WEBVTT - Brown Enough with Author Christopher Rivas 0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:05.320 Welcome to my show. 0:00:05.400 --> 0:00:08.760 This is your girl, madel and you're listening to exactly Amada. 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:11.440 This is a production of Ihart. You guys already know 0:00:11.520 --> 0:00:12.680 that in as usual. 0:00:12.720 --> 0:00:15.840 Thank you so much for tuning in every Thursday, for 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:21.160 supporting me, for showing me love, and obviously I feel 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:22.840 like I'm always telling me like, oh my god, I 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:25.400 don't forget to give us those five stars. But yes, 0:00:26.000 --> 0:00:28.400 go over there and give me those five stars. Show 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:29.960 me that you like the show, show me that we're 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:32.000 doing good. I love to see how we're growing little 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:34.239 by little with my life and my career, which I 0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:36.320 try to keep busy for those that know me, and 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:37.880 if you don't know me, you're about to find out. 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:42.080 I have always been very I'm a passionate type of girl. 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:44.920 Anything that I do, I go all in, one hundred 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:46.320 percent like whatever it is. 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:48.680 And one of the things that I've been very passionate 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:49.080 about my. 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:51.919 Whole life, obviously because I've been black for as long 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:55.600 as I can think of, is about the AffA Latino community. 0:00:55.960 --> 0:01:01.280 You guys have heard me be very passionate about my community, racism, colorism, 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:04.880 all the issues that we've had, especially in the entertainment industry, 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:06.960 and just because I'm not talking about it twenty four 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:08.240 to seven, it doesn't mean that it's not on the 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:11.360 top of my mind. It doesn't mean that I'm not 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:14.600 working behind the scenes to continue to make changes. 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:16.920 It's just that I hate to feel like things are 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:17.400 a wave. 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:18.240 You know. 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:22.920 That she's doing it for publicity, she's doing it. 0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:27.959 For cloud, she's doing it. No matter what you do, 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:30.560 people are always gonna talk shit. And if you really 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:32.880 believe in something, you're gonna do it whether people see 0:01:32.880 --> 0:01:37.440 you or they don't. So I'm not saying that Alex 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:42.080 can relate to my Afro Latinidad, but. 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:42.000 But hey, you never know. 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:42.880 You never know. 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:47.200 Maybe deep down inside you feel Afro Latino or maybe 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:50.600 you have an Afro Latino you know, relative, which which 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:52.760 I always say just because you may not be able 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:55.800 to relate one hundred percent, meaning like, Okay, well, I'm 0:01:55.840 --> 0:01:57.680 not brown, i'm not dark skin, i'm not black, I'm 0:01:57.680 --> 0:02:01.680 not whatever, but maybe you have relative that is and 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:03.840 some ways, somehow we're all connected. 0:02:04.280 --> 0:02:06.840 Alex, how you doing, how you're feeling was popped? 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:12.520 I'm doing great? Another interesting, very good topic to cover today, 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:15.880 because as we know, we do that here we go 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:17.000 where other people don't. 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:18.239 Where are we going today? 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:23.320 Today we have Christopher Rivas. He is a multi talented 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:27.240 artist and writer who explores his self doubt, body dysmorphia, 0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:31.240 and frustration with the systems that makes life harder for 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:34.560 people of color in his book broad Enough True Stories 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:39.000 about love, violence, the students, loan crisis, Hollywood, race, familia, 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:40.840 and making it in America. 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:42.800 Now, revosn't think that. 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:45.080 I don't think that this podcast is long enough to 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:47.720 break down all the issues that you just said in 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:48.720 that one sentence. 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:52.480 Oh for sure. Now, Rivas acknowledges is Latino heritage with pride, 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:55.960 but he's also frustrated with being defined by it in 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:59.120 a country where white people hold the power and conversations 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:03.359 about race and tend to focus on black and white issues. So, 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:07.760 ladies and gentlemen, not only is he an actor, a playwright, 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:14.080 a podcaster, and PhD candidate. Yeah, yeah, we would like 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:17.560 to welcome once again to the show, Christopher Rivas. 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:20.160 Welcome. What's up, y'all? How you doing? 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:23.440 How you doing? By the way, he I wish you 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:25.840 girls could see him. He's so cute and then there 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:26.639 so the. 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:31.520 Little curls, you know, really you go everything, Chris, how 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:31.960 you doing? 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:33.520 How's life was good? 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:34.920 Life is good. 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:39.440 I'm in Los Angeles. I got my confecito and some tea. 0:03:40.240 --> 0:03:44.600 I got all my liquids. I gotta say off the bat. 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:48.960 You said something in Google in the search probably said 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:51.400 life is harder for bodies of color. 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:52.840 Maybe you said people of color. 