Reading Reflection

This week’s reading presented an interesting idea to look at and that was identity, who we

are as a people and what factors tie into that identity. In the first video it discussed the idea of

how our outward appearance played a large role in how races were distinguished, that it was

even considered to be inheritable based on genetics. This idea also had a negative connotation,

and that was the basis for how people would look down on others because they held the belief

that one group of people was better than others be it based on intelligence, or sportsmanship.

This notion was one that stood out to me because even today you can still find lingering thoughts

in relation to people and how often people will assume stereotypes of them like associating

sports like football and basketball with the African American community. They will often

commodify a group of people because of this belief that their genetics in relation to their race

make them more viable to others without taking into consideration their own effort and hard

work. This point is rather outdated at this point because with the considerable advancement of

technology the whole idea of race relating to genetics was a moot point.

However, identity does not only associate with one’s appearance but what one identifies

with. In the second video it discusses the term Latino and how it came to be that people now use

this term as well as the arguments that follow its use. Latino was a term that followed the

identification of Hispanic, which in itself was a term that was used in order to better identify

people on the census, as at that time a majority of the Latin immigrants were identifying as

white, and this prevented resources from being able to help the more impoverished communities.

The idea to add additional questions resulted in the secondary question of Hispanic origin being

added, however this limited the people who could be identified, it was not until much later that

Latin became a more viable choice as it better identifies the people who came from Latin
America, while not perfect it is an evolving term. This video was one in particular that I found

interesting because both my sister and I have differing views on how we identify. She prefers

Hispanic and I prefer Latin American. I often feel a closer relation to my culture when I refer to

myself as that.

In the last video it focused on the indigenous aspect of Latin Americans and their relation

to native Americans, the video highlights how many Latin Americans do have a connection to

the native tribes, but it varies by location, with some areas having a higher concentration. When I

saw this video I thought back to my own indigenous roots and related to how there are so many

different groups but the idea that much of the history gets lumped together with the Aztecs or the

Mayans. Continuing on with the idea of identity, the article that I want to pass onto the children

shifts focus on the idea of race and two differing groups idea of how to present and accept it. The

first group was the colorblindness group, and the second one was the anti-racist. The

colorblindness group chose to focus not on race and preferred to put at the forefront their

Americanness, while still acknowledging their culture. The anti-racist group was the one that I

more closely identified with because of the struggles that they mentioned such as acceptance

from others especially when it came to not really knowing the language. They also highlighted

how even though it was a difficult race it was still something that needed to be discussed.

One of the main ideas that I thought of as I looked through this week’s articles was why is there

such a big divide when it comes to how one identifies and how one chooses to address race.

Some points were made but I felt as if there was a deeper underlying issue. A secondary issue

was in relation to the last video it was a rather brief point brought up, but it was that native

Americans dislike when they are identified as Mexican. I know that this could be an insult to
them, but I wonder if there is more of an issue because I often see this when it comes to other

Latin groups who get mistaken for Mexican.