by
Lisa Jean Francois
*In the original version of this article we incorrectly stated that Lupita Nyong’o referred to herself as Latina.
Afro-Latinos have long struggled to be recognized as equally Latino. In fact, Mexico just recognized Afro-Mexicans for the first time in the country’s last census.  So it’s no surprise that Mexican Facebook commenters had plenty to say after Mexico-born Lupita Nyong’o sat down for an interview with Univision’s Jorge Ramos.
Nyong’o  joined her Star Wars: The Force Awakens co-star, Oscar Isaac, to discuss their roles in the new film. The comments on the Facebook post of the video, however,  were largely comprised of a debate about Lupita’s right to claim Latin heritage.
One person wrote, “Lupita N’yongo no es Latina! Es una actriz increÃble, una mujer hermosa, pero de Latina no tiene nada. Nació en México mientras su padre estaba allà de negocio y solo vivió allà unos meses. Sus papás son de Kenya.
I am Mexican and Kenyan at the same time…I have seen that they are fighting over my nationality, but I insist I am Mexican-Kenyan and I am fascinated by tacos with roasted meat. (Source )
183 Responses
“A cat can have kittens in an oven; that don’t make them biscuits”!
She is a Mexican citizen by birth. Mexico opened the door to her father who would have been killed in Kenya. He was in exile in Mexico, not there for business. She was raised in Kenya therefore she does not have the cultural traits to be called Latina. She declares herself Mexi-Kenyan.
It’s not about where you are born, it’s about where you are raised. She’s not Mexican.
If someone is born in Los Angeles but then permanently moves to New York City when they are 2-years-old, are they from LA or NYC? Most people would agree NYC. That person has no recollection of LA and was not reared by its culture.
In the same vein, Lupita is not Mexican and it is quite misleading to call her as such.
Yeah she Mexican Kenyan there’s no debate about it lol. That’s just facts.
hispanic is not a made up thing nor is latino.. hispania was the ancient name for the peninsula that is home to spain and portugal… always trying to sound conscious but know jack sht..so peopl who were under spain are called hispanic their culture is hispanic/latin based with african and native .. highly blended and not African anymore…
Latino/Latina is short for Latinoamericano/Latinoamericana. Latin America is generally Mexico, Central America, and South America. It’s called Latin America because the languages that are now spoken there are Romance Languages that evolved from Latin.
Latin American isn’t a race. It is just a geographical term describing people who are from Latin America.
The Americas are made up of many different populations. No one is originally from here, not even the Native Americans (they were the first ones here though). It’s a huge melting pot. Jesus Christ, some people never cease to make themselves look stupid.
um…so if i was born in korea and burst into their culture, i’m going to be korean? it doesn’t work that way…she’s NOT a latina, you cannot change your ethnicity, even if you were ‘feel’ like you deserve to be called apart of that culture.
So, if you were born in the United States, you wouldn’t be American? It is the same, Lupita was born in Mexico she is Mexican, just a like me. Period.
Exactly Americans think mexican is a race,latino,Hispanic.Everybody don’t look like JLo
Um, you are very wrong. Ignorant people think that all Latinos are Mexican. I am a black American, and I don’t say “Mexican,” I say Latino or if they are not from America, then I say their nationality.
And why americans have it all wrong because mexicans are mostly natives while some are mestizos due to rape and intermarraige between natives and spanish men. Latino means to be white btw. The main word Latin aka Europeans. mexican is a nationality but the mexicans are natives and mestizos and some afros,#
Um, why are you commenting to me like I have never opened a book? Quit generalizing Americans. Mexican is a nationality ?:o No ? Sherlock! I seriously don’t even know what you are on about considering that I replied to your comment saying how not all Americans consider the Latino race as “Mexican.”
Not all but majority of the country does have that perception or else the rest of the latinx/Hispanic community wouldn’t be saying it or applying it into arguments. The same way majority of the country is ignorant enough to paint African Americans as delusional for claiming we have a systematic issue & African Americans continue to go through a genocide.
White people born in South Africa are African. This applies anywhere else on the planet. Why is this different? It’s just a nationality not a color or race distinction. Not that serious guys.
We can go to any country in the world with maybe the exception of modern day Europe and find the indigineous people of that region to be dark skinned. There are dark skinned asians, mexicans, brazillians, egyptians, etc., so someone might ask how did most of the modern children of these original peoples get lighter skin.
