chosen by, the people it's meant to describe. "Countless times, I am the only person that the word describes in a room being wrapped up into a term that I, as an individual, don't identify with," Erika Soto Lamb, vice-president of social impact strategy at Comedy Central and MTV, told me of past professional experiences. She identifies as Latina, and says "being told by others that I should be using Latinx is off-putting."
To "Latinx" or not to "Latinx" can be a minefield for politicians. One has to know their audience, Guidotti-Hernández notes. "If you're talking to older Mexican-Americans at a VFW post in Northern New Mexico, Latinx is going to be a complete disconnect," she said, while "Mexican-American" or "Hispanic" is more likely to work. When Warren and others use "Latinx," "I think they are trying to mobilize a youth voter base." Meanwhile, Trump name-checking "Hispanics" is a call to an older voter base.
Some cringe that the word is not compatible with Spanish language. Others feel their gender identities are lost in Latinx. "To go from 'Latino' to 'Latinx' is a clear erasure of Latina, who matter, too," Soto Lamb told me. She said she respects and supports others choosing to identify as "Latinx," but she continues to identify as"Latina." "I'm resistant to let that part of my identity be swallowed, even as I want to encourage Latinx as a term for people to choose for themselves," she said.
I can relate: with a Cuban-American immigrant dad and an Irish-Catholic mom, growing up in schools and social spaces that lacked racial and ethnic diversity, I've felt torn and, at times, reluctant to assert the Cuban-American part of myself. But in adulthood, and especially as the Latino/a/x community is ruthlessly targeted by the Trump administration, I've seen myself and my family in those fights, and felt prouder than ever to identify as Latina. Latinx is still a new term to me, one I am eager to continue to learn more about. And while it's not a word I use to describe myself right now, I support anyone who chooses it.
The future of "Latinx" is unwritten, but I'm curious and hopeful about the discussion, and, hopefully, the self-determination to come. "Latinx sort of forces all of us to be uncomfortable," Ramos said, "and that's a good thing."
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What Does It Really Mean to Be Latinx? - Vogue
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