What's the difference between Hispanic, Latino, and Spanish?

This short primer by Kat Lazo is helpful and provides some orientation to
the identities of U.S. Latinas and Latinos—or Latino@s—relative to the whole.

Brazilians are "Latino" (or "Latinx"  [see below]), and not Hispanic.
"Hispanic" is also inclusive of folks emanating from Spain which by implication
suggests its limits as an identifier for "Hispanic-origin" U.S. minorities.
For many, the history of Spanish colonization, genocide, and hegemony
makes it distateful as an identifier but which exists largely as a result of the
1980 census enumeration that opted to categorize U.S. Latin@s as "Hispanic"—
yes, a creation of the U.S. government that people today largely think of
as so normal that they think it came from "the people."

That said, a number of New Mexicans identify as "Hispanos," because of their own
unique history.  This is unto itself another narrative altogether.  You can
read a critical piece on this by Erik Loomis here: Monday, September 22, 2008
Racism and the Construction of Hispano Identity in New Mexico.  As with any subgroup, complexity within itself prevails.

Another resource is this one on Wikipedia titled, Hispanos of New Mexico.

Many "Nuevo Mexicanos" intermarried/intermixed with indigenous natives and are also referred to, by scholars, as "Indo-Latino," according emphasis to the indigenous aspect of "Latinidad" (or "Latin@-ness").

"Mestiza" or "mestizo," emphasizing hybridity in terms of blood mixture and identity are frequently preferred self-referents for folks in the U.S. and Mexico.  Some express concern that "mestiz@" privileges Caucasian or European identity because it equates as a term to a loss of indigenous identification.

A central message of the Kat Lazo video is that identity is very much caught up with the shared experience of Latino colonization.

Today, you also might see "Latinx." This is a new term that is preferred by many  as a gender-neutral alternative to the gendered "Latino" (masculine) or "Latina" (feminine) self referents.

As with all Romance languages emanating from Latin, the entire Spanish language is gendered so there are clear limits to the linguistic goal by some of gender neutrality. In any case, identities and language are always evolving particularly among our youth and so it's good to know how
and why. In this vein, here is a good piece by Tanisha Love Ramirez on the matter that I hope, in addition to the video, you will enjoy, as well.  Why People Are Using The Term ‘Latinx': Do you identify as “Latinx”?

Always the teacher...and I've not even yet addressed EITHER Chicana/Chicano/Chicanx/Chican@ OR Tejano/Tejana/Tejan@/Tejanx identity.

For another time.  Hope you find this helpful.

Angelx Valenzuelx (smile)

c/s [which means "con safos," by the way as a Chican@ alternative to the copyright "@" sign]

Curriculum Goes Behind Bars By Whitney Frasier

This is so incredibly moving.  I was contemplating today on how many of our youth are infantilized by a curriculum that is "dumbed-down" ostensibly for them at the same time that many of them are old enough to get tried as adults and get sent behind bars. Glad to read about this wonderful initiative that breathes life, identity, and soul into these sterile, forbidding spaces.

-Angela

San Marcos,

February 01, 2016

Curriculum Goes Behind Bars

By Whitney Frasier

When a group of California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) students started sending curriculum to a seven-student cohort in prisons throughout Southern California, they never thought their program would grow to more than 200 active students behind bars across the United States.
Homie UP, short for Homie Universidad Popular, is a program that offers American history from a Chicano/Latino perspective free of charge to incarcerated individuals. The initiative started after community members participating in a similar curriculum known as Universidad Popular, or People’s University, expressed interest in presenting the information they were learning to their incarcerated loved ones.
“The program was initially intended for those serving a life sentence, but then we received so many requests, we felt compelled to make it accessible to all incarcerated individuals regardless of sentence length,” said Flor Alvarez, a Homie UP coordinator and National Latino Research Center (NLRC) Research Assistant.
As the popularity of the program increases, the program coordinators are beginning to feel some growing pains as their staff and funding remains the same.
“We have spent countless hours creating the Homie UP curriculum and reviewing assignments— sometimes we work overnight or even on the weekends,” said Alvarez. “It’s all on a volunteer basis, so many times we pay out of pocket to send assignments. When we are fortunate, some family members will contribute stamps, paper and envelopes.”
When the program was at its infancy, all the students were of Latino decent. Now, Homie UP’s student base is very diverse and includes both male and female inmates of all ethnicities convicted of a variety of offenses. The team’s future plan is to offer an increased variety of classes, and not just from a Latino perspective.
“This project has really catapulted us into this national discussion that’s going on around incarceration,” said NLRC Research Director Arcela Nuñez-Alvárez. “Our project is very much aligned to issues that happening nationally and at the state level and locally.”
A $10,000 grant from California Humanities has allowed the team to tell the story further through a documentary titled, Homie UP: Stories of Love and Redemption. The grant supports documentary films, radio and new media productions that enhance the community’s understanding of California and its cultures, peoples and histories.
The team had a one-year turnaround time to create the film and worked with filmmaker Jennifer Myhre, as well as an advisory group consisting of CSUSM professors David Avalos, Bonnie Bade, Marisol Clark-Ibáñez and Charles “Chuck” Allen.
The hour-long documentary recently received accolades and was presented with a Silver Award by the Spotlight Documentary Film Awards in December 2015.
So far the award-winning film has hosted 10 screenings throughout California from San Diego to San Francisco. The documentary features real students who have been released from prison, and family members. Screenings are usually accompanied with an art exhibit displaying the work of Homie UP students, as well as a panel discussion about how the prison system affects the entire community.
According to Nuñez-Alvárez, there is still a lot of discussion to be had concerning families, inmates and the so-called school-to-prison pipeline, a systematic process by which students, primarily African Americans and Latinos, are pushed out of the mainstream educational system and channeled into the criminal system.
“This happens through harsh and discriminatory school discipline policies,” said Nuñez-Alvárez. “Research shows that students of color receive harsher punishments. Incidents at school tend to be the first encounter with law enforcement and thus begin the pathway to jail or prison.”
The documentary is now being used as an educational tool for the community. An expansion of the documentary, which looks at why certain populations are over represented in prisons and in jail, is already in the planning stages.
“There is finally a shift of dialogue,” said Lilian Serrano, CSUSM alumnus and NLRC research coordinator. “Everyone can talk about the numbers, but the film gives faces to mass incarceration. For every person that is in prison, there is a mother, a father, a sibling or even children. I think that is a contribution to the discussion that no one else is making and that’s what makes this project unique.”
To learn more about Homie UP or to view an upcoming screening of Homie UP: Stories of Love and Redemption contact NLRC at 760-750-3500.