I'm a Spanish-speaking person who was born and raised in Latin America. English is not my first language. I use the term Latinx all the time, increasingly so, both in Spanish and in English.
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In the last year or so, a lot of Latino men have very visibly revolted against the term Latinx. These men, who are all from the U.S., explain that *they* don't feel the term represents them. Oh the irony.
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These same Latino men, who never once raised concern over the fact that Latina women like me are made invisible by the word Latino, suddenly feel invisible. Tuh.
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Notice, by the way, that I still refer to myself as Latina. That's because I individually identify as Latina. When I'm in a group, I identify that group as Latinx. Individually, I'm an amiga. My friends? We're amigxs.
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I never perceived Latinx as a threat, the way I think many Latino men do. I get it, in some ways. Latino men are hated in society in so many ways. So you gotta hang on to what you got.
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Nor did I ever presume Latinx to be some kind of imperialistic neologism that we're imposing on older, poorer, and less educated people.
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Again: the person who explained amigxs to me what seems like forever ago was my elder. Poor in a way most of you will never understand poverty, and less educated as in never finished grade school. They got it. They taught me.
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Plus, this is a Guarani elder we're talking about. They reminded me that Spanish is an imperialist language; that we should challenge our allegiance to its purity.
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More than anything else, I'd like those of you who don't speak Spanish and are not Latinx to know that many of us do use the word. We're still working some of this out among ourselves, but in the meantime, we welcome you using the word.
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Not to hijack the conversation, but can I add that I’ve always felt that way about the use of “man” to describe humanity. It erases me. Thank you for sharing!
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You’re not hijacking! What you’re saying makes sense and is along the same lines of what I’m sharing.
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Good! I was hoping you would take it that way. :) Definitely seems like the same feeling I’ve had my whole life with man or mankind. And your thread was really great—very helpful!
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This resonates so deep.
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claro . . SPANISH is a colonial language itself, just like english. you have already been robbed of a piece of ur own identity if u do not currently speak an authentic Indigenous language.
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In Spanish do you say "amiguéquis"?
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