Well the simple answer to this is color mixing its been going on for so long that now most of the color in these people has been bred out. So now you have a bunch of light skinned oppressors of these lands that hate there indigineous foremothers and fathers. At the core of all pale suppremists is self denial and self hate.
The truth is a hell of a drug……….
So… if Kate Upton was born in Japan, she’d be Asian? Yeah… good luck with this people.
Nope, the term Asian isn’t a nationality. The term Asian is used as a race-specific identifying term. I can see where you’re going with this, but you’re off. The way you worded your statement suggests that if a person was born in a country that is born into a county populated by a dominant race than that person can identify as that race (if a white person was born in Nigeria, they could identify as black…that’s not true). It’s different because the term Latina/Latino/Latinx is such a complicated label because of colonialism and the history behind the label. I hope this makes sense…
1. Sarcasm (look it up).
2. ” The way you worded your statement suggests that if a person was born in a country that is born into a county populated by a dominant race than that person can identify as that race (if a white person was born in Nigeria, they could identify as black…that’s not true).”
This makes absolutely no sense and has nothing to do with what my response implied. My response implied the exact opposite.
3. Latina describes a woman who is the descendant of peoples of Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula. This includes women of full or partial ancestry and does not include full blooded Kenyan women of Luo descent. It’s not a complicated “label” at all to an actual Latina. I hope this makes sense…
No…black people (indeed any people) in the UK can be called whatever nation they are born in. Its just that many born in England identify as British as opposed to English. This is partially because of how English nationalism has (or is perceived to have) a racist undertone. By contrast I have met many black people from Scotland who identify as Scottish, because Scottish nationalism is not perceived to have the same level of racist undertone. It is only perception, but it matters in how people define their identity.
Who are you to define Prisca’s nationality, the nationality police?! You may not identify with being English but that’s your personal gripe. AND SHE IS TOGOLESE. TOGO-BLOODY-LESE not some all-encompassing AFRICAN moniker. How come every other place you mentioned is a country and you throw ‘African’ into the mix?
This is bullshit A lot of afrolatinos have no european blood but are latinos like haiti-dominicans etc latino is not a race but a culture lupita was born there so she is mexican kenyan and is a afrolatina and entitled to rights just like everyone else. Why does Gisele get to be Brazilian when she’s obviously of purely German decent yet Lupita gets dragged? and I bet if she was fair skinned with long straight hair and colored eyes, they would claim her in a heartbeat… Idiots and indigenous people are not LATINOS
True latins come from europe .. they conquered this and now it is latin america …basic info.. Haiti is not Dominican and there is lots of European Blood on both sides..DR is a mulatto country mulattos are mixed black and white.. thats why yall hate on them so much.. Haiti has french blood but less because they killed their white and mixed population to the point that they are only 5 percent of the population… Gisele is Brazilian because of generations there.. not a quick birth and a few months of living.. Lupita adopted the culture but she doesn’t have real roots there.. Haitians are Latino because they are centuries under that culture..she can ID as she wants honestly but your assesment is crazy.. you cant compare ppl who are there for generations that are black to lupita.
Exactly but for me as long as we are black or native in latin america i dont consider us latinos or west indian. We are not. Lupita is mexican because she is born in mexico. Majority of Haitian are not mixed with anything. Who hates Dominicans? Most dominicans are black with white blood coming from slavery.Dont be confused because some Dominicans are light skin they black.Dominican is a nationality. there are white,black and native dominicans. her ancestors may not be from the dawn of slavery but she has rights.
The correct term is Mexican Kenyan. I have a problem with people calling themselves black. I’m British born Afro Caribbean. I never use the word black to describe myself. White supremist dividing BS.
My parents are from Haiti. I consider myself to be black. I don’t really get what is wrong with it.
I’m Haitian-American and I consider myself black and I also don’t see any issue with calling myself black. I have a problem with people calling me African American because my parents and grandparents are not from Africa lol
Actually, I have a problem with people calling you African-American as well because AA is an ethnicity…it describes descendants of USA Slaves…which you are not.
My brother was married to a Mexican for nearly 20 years and she didn’t even consider Frida Kahlo or Salma Hayek ‘Mexican’.
Also, Mexicans with a lot of Black blood were considered to be very low status in Mexico. Latin America is an extremely color-conscious culture.
Yeah, but they are actually Latinas because one of their parents has ancestral roots in LATIN AMERICA. Lupito is mexican but not Latina.
