Finding Latinx: In Search of the Voices Redefining Latino Identity

by Paola Ramos (Vintage 2020)

Daughter of a Mexican journalist and a Cuban mother, journalist Paola Ramos sets off on a journey around the United States in search of what it means to be Latinx, the term chosen to replace Latino/a/os/as or Hispanic because it is more inclusive. She aims to show not only what Latinx people have in common but also what separates them: language and culture in the case of the indigenous people of Guatemala and other parts of Latin America; race in the case of Afro-Cubans, Afro-Mexicans, Afro-Colombians, etc.; politics in the case of Democrats, Republicans, and Trumpists; social class; and gender identity.

Ramos’ book explores the lives of individuals, starting with herself (brought up in Spain and Miami), rarely resorting to statistics and academic research. I see it as a personal journey more than an academic one (which is why I categorized it as a memoir). She made me aware of groups that had flown under my (and most people’s, apparently) radar all my life, like the “silent” Mayan asylum seekers who were called Latino/a even though they could not speak Spanish, and therefore chose not to speak at all. And I have long been curious about the descendants of African slaves in Latin America. They are Black, and they are Hispanic (or Brazilian); how to choose only one identity for oneself in this case? Also, gay and trans Latinx have their own perspective and struggle. Ramos shines a light on them as well. She interviews a young Afro-Cuban man who is a Trump supporter and president of the Miami Proud Boys chapter. Huh? She interviews drag queen Sicarya Jr., drag persona of Ado Arevalo. So many aspects of the Latinx population of the U.S.

Favorite quotation: “It’s okay to differ. It’s okay not to see eye to eye. The point is there is not one way to be Latino in the United States. There is not one way to feel Latino in this country. Not one way to look Latino or sound Latino. And at the moment, the only label that can honor that collective truth and accommodate that spectrum of ambiguity is the Latinx banner.”