WEBVTT - Short Stuff: What is Latinx anyway? 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:06.480 Hey, you know, welcome to short Stuff. I'm Josh and 0:00:06.519 --> 0:00:11.520 there's Chuck and we are the short Stuffers who are 0:00:11.560 --> 0:00:15.240 going to talk to you about a new term for 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:20.439 the Latino community. Latino community. See, here's the reason for 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:23.880 a new term. Yeah. So I remember when we did 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:29.120 our episode on zoot suits, Uh, there was you know, 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:31.480 we always try to keep up with the latest correct 0:00:31.600 --> 0:00:36.400 terminology that people want to be called, because people get 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:39.120 to decide themselves what they want to be called. And 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:42.080 I think at the time there were references to a 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:45.920 word chicano. Is that right? Did we do that? Did 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:48.800 we say that? Well? We did, but we also said 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:51.360 it in context of that's what they were called at 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:57.000 the time. And here's the thing. Depending on who you are, 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:01.160 where you are, and when you are, these terms have 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:04.920 been uh, sort of interchangeable to some people. Some of 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:08.959 these terms have been um in fashion and then out 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:13.120 of fashion, perhaps maybe offensive or not offensive, or maybe 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:16.399 pride wrapped around a term that other people might think 0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:18.920 might be offensive. Yeah. And what's interesting is some of 0:01:18.920 --> 0:01:22.039 those terms of transition through all those things over time 0:01:22.080 --> 0:01:26.280 and geography too. And to know all that, Chuck is 0:01:26.319 --> 0:01:31.280 to really remember, be reminded that, Um. You know, when 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:34.800 you consider entire racial groups, we tend to think of 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:37.240 them as like one collective whole that share all the 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:41.640 same similarities and and have zero differences. And this, this 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:46.320 is a very important reminder that no different people consider 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:51.240 themselves different things, even within certain racial groups. And then 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:53.920 take it eat one step even further and say, oh, well, 0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:56.920 that would suggest that racial groups are actually a social 0:01:57.240 --> 0:02:01.360 and cultural construct, not a biological construct. Then you finally 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:04.480 arrived at the right frame of mind to be a 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:07.720 human being. That's right. I mean, technically, if you really, 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:10.040 um always want to honor a person and do the 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:14.120 right thing, you call someone Mexican or Colombian or Honduran 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:17.400 or Guatemalan and get very or Spanish and get very 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:21.119 specific with the country that they come from. But we 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:25.600 as humans like to um put a collective name on 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:28.839 groups of people. That's just what we've always done. Uh. 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:31.200 In the fifties and a lot of this stuff comes 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:35.200 from this house too works article and a historian named 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:39.160 Paul Ortiz, who is a professor at the University of Florida, 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:42.680 which we won't hold against him, um, but he points 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:46.440 out that in the fifties and and even Before that, Uh, 0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:50.680 Chicano was a term of derision, but then it was 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:54.919 kind of adopted and became a term of pride with 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:57.600 the rise of a few things, the Mexican student movement 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:01.840 in California, the farm workers movement, and people said, you 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:03.960 know what, Chicano was a term of pride, term of 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:09.000 self respect, and he likened it to um African American 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:12.200 and the term black. How the term black or blacks 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:15.520 wasn't very favored for a long time, and then in 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:17.880 the Civil Rights movement they said, no, black is beautiful. 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:19.880 That's who we are, and that's what we are. Yeah, 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:23.079 I mean, like, what better way to to um, deflate 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:25.679 the power out of a word that's used against you 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:27.600 than to take it on yourself and use it as 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:30.119 a as a name of pride. I mean, that's that's 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:35.280 podcasters right, right, which has always been a term of 0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:38.160 scorn for the outside world, but that's right, we're taking 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:41.680 it on with pride. So yeah, so um a lot. 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:45.440 When we were growing up, chuck um, Hispanic was always 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:49.600 the term, I mean, virtually until just a few years ago, Hispanic. 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:51.960 But as time we're on it went from you know, 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:57.400 those are Hispanic people to those are Hispanic people. And 0:03:57.920 --> 0:03:59.960 you just kind of got this idea that the term 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:03.960 Hispanic had fallen out of favor among Hispanic, the Hispanic community. 0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:07.960 I knew that, I didn't understand why. And apparently it's 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:11.320 because Hispanic has been the longstanding term for the U. S. 