Afro-Latina: A Two Way Mirror

Desiree Fabian | Staff Writer

The Afro-Latina perspective can vary with experience but intersect in thought and emotion. It’s vital to have balance.

With the end of Latine Heritage Month, certain feelings of confusion started arising in me again. I am Black and Latina, and I am also an Afro-Latina. I know who I am but don’t always know what that truly means. The disconnect that comes with the separation of identity is one of life’s experiences that can create an internal struggle and exacerbate the challenge in searching for representation when one is forming their identity.

The Pew Research Center’s “About 6 million U.S. adults identify as Afro-Latino” 2022 research suvey found that around 6 million Afro-Latinos made up 2% of the adult U.S. population and 12% of the adult Latino population. The research center compared their results to the 2020 census and found a difference of 4.8 million in identified Afro-Latines.

An Afro-Latine is someone who is of Latin descent with African ancestry. Multiple elements play a role in Afro-Latine identity formation, from skin color, hair type, and social communities to language, culture, and home life.

Growing up, especially in Los Angeles, you don’t see a lot of Afro-Latine representation, at least people who look like me and by that, I mean Latines of richer skin complexion with curly and coily hair. However, this is a stereotypical primary image of identification that has been internalized and projected over time. It connects to the appointed and most recognized features of someone who is Black. The survey also shows that Afro-Latines who identify solely as Latine or Hispanic are more likely to be perceived as multiracial or Black, signalign to the different experiences that make Afro-Latines who they are.

I struggle to feel connected to what is supposed to make me, me. Life as an Afro-Latina has been a series of boxes, an endless teeter-totter game of where to fit or where to choose to fit in. I am a Black Mexican-Salvadorian with little ties to my Black origins and some knowledge of my Latine heritage. I know enough to get by, but what could be considered “enough” is something I constantly struggle to figure out. Growing up in multiracial environments shaped my perception of identity. My blackness is a means of making potentially great connections, but it sometimes felt like an anchor in my overall acceptance.

Gabriela Ruiz, an SMC Pre-Nursing major, shared about her school experience as a young Afro-Latina who attended middle school in a predominantly Latine area.

“There, it was a majority Latine population, and in some ways, that was good for me, because I was able to connect with them on that level,” Gabriela said. “At the same time, there was also this level of disconnect because I was black, and I was only one out of a few black people at the school.” 

School is among the many factors that play a role in identity formation, especially for a free-floating Afro-Latine. There is already enough struggle in one’s academic journey without having to deal with misaligned ideas of representation. As a child in school, getting along with Latines was easy, but my blackness was seemingly a factor that played a role in my connections.

I didn’t look like the other Latines, my skin was darker and my hair was “kinky,” but I could relate to them because I spoke Spanish. As I grew older, I started trying to figure out what was best for my hair. When I began to lay down my edges, I remember hearing from someone, “this makes you really look Black.” When I would speak Spanish, there would be a hovering cloud of pressure to be perfect and speak fluently.

But what does being too Latine or even becoming more Black mean? Such perceptions only add to the pressure and insecurity of not having a place to feel safe in, while wanting so badly to have one. A separate identity mentality heavily impacts how it feels to be Afro-Latina in our society. The Afro-Latine history and culture are as rich as the spirit of the people part of its community, but there needs to be space for more cultural growth and acknowledgment of this experience in our country.