I like how some people are ripping their hair out over something she NEVER SAID. SHE ISN’T ABANDONING/DENYING HER AFRICAN SIDE.
She’s biracial!!!
SURPRISE!
Multiple races, ethnicity, and nationalities exist! Christ, some of you people need to stop foaming at the mouth and read the damn article.
shes not biracial. cuz shes not mexican by race, shes mexican by nationality. its her birthplace but she cant pass down any mexican traits to her children, its not in her blood.
I never get this.
She was born in Mexico while her dad was teaching there. She only got to live there for less than a year after her birth then they went back to Kenya and only returned to Mexico for seven months when she was 16 when her parents sent her to learn Spanish. How does that make her Mexican? living in mexico for a year and 7 months of your life doesn’t make you Mexican
yep or I would be able to claim the nationality of several countries. Lupita is African.
Because African is a nationality? So she’s either from the COUNTRY of Mexico or the COUNTRY of Africa?! Since the conversation is about the specificity of her heritage she is KENYAN as opposed to African. Or were we discussing her American-ness and I missed it? Sorry if I am being uber cheeky. It’s a pet peeve I have and I couldn’t let it slide.
Ummm, if you are a citizen of Mexico, it makes you Mexican. That applies everywhere else on the planet whether or not you grow up there. Mexico is no exception. The Latina issue is a different and pointless story. She never claimed to be Latina so I don’t know what people are going on about.
There is a difference between having citizenship to a country and claiming to be of that country. I could marry a Brazilian man and gain Brazilian citizenship, but that wouldn’t make me *a* Brazilian. I could also *buy* citizenship to a number of Caribbean countries, but that does not make a Belizean, for example.
Citizenship is distinct from nationality.
My sister in law was the only child out of 5 born in the US to Mexican parents with a permanent residence and still living in Mexico. Because she was born in the US makes her an American. So she is a Mexican American so how is this from being a Latin Kenyan. . .here is a hint, its no difference
nationality is birthplace. ethnicity is birth genetics. she is , by birth, Mexican. she is, by genetics, Kenyan. she is Mexican Kenyan. a Mexican born in mexico but family moves to the U.S when the child is still young the child is still considered, by nationality, a Mexican citizen. same thing applies for everyone born outside their country of ethnic origin
She is Mexican because she was born there. It is called ‘citizenship’. Look it up.
Wait, so 2 haters commented and that makes a story? Na, don’t give those haters any more attention! Lupita is a goddess.
What is Latin but the language of Rome…
All these mexican MF not Latin either… Not Spanish
The debate to be like the Conquerer is a silly debate
What about multiethnic people…? Lets hear your logic, because it’s a lot of fun, so far. Lol.
Geographically Ms. N’yongo is Mexican because she was born there and Mexico was ruled by Spain a Latin country but racially, she is 100% Black-African unlike mixed race Latinas who consists of Black and Latin-White and most often Indigenous (like myself). That’s what the gripe is about; Latina as a geographically location and culture vs Latina as a race which it is not. This article and people mix the two as if they are the same thing but they definitely are not. In my opinion, Ms. N’yongo is Black/African (racially) but Latina or even Blatina geographically. Had she been born and raised in Japan no one would,for obvious reasons, describe her as Oriental but she couldnl be called an African-Japanese or Kenyan-Japanese, likewise she can be called a Mexican-Kenyan.
I think she gives hope to all the darker skinned/african origin skinned mexican born or afro latino people out there that one day they do will be represented, recognized, and respected.
To be latino is similar to being “american” there is not monopoly on the term by people who are lighter with straight hair. Africans can be american. Africans can also be latino. If she is or isn’t doesn’t matter to me. sSo long as the representation exists for those who are afro-latino and are severely underrepresented and often forgotten.
To me, she is a Luo (since we’re talking of ethnicities, not nationality) who happens to be very international. She didn’t live in Mexico for a few years, she lived there for 7 months to learn Spanish at the Education Centre for Foreigners. But as far as I can tell from the linked interview and elsewhere, Latina (or even Afro-Latina) is not an identity she has claimed for herself, so it’s kind of a moot point. She does identify herself as Mexican-Kenyan, but she always speaks about that identity in terms of nationality, not ethnicity.
Who was claiming to be something other than black? The post is about people arguing whether or not Lupita is a Mexican national. You’re attempting to enlighten black folk by insulting our intelligence as if we don’t know our own history. If you actually read the post you would know what it was about instead of using this as an opportunity to degrade black intellect.
