The New York Times reports this morning on the “growing racial awareness” among black Latinos, especially in New York. It’s an interesting article, especially in the evidence it provides, I suspect unintentionally, that one of the problems of multiculturalism is the “multi”: on close or even not so close examination, most cultures turn out to be conglomerations of subcultures.
“Hispanic,” for example can be sliced and diced into white Hispanic and black Hispanic, and that’s before you even get to the cultures/subcultures that distinguish the various national groups. Even within national “cultures” there can be sharp divisions. Thus the article quotes Maria Perez-Brown, identified as a “Puerto Rican television producer and entertainment lawyer in New York,” whose mother is “a dark-skinned Puerto Rican” and whose father is “a white Puerto Rican.” She marked “Hispanic” and “black” on her census form.
Ms. Perez-Brown, who grew up in the East New York section of Brooklyn, said that when she attended Yale University there was a division between the Puerto Ricans from the island
Until we get rid of the census and such things categorize us into racial groups discrimination will always exist
This is ridiculous. I am a Black Latina, and am tired of being categorized by mainstream society. If I mark myself as Hispanic/Latino, then other Blacks think I’m ashamed to be Black. If I mark myself as African-American/Black, then some others think I am denying my Latino heritage. It becomes confusing. I shouldn’t have to contain myself and all of my diverse background into one little checkbox, just for the sake of satisfying the American census. I just wish people would stop putting everything and everyone into categories. As the saying goes, “Everything is not always black and white. There is gray inbetween.”