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:16.919 Census Bureau UM to describe people who are who um 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:21.560 claim an origin or an identity that's associated typically with 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:26.120 either Spain or Latin America, Spanish speaking countries, UM or 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:30.080 the or the Caribbean, something along those lines. Um. And 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:31.800 when you really start to dig into it, and you're like, 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:33.920 wait a minute, this is the Census bureaus kind of 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:38.240 jumble definition. Yes it is, which again reinforces the idea 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:41.520 that racial groups are not homogeneous groups. They're made of 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:43.920 a bunch of different people. It just so happens that 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:45.719 there's a bunch of different people from a bunch of 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:48.839 different backgrounds who claimed this kind of um, this the 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:54.760 same uh cultural identity. Yeah, And Professor Ortiz points out 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:58.200 with Hispanic, he said where he lived, Uh, he was 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:01.520 raised in California and Washington Stay. He said Hispanic wasn't 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:04.919 a popular term because of that, because he said the 0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:07.720 elder and his elders in his community would say, you know, 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:10.839 this is the government putting this name on us. But 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:14.479 he said in Florida, he said, Hispanic as a term 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:18.320 was embraced by Floridians. So, like I said earlier at 0:05:18.320 --> 0:05:20.000 the very beginning, it depends on kind of who you 0:05:20.040 --> 0:05:22.880 are and where you are, um as to kind of 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:25.920 what you prefer. And that brings us to a break, 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:30.760 and we'll reveal the new mystery name that really isn't 0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:32.840 a mystery because everyone already knows it by now. Right 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:57.240 after this to Chuck m okay, Chuck, what's the mystery name? 0:05:57.400 --> 0:05:59.880 This is basically like an episode of the Masks singer 0:06:00.560 --> 0:06:02.680 Oh my gosh, do you watch any of those? No, 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:05.559 I'm just aware of it. Okay, they get really silly. 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:07.680 They play those during football games. That's the only reason 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:11.800 I know about them. The adds right, yeah, so and 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:14.520 announced the short stuff. But quickly there's a new one 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:17.240 that um I can't remember what it's called, but it's 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:20.200 basically judging whether or not you think a person can sing, 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:23.120 just by looking at them and how they carry themselves. 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:26.159 That's good, that's great, that's a that's a good lesson 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:27.960 to teach. People that you can judge a book by 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:30.240 its cover, right, and then they hand them a microphone. 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:33.040 It's like, are they do they sing crappy or not? 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:36.359 Then when they sing crappy, it suddenly turns into the 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:40.600 Gong show. I'm sure, right, great idea, great idea. All right. 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:43.560 So that brings us to the mystery word, which is uh. 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:45.360 And there's a few ways you can pronounce it, depending 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:48.119 on who you are. Latin X is what I've always said. 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:53.159 You can also say latin x or latin X. It 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:59.720 seems like and I think Webster Marriam Webster says ten x, right, 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:03.560 so you're either basically saying it as one word or 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:06.000 two words. Paul Ortiz says it as two words like 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:10.600 latin and then the letter X latin X. That's how. Yeah, 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:12.480 that's how what I've always said too. And then somebody 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:14.840 I don't know who pointed out that it was that, no, 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:18.120 you what other people pronounce it like latin x or 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:21.800 something like that rather than latino or latina latin X. 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:26.000 And yeah, I mean the whole point of all this 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:29.960 is that, um, it's meant to be a gender neutral, 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:39.360 totally inclusive word for people who identify as Latino, Latina, um, Hispanic, uh, Chicano, 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:44.400 even um. However you identify that this is this big 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:49.760 encompassing word UM. There was a few uh survey that 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:53.880 was done that said traditionally, or at least now, most 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:58.560 people like you were saying, prefer to be identified as Guatemalan, 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:03.520 or as Brazilian or as Haitian, um, wherever you're from. 0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:06.280 That that that your nation of origin is your you know, 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:08.800 that's that's how you identify with. But there is a 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:13.760 growing group, especially younger American born English speaking people who 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:18.560 identify UM as what the Census Bureau would call Hispanic UM, 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:22.360 that are adopting this term latin X or latin x 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:25.600 to be to make it more inclusive, which I think 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:28.880 is cool. Yeah, And as Ortisz puts it, he said, 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:30.800 he kind of sees it as a bridge building term 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:34.839 to kind of unite people. Uh. And you know, it's 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:37.079 up to the individual what they prefer to be called. 