What is black intellect? Everyone has their own degree of intelligence.
Contrary to your statement, many black people don’t know their own history. Many black people don’t even want to admit they are African. Incredibly shameful. It’s high time we started educating ourselves instead of making ourselves look like idiots by begging to belong to other groups.
If you hate your skin colour I’m talking to you, if you hate your hair and are obsessed with wearing weaves, straightening, relaxing (do you realise how many unhealthy chemicals there are in relaxers seeping into your blood stream?) so you can have hair like white women, I’m talking to you. If you wear coloured contact lenses, bleach your skin, have had a nose job to make your nose more narrow, I’m talking to you. You need to know who you are. Study African history going back to Ancient Egypt – the truth will set you free.
Hi Mel,
I agree with your comments on self-hate. However, Lupita never said she was anything other than African. To claim that many black people don’t know the truth about their heritage is perplexing at best. I have never not known about my heritage/ancestry and African descent so maybe the confusion surround ‘black’ ancestry is something that I personally will never understand. There are a handful of people who don’t want to claim their truth (including their ancestry, hair and skin) but bashing them in comments really isn’t conducive to raising awareness about the issue at hand, is it?
I don’t do any of the things you have mentioned in your post but I also don’t claim that people that do are idiots. Instead of responding with malice, why can’t there ever just be an open conversation? Why not teach these people something they clearly have never been taught– to love themselves and their blackness too.
No one ever responds well to being called an idiot, unintelligent or stupid. If people feel that way (what you mentioned in the second paragraph) they should be taught otherwise not burned at the stake. Now I’m not saying that we can un-Stacey Dash every black person who hates themselves and the rest of us for that matter but I am saying that attacking other black people will solve literally none of our problems.
Maybe I am confused but I don’t see where Lupita has said that she is Latina. Secondly, if she is born in Mexico and is a citizen of Mexico she is Mexican. Thirdly, just because she is a citizen of Mexico (if she is in fact a citizen of Mexico) does not mean that she is denouncing her African roots. That statement is like telling African-Americans/Black Americans that we aren’t really American despite being citizens of this nation. This entire conversation is baseless and silly at best.
Lupita wasn’t referring to ethnicity she was referring to nationality. I think that most people don’t know the difference between race, nationality and ethnicity. Many would do well to do their homework before chiming in on something they clearly don’t have the marbles to understand.
Lupita has equally as much right to claim to be Mexican as a Mexican has the right to claim to be American. The original inhabitants of Mexico were not latin (Spanish/Portuguese roots). They were Aztec and Mayan Indians. So by the backwards logic of many of the posters on here, the only people who have a true right to claim Mexican identify, would be be pure Aztec and Mayan Indians. Secondly, latina/o and hispanic are words used to describe a cultural group. It is not a race. Learn the history – Spanish conquerors came to Central and South America in search of gold and treasures. They were followed by Catholic missionaries who came to convert the native people.
In MANY Latin American countries, the Spanish built plantations and brought African slaves over as early as the 1500s to work the land the same as in America and the British, French and Dutch West Indies (Caribbean Islands).
Many people of Latin America today, whether or not they wish to acknowledge it are to varying degrees a blend of Spanish colonialists and indigenous people (Mestizo), Spanish and African, indigenous and African, or a blend of all three. There are also wealthy, elite families who are of pure European ancestry and waives of immigrants who came later from Europe (including Germans and eastern Europeans). Unfortunately, indigenous and African cultures were seen as inferior and many Latin American people choose to claim to be Spanish (or Portuguese in the case of Brazilians) and deny their “other” racial heritage because of shame and racism.
Latino is not a race, it is an ethnocultural group of people from Central and South America and the Caribbean who share a common language, Spanish. So latinos are of different racial or mixed racial backgrounds white, black, brown or other.
Mexican is also not a race, it’s a nationality so Lupita, though not “Latina” by birth has every right to say she is Mexican as this is the country she was born in with Kenyan roots. By saying she is Mexican, does not mean in any way that she is denying her Kenyan heritage which she is clearly proud of as seen in interviews. The world is changing and people are moving all over the world so people better start getting used to that, be more culturally aware and stop worrying about things that are not that important in the bigger picture. More and more people are going to be able to claim dual citizenships and dual identities. Who cares! We are all human at the end.
