Puerto Ricans have a solid national identity that we are very proud of.
Our music, literature and overall cultural legacy are internationally recognized and celebrated globally. Our homeland, however, is not recognized as a country; it is a non-sovereign territory that belongs to the United States, but it is not a state. It is under the administration of the House Committee on Natural Resources.
I am Puerto Rican, proud of my Afro-Caribbean heritage, and without a choice, born an American citizen.
Yet, once I arrived to the United States I was labeled as something else and I became “Latino” or sometimes “Hispanic.” I disliked both, but one day I found “Latinx,” and for a while, I was okay with it. However, I quickly chose to also reject this word to describe myself.
The word “Latinx” has been a center of conversation here in the United States among people who consider themselves “Latin American” but do not agree with the limited contextual gender perspective of feminine and masculine the Spanish language offers, basically the “a” or “o” ending, which in Spanish could determine someone’s assumed gender.
The “Latin” as a race concept was invented by the French colonialists in the 19th century, linking themselves to the Americas’ territories that spoke Romance languages and used it as a justification for their invasion of Mexico.
Ironically, if a white French Canadian walks down the street, nobody would consider them to be of a Latin heritage. Yet if an Ixchil person (indigenous to the country of Guatemala) walks in, they would be immediately assumed to be of Latin American origin, although that person has not a single drop of European blood in their veins nor speaks Spanish.
In recent years, the use of the word “Latinx” has brought controversy as its use continues to increase among people outside our community circles, from those exploring terms that adequately describe us in a politically correct manner.
ThinkNow Research, a multicultural agency published the results of a poll in 2015 which asked “U.S. Latinos” how they prefer to self-identify:
-44% Hispanic
-24% Latino/Latina
-11% By specific country of origin
-7% Country of Origin + American
-6% American
-2% Latinx
-1% other
Many of these conversations regarding “Latinos” in the US are being held by American scholars studying our culture as if there is one “Latino Culture,” when in fact it is a diverse, complex amalgam of races and nations with unique regional characteristics, customs and dialects.“Hispanidad” only covers a limited percentage of my cultural heritage.
I am Boricua. To identify as anything else would render invisible the African and the Taíno in me.
It would erase my ties to other indigenous communities and Lesser Antilles neighbors. November 19, 2020 marks 527 years since the island of Boriken was first invaded, but today, after more than five centuries of colonialism, we are still boricuas, we may not be allowed to have a country, but “el que sabe sabe” when you aspirate that “s” at the end of a syllable, our flag, la bendita monoestrellada no se apagará jamás, porque — sola — brilla más, que 50 estrellas juntas.