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:41.280 If you ask me, UM, I definitely see UM. How 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:45.800 referring to someone's country of origin can be a nice specificity, 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:48.240 But I also see the value and people coming together 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:50.520 as as a whole and saying, you know, we're a 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:55.560 big worldwide community and we are latin X, right, and 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:59.760 that's meant to Apparently Latino was also, um, it was 0:08:59.840 --> 0:09:03.760 very widely used Hispanic Latino. Um. That was like a 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:08.320 transition word for sure, from from Hispanic to Latin X 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:12.120 or Latin X. Latino definitely made that that kind of 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:15.560 bridge those two together. But apparently Latino came to be 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:20.280 widely associated specifically with people who, um, whose country of 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:23.960 origin is Mexico. Right, And there's plenty of people from 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:28.440 other parts of Central and South America, UM who say, well, 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:30.839 I'm not from Mexico, so that one doesn't really apply 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:34.160 to me, which is why latin x is um is 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:37.280 that bridge building term for a lot of people for 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:39.600 the time being, though it's it's got a lot of 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:43.360 ground to cover before it becomes widely used again. According 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:46.000 to Pew, Right, yeah, I think they did a survey 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:49.840 just this year. UM actually just says August very recently 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:54.640 that is it still actually who knows? I think is 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:57.920 now Eternal Damnation year, so it will be going on forever, 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:01.720 so yes the answers, Yeah, yeah, it's been for seven 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:06.559 years now. And this survey said that about of Hispanics 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:10.000 have even heard the term. That surprised me. Um, and 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:13.160 only three percent use it. That kind of surprised me too. 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:15.360 Maybe it's the circles I run in, but I've heard 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:17.160 it a lot more than that. Well. I think one 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:19.160 of the reasons why it seems like there's more people 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:21.520 who adopted is because the people who do use it 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:23.880 tend to be the most vocal on like social media, 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:27.040 the most present, the most. Um. Yeah, they're younger, Like, 0:10:27.080 --> 0:10:29.040 they're out there a lot more than say, like their 0:10:29.080 --> 0:10:33.240 parents or grandparents or even older siblings. Um. Yeah, they're 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:35.719 out there for sure, so it would they have a 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:40.160 much larger voice proportions. They have a disproportionately large voice. 0:10:40.200 --> 0:10:43.640 How about that. Um. What I've seen is, uh, some 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:46.320 people are like, well, no, I prefer Latino or I 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:49.160 prefer Latina. Some people say, well, no, I'm totally down 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:52.360 with the gender neutral thing, but latina X that like 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:55.400 X is kind of flies in the face of UM, 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:58.960 Spanish as a tongue, So why don't we go with latina? 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:03.600 And with the accent? Is it? What's the accent called? 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:07.400 But with an accent over it? You know you've seen 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:13.040 it before. Um, So latina is gender neutral, but it's 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:16.640 also much more Spanish sounding where it's from the Spanish tongue. 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:20.000 So maybe go with that. And I think everybody who's 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:22.480 already on board latin X has just just be quiet. 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:27.360 We're going with Latin X. Yeah, it's totally cool, for sure, 0:11:27.400 --> 0:11:30.080 It's definitely got a cool term. But I remember also 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:32.240 when we did Our Kings in europ episode, we were 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:36.840 exclusively saying Latin X, I believe, and some people wrote 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:39.840 in and said, hey, you know, not everybody is down 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:44.520 with that in the Latino community or Latino community, and 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:46.559 it was good to be reminded of that that. Yes, 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:49.760 when you're talking about entire groups of people, just remember 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:54.320 they don't all agree on everything, no matter whether they're white, Black, 0:11:54.720 --> 0:12:00.320 Latin X, Hispanic, Asian, doesn't matter. They're all very different 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:03.160 people and we're all different when it comes down to it. 0:12:03.320 --> 0:12:06.679 We're all individuals, and uh, maybe that means we can 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:09.000 all get along a little better, yes, and at the 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:12.160 very least we can defer to them for goodness sake. Yeah, 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:14.560 when you meet somebody who you would say, oh, this 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:18.080 person is of uh Latin next heritage, you could leave 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:20.680 it to them by saying it's really great to meet 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:24.480 someone of yeah, and then let them fill in the 0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:28.720 in the blacks exactly. So there you go go forth 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:34.800 and think about things a little more and stop pigeonholing everybody. Okay, okay. 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:40.120 Short stuff then is out. Stuff you should know is 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:42.920 a production of iHeart Radios. How stuff works for more 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:45.520 podcasts my heart Radio? Is that the iHeart Radio app, 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:48.400 Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.