Finally someone with sense and education in this comment section about race and ethnicity. RACE IS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCT PEOPLE. Globalization has been happening since the beginning of time. There will be a sharing of genomes among all peoples on this Earth. Stop perpetuating white supremacist notions of race with your “one drop rule” nonsense.
Hello…is there any grey matter in your cranium? She was born in Mexico, therefore = Mexican. Bloodline and ethnicity is black = Kenyan. Kenyan/Mexican. Anybody with eyes in their head can see she is not Latino.
With eyes? One can SEE an ethnicity? Tatyana Ali, Celia Cruz, Sammy Davis Jr., Faizon Love, and Gina Torres to name a few…Google their photos! She is NOT Latina because that is not her ethnicity…not because she is Black.
her dark @ss is african…. now run along you s h i t turd
I’m Afro-Latino also and I have been told that I’m not Latino because I’m black even though my first language was Spanish and I wasn’t even born in the United States this is just a classic case of racism, that many black people experience in Latin America basically they are basically trying to erase us
I bet if she was fair skinned with long straight hair and colored eyes, they would claim her in a heartbeat…
Why does Gisele get to be Brazilian when she’s obviously of purely German decent yet Lupita gets dragged?
Right????!!!
Well, the reason is simple. She was born there, she lived there till we went to Europe to work. She is impregnated with the Brazilian culture. Her family lives there. Then Brazil is a place of mixing: blacks, European and Nativ Brazilian descents all together. She may look blond and still have some mulatto ancestors.
brazil received lots of european immigrants in the late 1800s to replace slaves in the agricultural industry and to whiten the country some of those groups remained endogamous (marrying within their group) and did not mix with other groups. where gisele is from is predominately white, so it would not be weird if she were purely of german heritage. not all brazilians are “mixed” (and i don’t mean that in a positive or negative way, just as a point of information).
Gisele is a SIXTH GENERATION BRAZILIAN. I am sure in that time period..someone intermixed with the locals…so even her bloodline is probably not pure german.
Stop claiming to be anything other than black and proud. We are all African. Do your research. Truly we could all claim to be either half this, quarter that, one-tenth that because of colonisation. Does it make you special? NO does it make you more beautiful? NO there’s nothing more ugly than pretending or not having a clue who you are. All you have to do is explore your family tree and you will see that you probably have some Indian, Chinese, and cracker in there somewhere. You going to start claiming all? you nut. If you have an ounce of black blood, dumb-ass you black African. Why because we dominate. Stop trying to belong to others. Oh I’m American, I’m Irish, I’m English. You African, just like Lupita.
I don’t think that’s what she’s doing at all. She is clearly proud to be a Black African woman, but she has every right to also claim her Mexican nationality if that is where she was born. She is a Mexican citizen by birth and that is part of who she is.
Her Ancestors were not enslaved by the Spaniards which is why she is not Latino. Spanish people are part of the Latin population in Europe. Many of them have African Ancestry to a degree since the Moors were present in those regions and often mingled with the women.
There now a statement at the top of the post saying the claim e made is incorrect.
What she is saying is that she has dual citizenship: Mexico, as it is her place of birth and Kenya, as it is her parents nationality/place of origin. She never claimed to be latina. Just as many of us have dual citizenship…we take on the citizenship of the place we are born, and we have legal rights to citizenship in the country(ies) of our parents.
How can someone tell her what she can “claim” to be? If she was born in Mexico, she is Mexican. I was born in America therefore I am American. Nationality and ethnicity are two different things people.
Today you can declare yourself to be whatever you choose. Bruce Jenner and his public declare him to be a woman. Rachel Dolezal declares she is African American. At the end of the day it matters not.
It matters when you have young black girls looking up to you learning how to self hate because you don’t want to fully embrace who you really are.
She’s Mexican, not Latina.
BGLH writer Lisa Jean Francois. I am so happy that you finally corrected the information in this article. Because of your error, other irresponsible people are coming at Lupita for something she has never said. Which has now unfairly changed their perception of her. Most people just blindly follow blog articles without doing their own research. Readers and BGLH please do better. Unfortunately, most people depend on the misinformation and opinions of others before they form their own opinion. Smh. So with that in mind, BGLH it’s your responsibility to do thorough research before publishing because you have the power to influence the perception of many. Readers please practice critical thinking and do your own research.
According to their logic, If this is the case, then latinos whose parents are illegal/legal immigrants, & were born in America are not American.
