Recently we have seen the term Latinx emerge in our collective lexicon. For those unfamiliar with the term, it is a gender-neutral term for Latinos and Latinas. In Spanish, the word Latino is used for men of Latin origin, and Latina is used for women of Latin origin; however, when referring to all people of Latin origin, the term Latino is what is considered proper. For years, people have debated whether this bias towards male terminology is still appropriate in this modern age of gender equality. For people who do not identify with any particular gender, this has become an even bigger issue. As the world becomes more understanding about gender, terms like Latinx have started to appear more frequently. There are some people who think terms like Latinx are more of a fad and will eventually disappear. I’m not so sure. While I realize political correctness can definitely go too far, our society still tends to evolve toward fairness and equality. For now, I think people will use both Latino and Latinx interchangeably — which is fine — but in the long run, my money is that Latinx is here to stay.
Next week, I will be speaking at a Hispanic Leadership Summit at the United Nations. I was asked to speak on the topic of Unity. The following is a preview of my speech.
The image of Latinos is not just a nice thought; it affects everything from business opportunities and access to capital to how our children are treated at school. Latinos are among the hardest workers and most entrepreneurial of any group in America. However, negativity has dominated the narrative about Latinos for far too long. This one is on us.
We currently have 11 million unfilled jobs in America. Ending illegal immigration will either dramatically increase that number and have massive disruption to our economy, or we will have to...