Itzel Moncayo,
CA
I am Mexican-American which means my ethnic identity lies in being both Latine and Hispanic. My physical appearance resembles the stereotypical appearance of someone of this nationality, regardless, I often get asked where I am from. Where I’m ~really~ from. This question does get frustrating but so do the misconceptions within my own community that being Latine and/or Hispanic is the same or that we are a monolithic group. Being Latine refers to a person who is from Latin America while being Hispanic refers to someone from a country where the language spoken is predominantly Spanish. The perpetuation of this misconception that these identities are ethnicities and not racial contributes to the erasure of Afro-Latinos and Indigenous people. It’s frustrating that so many people within my community dismiss the fact that Latine and Hispanic is not a race which then leads to a lot of comparisons and hurt on our part towards other racial groups that are fighting for social justice.
-Itzel Moncayo, Chapman University