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:56.400 I personally, throughout the book and in my life, use 0:03:56.440 --> 0:04:01.280 a term called bodies of culture, because I think it 0:04:01.400 --> 0:04:04.400 is not our color that whiteness tries to take from us. 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:07.680 It's our culture, it's our sus own, it's our flavor. 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:10.760 It's our culture that makes us unique, not our color. 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:14.000 And whiteness especially loves our culture. 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:15.119 When they can make money off of it. 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:19.440 And so what unites us as bodies under whiteness is 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:20.039 our culture. 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:24.000 I will say that this melanie is expensive, so yes, 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:26.640 they do want some of this, they do want some 0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:29.400 of this color. But besides that, I definitely understand how 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:32.839 culture is very heavy, and I really want you to 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:36.040 break it down because in this book of yours, in 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:39.360 your life experience, you taught you touch a lot of 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:43.599 like important points. It's not just about brown people and 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:47.719 the color issue, the cultural issue, but you even spoke 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:50.640 about student loans and this, and you not be that, Lina, 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:54.360 like you went in like in in in this book. 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:56.839 So baca masad, let's go by. 0:04:56.920 --> 0:05:00.560 Parts brown enough, right, So first of all, what inspired 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:03.080 you to want to write this book? How long did 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:05.040 it take to be like, okay, you know what I 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:06.960 want to focus on this, like this is what I 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:08.679 feel in my heart that should really be talking about. 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:10.360 I went to see Tanahase Coats. 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:13.960 He's this great writer, thinker at one point, maybe he 0:05:13.960 --> 0:05:16.480 still does, had the most read article in the history 0:05:16.520 --> 0:05:21.200 of the Internet, and he speaks on white and black 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:25.120 race relations in America. I saw him in this small 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:28.320 library in downtown LA. It came time for questions and 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:30.800 I raised my hand, you know, I said, as a 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:34.000 as a brown kid, Latino kid from Queens, where does 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:36.600 that leave me in the conversation? And he said not 0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:40.359 in it? And then and then that was it. That 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:44.160 was the end of the conversation. So I sat down 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:47.000 and I felt like a reprimanded sort of child. And 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:50.560 I went home and I thought about my family, and 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:52.640 I thought about Queens, and I thought about my mom 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:55.839 and my pops, and my friends and my South Asian friends, 0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:58.679 and you know, you asked me where I was from earlier, 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:02.360 and I said Queen, right, I didn't say Dominican and Colombian, 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:05.760 because I come from the most diverse place on the planet. 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:09.440 I literally come from culture, like there are more languages 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:12.719 spoken in Queens than any any other place in the world. 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:17.280 That's cool, That's what I grew up in. Like, and 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:22.320 you're telling me we not in it. Everything between white 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:23.080 and black. 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:23.480 Is not in it. 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:26.039 And so then I was inspired to explore what it 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:27.960 means to be in it, what it means to be enough? 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:32.159 What is this beautiful thing called brownness, which is Latini died, 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:33.880 but also so much more, What. 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:35.640 Does being brown mean to you? 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:41.000 So brown means I don't easily identify with blackness, and 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:44.240 I don't want to identify with whiteness. And I think, 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:47.560 what what whiteness does really well? Is it says what 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:50.720 labels do really well in a white black society. Is 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:53.599 it says, if blackness will accept you, go over there. 0:06:55.080 --> 0:06:57.799 Otherwise A lot of people, I think, especially in Latini, 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:01.840 I try and push blackness away to get closer to whiteness, 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:06.040 for its privileges, for its rewards, for its benefits. I 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:09.560 don't want to. And I have found myself in my life. 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:13.000 I think all of us have subtly. When whiteness can 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:15.520 serve you, you jump in that, you go to that line, 0:07:16.160 --> 0:07:18.480 right because it's like, got to get this job, trying 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:20.120 to do this thing, you know, trying to move up 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:22.560 in the world, got to want to pay rent, you know, American. 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:24.400 Dreams, which by the way, I do that too, but 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:27.320 I do that with being American. I'm only American when 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:30.440 convenience a blar piki toist be all. You know what 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:33.560 I'm saying, I'm not in one hundred percent, like you know, 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:35.520 it's crazy. We do play those roles. And if you 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:38.400 pay attention to the Latino community, you're right. You know, 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:41.520 whenever you can get closer to the whiteness, you use it. 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:43.160 When convenience. 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:53.600 It's a tool. And so that's what brownness was for me, 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:54.720 like it was to me. 