Who gets to decide my ethnicity?
Brooklyn: My parents came to the mainland from Puerto Rico in the 1940s. They believed in the American dream and taught us that the cornerstones of America are family, school, work and religion. They also taught us to fight for what you believe is right at all costs. When it comes to ethnicity, all my life I have been described as Hispanic or Latino. This is now being changed by politicians on both sides and the media.
Hispanics are now being labeled “Brown.” I find this troubling, offensive and humiliating. The first time I ever heard of this labeling was when George H.W. Bush was running for president in 1988 and referred to his grandchildren as the “little brown ones.”
How can it be possible that for decades the Washington Redskins name was allowed to exist and no mainstream group nor politician objected until recently?
If that name is offensive then the term “Brown people” is as well. Should we call Asian people “Yellow people?”
If the African-American community chooses to be called Black, apparently they don’t find it offensive. Hispanics cannot be grouped into a color not of their own choosing. By conducting this inflammatory behavior, the media and politicians are heading down a path of divisiveness and polarization.
I will use whatever means necessary until this insensitivity and discrimination is ended toward the Hispanic and Latino community.
Nelson C. Dones