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.
Latinos are the youngest demographic in America, with the highest workforce participation rate. We are young and we are not afraid of hard work. Our dedication to God, family, and country is of the highest level. We contribute a lot to this country, but I’m not afraid to say, we are still vastly underachieving as a community.
I think most Latinos would agree that at our core, we are a generous people. If a member of our family is in need, Latinos as a rule, won’t hesitate to help financially. Family is central to Hispanic culture: our generosity has few limits. Maybe that explains why when it comes to making political donations and writing checks in support of actual philanthropic activities, Latinos come up short….When I interviewed Barack Obama last year at NAHREP at L’ATTITUDE, I pressed him about politicians not prioritizing issues that are important to Latino voters, he politely pushed back by saying…
We hear frequently how Latinos are not a monolithic community. In other words, we are not all the same. We come from different countries, have a variety of political views, and even eat different foods. I get all of that, but I also think focusing constantly on our differences versus our similarities undermines our political and economic power as a community...