Author: Brenda P. Salinas

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Some linguists hypothesize that multilingual people can have different personalities depending on the language that they are speaking. Latino USA producers Camilo Vargas and Brenda Salinas discuss how growing up bilingual alters their personalities. Camilo learned English at a bilingual school in his native Colombia. His consumption of American media affected the personality he takes on when speaking English. Brenda Salinas immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico at the age of 6. Growing up in Texas, having light skin meant that she could pass as white, as long as she spoke English.

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In the 1960’s, natural black hair became a revolutionary political statement in the U.S. Wearing an afro was a physical expression of black pride and beauty. It was polarizing, but exciting. Who could forget Pam Grier’s sexy afro?

But relaxers, straighteners and weaves are still a 9 billion dollar industry in this country. In 2009, comedian Chris Rock directed a documentary called “Good Hair.”

In 2012, Olympic Gymnast Gabby Douglas was criticized for her kinky ponytail. Here she is talking to Oprah:

But in the Afro-Latino community, there really haven’t been that many cultural icons sporting natural hair. That’s were Carolina Contreras comes in. She created the blog Miss Rizos to connect with other Afro-Latinas who wanted to give their natural hair a try.

PART OF MY HYGIENE

Growing up in the Dominican Republic, Contreras started getting her naturally curly hair relaxed every 2 months at the age of 7. She says her family saw the painful process as an important part of their personal hygiene. “I have 3 sisters and I learned how to relax hair,” says Contreras, “I inflicted so much pain on them and I feel like it’s something that I’m still healing from.”

Her kinky hair required a lot of attention, but Contreras says what really led her to relax it was a feeling that her curls weren’t presentable. “If you work for a bank in the Dominican Republic, you’re most likely going to get a weekly stipend to go to the salon,” says Contreras,” they just feel like it’s not professional.”

She says that message trickles all the way down to little girls. “It’s frustrating to have to deal with that today,” says Contreras, “our hair has nothing to do with our productivity, our intelligence or with our knowledge about a particular subject or anything.”

LETTING MY ANCESTORS FREE

Raquel Cepeda is a journalist and author. She says in the Afro-Latina community, natural hair is still a political statement. “As soon as they see the curly hair the say oh she’s a leftist, she’s this, she’s that,” says Cepeda, “to me it’s a badge of honor, to me it’s how I honor my ancestors by letting them live freely in my scalp and in my hair.”

Cepeda says she feels free to wear her hair curly because she knows what it really means. “We really have to un-educate and re-educate ourselves and learn about our histories,” says Cepeda, “When you learn about your history you learn to start being proud of where you come from, and then the curly hair won’t be a thing.”

HAIR IS JUST HAIR

And once everybody understands their heritage, hair can just be hair.

Carolina Contreras says she’s inspired her mom and her sisters to stop relaxing their hair. Every time she goes back to the Dominican Republic she feels more hopeful. “I just get really excited because I see more women in the street wearing natural hair, I start seeing more ads on Tv and everywhere,” says Contreras, “I think we’re definitely headed in the right direction now.”

STAYING TRUE

Beauty can hurt, sure. But grooming and priming is a form of personal expression. It can bee freeing, once you do it because you want to and not because you feel you have to.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Peter Klashorst.

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Black and Latino kids perform significantly less well in school than their white counterparts. The factors for this so-called achievement gap are well documented: failing schools, crime-ridden neighborhoods, unequal resources and limited social capital. But despite this research, some advocates say American schools are perpetuating traditional patterns of poverty and inequality. Latino USA guest host Claudio Sanchez talks to researchers Claudia Galindo and Pedro Noguera about community involvement, cultural misunderstandings, and how stereotypes hold children back.

Alex Wong/Getty Images

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A Mexican philosopher named José Vasconcelos believed one day, a new race of people would be born out of the Americas. His 1925 essay was called “La Raza Cósmica”. Because Latin Americans are Mestizos – a mix of European, African and Asian ancestry, he believed they actually transcend all other races.

Author Marie Arana spoke about Vasconcelos at the Library of Congress.

“He believed that the experiment that was being conducted in Latin America, of mixing of races, was an important venture,” says Arana. Vasconcelos looked to the leaders of Latin American independence for inspiration, “In an instance of historical crisis they formulated the transcedental mission assigned to our region of the globe, the mission of fusing people ethnically and spiritually,” says Arana.

Vasconcelos believed one day La Raza Cósmica would erect a new civilization, Universópolis, where traditional ideas of race and nationality would be transcended in the name of humanity’s common destiny.

The National Council of La Raza takes its name from this idea.

Senator Barrack Obama commented on La Razá Cósmica in a speech to the NCLR in  2008. “That’s big, a term big enough to embrace the rich tapestry of cultures and colors and faith that make up the Hispanic community, “ says Obama in the 2008 speech, “big enough to embrace the notion that we are all a part of a greater community, that we have a stake in each other, that I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper, we rise and fall as one people.”

That was before his election, and before his administration deported 2 million people. But if you examine the demographics, the cosmic race seems to be emerging. President Obama himself is biracial, and according the the U.S. census, half of all Americans under 5 are Black, Latino or Asian.

It looks like La Raza Cósmica has indeed arrived.

(Photo by NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team via Getty Images)

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One in four Latinos say they personally know someone who has been detained or deported by the federal government in the past year. For Jorge Narvaez, that someone is his mom, who is currently being detained in Arizona. Jorge became Youtube famous when he uploaded a video of him and his 6 year old daughter, Alexa, singing “Home” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes.”

Since then, they’ve been on the Ellen Degeneres Show, America’s Got Talent and have starred in a Hyundai commercial.

Jorge is using his social media platform to bring attention to his mom’s case, and to talk about the hundreds of thousands of mothers being held in immigration detention, most who have committed minor crimes or no crimes at all.

Photo courtesy of Jorge Narvaez