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:57.080 I was trying to write something for anyone who didn't 0:07:57.120 --> 0:08:00.640 clearly identify with blackness as we know it, you know, 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:01.760 the black diaspora. 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:05.040 So how about this, just out of curiosity, when you 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:07.680 have to pick between you know, how they'll give you 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:10.280 these boxes. Then you have to pick between being white, 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:14.200 you know, Asian or whatever, whatever the case may be. Black, 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:18.680 between white and black, what do which box do you check? 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:21.560 There will never be a box that can contain twenty 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:26.280 four different countries, nationalities, hips, flavors, and curls. Ever, and 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:28.480 yet this country is constantly trying to put you in 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:30.960 a box. Education wants to put you in a box. 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:32.800 Your mother wants to put you in a box. The 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:34.560 people on the street want to put you in a box. 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:36.439 Everybody wants to act like they know who you are. 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:40.800 That's actually why I think gender fluidity is so incredibly 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:44.719 powerful because it says because it says like I can 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:49.000 be more than one thing. Facts, you can be twelve things, 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:53.000 one hundred things. You are uncontainable. I'm trying to live 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:55.240 in a more expansive way. So when I think of brown, 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:58.560 I'm trying to like, live more expansively. It's not this 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:02.280 that yes, no, right, wrong right. We can be so 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:04.040 many things. 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:07.440 You somewould use that term to be like well as 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:11.760 a brown person or the brown community, we can also 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:13.320 be whatever we want to be. 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:18.440 I am curious to know as far as are you married, single, 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:19.719 what what's happening with you? 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:21.760 I'm not married a part. 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:24.880 He has a partner. Girls, you're late Betro when it 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:27.680 comes to dating because you are so close to this 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:30.720 in this experience. Do you have a preference when it 0:09:30.760 --> 0:09:31.360 comes to dating. 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:34.840 I discovered you know who Portrilio Rubro. Yes. So when 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:36.800 I discovered him in college, he changed my life. I 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:39.240 always wanted to be James Bond. James Baum was based 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:39.640 on him. 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:42.280 I've always wanted to be Beyonce, but I haven't gotten 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:42.880 this coming. 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:44.800 So I wrote a play about him called The Real 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:48.079 James Bond was Dominican. In my research of this man, 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:51.080 I realized the only dated white women, and he mainly 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:53.600 married white women. I was in the pattern of being 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:56.360 with only white women. This really blew up my world. 0:09:56.440 --> 0:09:58.040 I wrote a play, well, please don't hate me for 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:01.400 dating white women, got into the New York Times that 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:04.240 scene I had broken up with my partner. 0:10:04.160 --> 0:10:07.439 To explore why I was with so many white women. 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:10.920 You know, I had to identify like every movie that 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:14.240 told me that the hand I hold is more valuable 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:17.680 than my own hand. You know, every movie that showed 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:19.960 me a body of culture getting saved by some white 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:21.600 women and their life being better. 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:24.239 Every image, every yeah, every. 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:28.400 Billboard, and so I really, I really took years years 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:31.400 of my life to be like, what is this Am 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:32.440 I attracted to white women? 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:34.000 Or do I think I should be? In order to 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:34.560 move ahead? 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:39.719 And I did that journey publicly New York Times. It's 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:42.040 in the book It's all the things you know to 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:42.480 the play. 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:43.959 I only ask not because I'm trying to be out 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:46.760 of being your business, but basically yes, only because for 0:10:46.800 --> 0:10:49.480 the most part, when we talk about and I'm talking 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:52.319 from my personal experience, when we talk about culture, when 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:55.200 you talk about and I say race, because we're talking 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:57.760 about the white, the black, the in between, the brown, 0:10:57.840 --> 0:11:02.559 et cetera. So when you're trying to identify what you know, 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:07.000 why am I attracted to these type of people? Even 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:08.640 the toys that you play with? And I'm telling you 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:10.800 because now I have you know, I am a mother 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:14.080 as usual. Everybody you know knows I have two little girls. 0:11:14.120 --> 0:11:16.200 And even when you're going to the store right to 0:11:16.240 --> 0:11:20.760 look for dolls, you find this big department of blonde 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:22.000 blue hair. 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:23.360 You know, white babies. 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:26.200 Shout outs to all my you know, listeners that are blonde, 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:26.920 blue hair, and. 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:27.960 Shout out to y'all. 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:31.480 But we would love to also have a really nice 0:11:31.480 --> 0:11:34.400 department that is just as you know, whye for that 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:37.600 as well, and to me, when it comes to us 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:41.199 identifying and understanding our culture where we come from visually 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:42.319 accepting us. 