In the leadup to the Nov. 3 election and in its aftermath, there鈥檚 been a lot of talk about how Latinos aren鈥檛 a monolith, and the messiness of trying to lump so many different people into one group.
It鈥檚 also something Brandy Ruiz has been thinking about. She鈥檚 a journalism student at the University of Texas at El Paso. What, she wondered, does it even mean to be Latino or Hispanic?
Ruiz set out to explore that question in this report.
When Gabriel Renifo was 12-years-old, his family moved from Venezuela to Denton, Texas. That鈥檚 where he first learned about Hispanic Heritage Month.
鈥淭hat wasn鈥檛 a thing growing up,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 Hispanic every month.鈥�
In Denton, most of his classmates were Mexican-American. But every fall, during Hispanic Heritage Month, he was the one selected to pick decorations for the school鈥檚 announcement board.
While his teachers singled him out, his classmates assumed he was like them.
鈥淓ventually, they were like, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e Mexican right?鈥� And I would tell them, I鈥檓 not Mexican. If you say I鈥檓 Hispanic then I鈥檒l tell you where I鈥檓 from,鈥� Renifo recalled.
鈥淚 was like, how do you not know that? Then I started realizing that people just think of Latinos 鈥� Mexico. Because it鈥檚 just the nearest thing here, right? And there鈥檚 just so much more.鈥�
I have to admit, as a kid, I was that person 鈥� the one to think that every Latino was Mexican.
I grew up on the U.S.-Mexico border, raised by a Mexican mom, surrounded by other Mexican-Americans.
But we never really learned about other Latin American countries and their cultures.
We barely even learned about our own. We just received a few lessons about D铆a de los Muertos, maybe Cesar Chavez and then the Mexican-American War (taught from the U.S.' point of view, of course).
鈥淵ou would think in El Paso, you would learn so much more about Hispanic culture, but you really don鈥檛,鈥� said Kyra Lewis, a senior at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP).
Lewis has always felt connected to her Mexican roots. Not because of what she learned in school but through her grandmother.
鈥淢y grandma is a very traditional Mexican woman,鈥� she said. 鈥淪he cooks and cooks and cooks and is offended when you don鈥檛 eat her food, and she鈥檚 very stereotypical.鈥�
Her grandma instilled a love of Mexican music and dance, and taught her to make dishes like fideo and albondigas.
Yet Lewis has often had the opposite experience of Gabriel Renifo. Because she's Afro-Latina 鈥� Mexican and Black 鈥� many people don鈥檛 assume she鈥檚 Mexican.
They鈥檙e especially shocked when they see her dance to Spanish music with her grandma.
鈥淏ecause of course they see a big Black woman walk in with her afro out and then she starts dancing,鈥� Lewis said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e like, 鈥極h my god, are you Cuban?鈥� No. 鈥楢re you Colombian?鈥� No, no, no. 鈥榊ou鈥檙e- you鈥檙e Dominican?鈥� Like I鈥檓 just Black and Mexican, I don鈥檛 know what to tell you.鈥�
There鈥檚 no color barrier on being Hispanic, Lewis said, but sometimes Afro-Latinos are erased.
She remembers watching the 2019 Emmy Awards and feeling excited when Jharrel Jerome, an Afro-Latino actor, won an award for outstanding lead actor for his role in the series 鈥淲hen They See Us.鈥�
Then she read some of the reactions on social media, where many people didn鈥檛 recognize this achievement.
鈥淚t鈥檚 unfortunate that even when Afro-Latino people are winning awards or are in primetime roles, they鈥檙e not really seen through the lens of 鈥楬ispanic goals,鈥欌�� Lewis said.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e more seen in the sense of 鈥楤lack goals鈥�...It鈥檚 one of those things where, when Afro-Latinos are represented, it鈥檚 not really accepted as what being Hispanic is.鈥�
The word Hispanic is meant to encompass many countries and cultures. But Frank Per茅z, an associate professor of communication at UTEP, said it doesn鈥檛 always work that way.
鈥淲e tend to kind of overemphasize the Spanish side of the culture and then we downplay the mestizo or indigenous or Mexican sides of the culture or other parts of the Latinx culture,鈥� he said.
He believes the term Hispanic, and the way Hispanic history is taught, often ignores indigenous people and crimes committed against them.
鈥淲e create this mythic ideal that the Spaniards came and indigenous fell to their knees and said, 'thank you for bringing us science and religion,鈥欌�� Per茅z said.
鈥淭hen the natives would happily wake up every morning and they would just throw corn on the ground and beanstalks would jump up and at the end of the day they鈥檇 sit with the friars and learn Christianity and learn to read, and that鈥檚 ridiculous.鈥�
Kyra Lewis believes the push for cultural assimilation in the U.S. cuts Latinos off from our roots.
鈥淭here鈥檚 really no one box to put Hispanic people in and I think that鈥檚 what鈥檚 really beautiful about having cultures outside of an American culture,鈥� she said.
She thinks we should reclaim those roots and recognize there鈥檚 no single definition of Hispanic or Latino.
Gabriel Renifo, who moved to the U.S. in middle school, agrees.
When asked how he defines himself, he said, 鈥淚鈥檓 just Venezuelan, bro.鈥�
Brandy Ruiz is a student in the Audio Journalism and Podcasting Research Course at the University of Texas at El Paso.
