Dismantling Anti-Blackness in the Latinx Community

As many of us continue to pledge ourselves to support the Black Lives Matter Movement by practicing anti-racism and dismantling anti-blackness in our communities, it’s important to start the work from within. We need to evaluate how we ourselves have engaged in anti-blackness while committing to ongoing growth, learning, and dismantling systems of oppression. This is no easy task and it’s why saying “I’m not racist” is no longer enough. For too long we have attempted to escape the discomfort of challenging our prejudicial and internalized beliefs about race, within our own context and that of others. As someone who identifies as part of the Latinx community, I grew up in a home laced in subtle yet prominent views about Black people. These views were not positive or accurate. Yet, they were wired into many of us and we almost subconsciously adopted them ourselves. Here’s the thing, having negative views about dark skin tones isn’t only wrong, but it also leads to us questioning our own worth if we aren’t “light” enough or have “white enough features.”  In fact these views permeate a deeper level of hate and anger known as internalized racism. 

When we talk about internalized racism we need to understand the root of it. If we trace back and focus specifically on American history (not just the U.S, but all of the Americas) we find atrocities committed against people of color during both colonization and slavery. These two atrocities, for example, have led to a tremendous amount of historical and inter-generational trauma for people of color (POC). Within these experiences are years and years of intentional miseducation about our identities, our bodies, our beliefs as POC. You don’t have to look far to see how, when confronted with situations involving white people, many of us with darker skin tones in the Latinx community often feel discomfort. We don’t always feel like we belong. Skin tone is the most apparent part of our identity and often tells a story. Many of us grew up with deep levels of shame based on our skin tone, eye color, and even hair color. Think about it, the shame and guilt of not being “acceptable” enough often ate away at us. Then think about the messages you received about your culture, your family, your views, and your beliefs. This constant retraumatization is an after effect of the dismantling of our ancestors and their knowledge. When the Spanish first arrived and interacted with the natives, their main goal was to overtake. This meant there was no space for our cultural treasures (aside from the gold) to exist. The Spanish spent strategic time destroying sacred temples, art, documents, and systems to overtake and install their own. All of this feeds into the narrative of oppression and control. It’s why we grew up watching white characters on tv and rarely saw ourselves represented. It’s why we learned to devalue people based on their skin tone no matter how much we said “I’m not racist” but then turned around and said, “I wish my skin wasn’t dark.”

It’s not possible to think that we can battle racism and practice anti-racism without also dismantling it from within. White privilege has resulted from the advantage of a system structurally designed to benefit white people which has  led to racism. In turn, this advantage for white people has become a structural disadvantage for people of color and has resulted in internalized racism and oppression.