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:45.400 It starts from your childhood as well. You know. That's 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:47.280 why there's so much confusion as an adult. 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:49.360 So I just wanted to, you know, bring it back 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:52.280 a little bit to try to understand, you know, growing 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:54.400 up as well. Was that something that you heard in 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:59.719 your household? Were there any you know, or you know, 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:02.240 those little things. Do you think that that also affected 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:05.000 the way that you saw yourself or the way that 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:05.520 you dated. 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:08.360 First time I brought home a black girl, my my 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:12.520 grandma was furious, you know. So there's that That same 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:16.719 Dominican grandmother told me to pinch my nose every night, you. 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:17.720 Know, Oh my god. 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:20.040 Yes, And if you go like this, it's supposed to 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:22.720 make your nose my mom or get up. 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:25.800 Pin. 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:28.319 Yeah, they can you hold it like this when they're 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:30.920 when you're little, and those so they can make your nose, they. 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:35.760 Can sleep like that, you know. So I knew early on. 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:38.720 I also would go to salons with the smell of 0:12:38.760 --> 0:12:41.600 burning hair like you know, I knew early on that 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:42.120 we were. 0:12:42.000 --> 0:12:46.680 All striving for something that wasn't us. I also heard 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:49.199 the moments where, you know, people would say, oh, what 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:51.720 are you trying to be white now, which is really 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:54.240 just like a comment on power. Oh, you're trying to 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:56.360 you're trying to have power now, so hurrying me on 0:12:56.480 --> 0:12:58.800 as a child. Whether I could articulate it or not, 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:04.920 you have so many lessons and examples that whiteness is 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:08.160 a thing to strive for and that it's related to power. 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:12.520 Wow, that's deep, that is real deep. When you were 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:15.080 talking about violence in your book, what exactly were you. 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:18.000 Referring to, you know, specifically black bodies, but also bodies 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:18.520 of culture. 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:22.000 I think it's crazy. I think it's crazy. How if 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:22.640 you really. 0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:24.480 Look at it as a community as. 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:27.840 A whole, we are so strong. We are a strong community, 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:28.560 and I don't me and. 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:31.920 In my case because for me, I feel like I 0:13:31.960 --> 0:13:34.600 have the best of both worlds and the hardest part 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:39.920 of both worlds because culturally you si Latina, Silminicana, Mikurdura 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:43.319 and in the country where Latinos and many occasions are 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:43.920 not wanted. 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:46.400 Then on top of that, I'm black. So it's like, oh, 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:47.280 we don't want you to read. 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:50.080 So it's like if you're you're too Latina to be 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:52.160 with the black and many occasions and you're too black 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:55.160 to be, you know, or vice versa. It's always been 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:58.080 a thing for me trying to find supposedly where it 0:13:58.120 --> 0:13:59.959 is that you belong. So you have to kind of 0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:03.439 speak up for your own people to find like, okay, 0:14:03.440 --> 0:14:05.680 well then let's do this here, or how do I 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:07.280 become part of both worlds? 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:08.719 It's crazy how strong we are. 0:14:08.800 --> 0:14:11.040 It's crazy how we know of our history, where we 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:13.440 come from, the things that have occurred, all these things, 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:17.160 and we still can't come together to fight the system. 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:20.560 And the only reason why I personally feel that we 0:14:20.680 --> 0:14:23.600 can't fight the system. We could, but we won't, is 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:27.640 because they work our minds first. Once you've been able 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:30.720 to conquer the mind, the body will just follow the 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:33.720 division that they've been able to create, you know, between 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:35.880 even our own communities, because it's not even just a 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:40.080 black and white thing within our own community, whether you're Columbian, Peduano, Mexicano, 0:14:40.160 --> 0:14:40.640 et cetera. 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:45.080 There is still that whiteness that that whitewash of Josma 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:45.840 Blan can do. 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:47.720 I have better hair than you, either da da da, 0:14:47.920 --> 0:14:52.000 there's always the preference La of the family, or the 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:55.720 darker you are, the the you know, the the more 0:14:56.680 --> 0:14:59.720 your features are, the texture of your hair, all these 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:02.360 are the things they've even been able to figure way 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:05.280 how to divide us within our own community, which is 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:07.760 the worst part because it's like, yeah, we're just talking 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:10.760 about oh, you know, the whites are against us, but 0:15:10.840 --> 0:15:12.200 we're against each other. 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:16.960 So it's like, do you feel that at any point. 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:20.080 This racism, colorism, or classism, or any of the sism. 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:23.040 Do you think that at any point we'll be able 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:28.080 to surpass this? Will this last forever? Will this generation 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:30.800 be able to break that curse? Will there be anything 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:32.880 in your mind that we'll be able to do to 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:35.080 make a difference. Because we're not the first ones to 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:37.640 speak up, we're not the first leaders, we're not the 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:40.480 first ones that are like, let's take control, let's do 0:15:40.560 --> 0:15:41.320 something about it. 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:44.080 Will that ever happen in your eyes? 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:46.280 I think it will. Will it happen in my lifetime? 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:49.760 I don't know, the world is actually getting browner, and 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:53.400 so eventually it's gonna be hard to at some point, 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:56.320 you know, it's gonna be hard to hate, but we'll 0:15:56.360 --> 0:16:00.720 find ways to hate because hate is a more powerful 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:04.600 energy to gather around in love. You must hate something 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:07.760 to overthrow, you know, like you must galvanize yourself with 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:10.320 an energy in order to go get the power. This 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:13.720 is one of the things that blackness has done beautifully. 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:17.200 They said, you black, you here, you fail, come here 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:19.560 like I got you powering numbers. 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:23.000 Blackness has done a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful job at that. 0:16:23.440 --> 0:16:28.240 Latinidd has not Hollywood example, It's like a show like 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:31.040 Go to Eat The Chronicles gets made and all the 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:34.640 Columbians are like, where's my show? The Dominicans get their show, 0:16:35.360 --> 0:16:37.320 A show like Heenthi five gets made, and all the 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:39.520 you know, Puerto Ricans are like, where's my show? 0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:43.160 The Mexicans got a show. Everyone's sort of like where's 0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:44.840 my shot. 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:48.200 I hope we arrive at a place with Latinidad where 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:52.840 we realize it's not zero sum, right. If Amara wins, 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:58.520 we all win. If Rivas wins, we all win. Like everybody, 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:02.360 a show for you is a show for everybody. We 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:05.000 need to keep lifting each other up, you know. 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:07.560 And I'm going to tell you why that part too, also, 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:09.960 because if I win you win. 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:11.160 If you win, I win. 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:13.960 But the people that do make it, the people that 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:16.040 do get that little bit. Because here's the thing. Every 0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:17.480 if you go to Hollywood, obviously, and if you don't 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:20.160 go to Hollywood, you got it on Instagram, there's more 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:24.199 artists and fans and actors and than there is fans. 0:17:24.520 --> 0:17:27.200 Everybody's an actor, everybody's a rapper, everybody's a model, everybody's 0:17:27.240 --> 0:17:30.680 a dancer. Now since TikTok, it's like everybody knows how 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:33.399 to do everything right, and there's like there's more y'all 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:36.200 now than there is fans. Those that finally do make 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:39.280 it in that small gap of Hollywood that you do 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:43.760 get known coming from a Latino background, it is your duty. 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:46.960 It is your responsibility. I'm sorry if you hate me 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:49.400 for it. You got to bring somebody up as well 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:52.080 when it bring When I say bring somebody else up, 0:17:52.720 --> 0:17:55.560 it could be the smallest thing of at some point 0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:59.320 if you can be like yo, support this actor or 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:02.280 support this been from your social media platform, whatever it is. 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:04.600 But for the most part, we don't do that. Once 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:06.320 you get up there, it's all about you. 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:07.320 You know what I'm saying. 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:10.320 How are we supposed to Okay, that I feel that 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:15.639 the American African American community has also done greatly. They'll 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:18.720 bring somebody else up, whether it is that you're an athlete, 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:21.240 whether it is that you sing r and b alda. 0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:24.240 Everybody is like, let's collapse, let's do this. But when 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:27.200 it comes to the Latino community is like yao, Lae 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:30.520 is me. It's all about me, and you don't figure 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:32.520 out ways to bring So how are we supposed to grow? 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:34.919 How are we supposed to grow? Speak up? 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:37.400 And then because it's been so hard for our community 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:41.280 to finally be placed in certain and then we feel like, 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:43.160 let me not talk too much, let me not say 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:44.320 too much, because I don't want to mess it up 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:45.439 for me. You know what I'm saying, Like I already 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:46.959 made it here. You know, y'all gotta figure it out 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:49.359 on your own. And so say, that's why for me 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:51.879 as an activist for the Affilatino community. And when I 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:54.960 say the Alfilatino community, I mean so la Gale, anybody 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:57.800 that's black, anybody who's as dark as me, who's lighter 0:18:57.800 --> 0:19:00.159 than me, who has a black mother or father there 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:02.800 it is important for me to be like, you have 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:05.399 to use your platform to speak up, you know, and 0:19:05.440 --> 0:19:06.560