But american is not an ethnicity. It’s a nationality. America has no formally declared language or culture because this country is made up of a mixture of people from everywhere else. She is Mexican, but to call her Latina would mean that she has Latin ancestry, which she does not.
Technically the only people who would make this argument valid are Native Americans because they cultivated their culture and language in this country. Every other American citizen’s culture comes from elsewhere.
Why are people getting bent over this? The footnote underneath the title clearly states that a previous article mistakingly stated she claimed to be Latina, which she did not.
Much ado about nothing !!
So if I was born in China I’d be considered…what? Chinese African American? Not. I’d be Black or African American. Perhaps she should do a DNA test to find out. I did and I am 10% European. Ooohhh I get it I’m African American! Lmao
If you were born in China to American parents, you would, (depending on their immigration laws of which I am clueless, as every country is different), yes, be eligible for both Chinese and American citizenship. You would be entitled to Chinese citizenship as it is the country you were physically born in and American citizenship by virtue of the fact that your parents are American citizens. So yes, you would be in fact Chinese-American, of African-American decent. Being African-American is an ethnicity, not a nationality or citizenship.
My kids, for instance, have dual citizenship. I am British, their father American…and they were born in Bermuda. So they have my citizenship, their father’s citizenship and they are also Bermudian, as it is their place of birth…and they are still Hispanic.
What is black or African American? You are black, therefore you are African. There is no American about it. You just happened to be born in the country your ancestors were brought to by slave masters it doesn’t make you one of them. Don’t be fooled.
You actually said Chinese African American…… your comment reminded me of this time when I went to Study Abroad in London. All the white american kids that were in the SA program were calling the black English, and English Carribean people “African Americans.” Totally tripped me out, just like your comment; both idiotic.
I’m sure Lupita has no desire to be considered a “Latina” and never said she was “Latina”. if she did, it was probably just as a joke. She has the right to claim Mexican nationality though.
So when “Mexicans” say things like ““Lupita N’yongo no es Latina! Es una actriz increÃble, una mujer hermosa, pero de Latina no tiene nada. Nació en México mientras su padre estaba allà de negocio y solo vivió allà unos meses. Sus papás son de Kenya.” they are pretty much in agreement with people like Donald Trump about the Mexicans in the USA?
They are, according to Donald Trump are US Citizens by accident, Mexicans born in the USA must also be North Americans by accident.
Is Latino some kind of race or is it just a culture, an ethnicity?
Mexico, United States, and Canada form North America.
It’s an ethnicity and a culture.
I don’t know where you got the idea that the Mexicans agreed with Trump. The word Latina is not spanish for citizen and Mexico is a country in the continent of North America.
People should learn the difference between nationality and ethnicity because THEY’RE DIFFERENT. I’m American, but I’m Togolese. I’m not Native American. I’m just from America. I’m African. Her nationality is Mexian. Okay. That doesn’t make her Latina just like me being born in Pennsylvania doesn’t mean I’m Native American! It’s all quite simple.
Well I was born in England, my nationality according to these crackers is British. But I am NOT English, only the whites can be called so. I am black, parents born in Jamaica. If you are born in Japan and your parents were born in Ireland, India or anywhere expect Japan you are what THEY are. Explain that.
You are not American, you were simply born there. You are African. Full stop.
She’s not Latina. She’s a Kenyan-Mexican because she was born in Mexico but her parents are both Kenyans who immigrated to Mexico for her father’s job.
She can claim being Mexican, just like anyone born on American soil can claim being American, no matter their race, ethnicity, or origin. Side-eye at the “Latina” part if she said that seriously. I didn’t hear her say it in this portion of the interview and don’t really believe she did.
That is correct. Exactly. She didn’t say it.
I guess it’s getting a lil confusing………………had she been of a lighter shade it wouldn’t have been an issue……………….she is Kenyan (African) Mexican, just as I am an African American. So, if the laws are the same in Mexico as they are here in America…………She is Mexican with African heritage.
You’re the third nitwit to use that light skin “logic.” Please stop it already.
In this instance their 100% right. She’s African and not Latina. Her roots are Kenyan and I’m not sure why she’s trying to claim Latin America.
She’s not claiming to be Latina she is just claming to be Mexican, it’s her nationality, that’s why.
OMG…what is a majority of you readers missing? Those born in America are called Americans, correct? She stated she was born in Mexico to Kenyan parents, right? Why is it so hard to grasp that she’s claiming Mexican-Kenyan? That makes perfect sense to me. People love to judge and make mountains out of molehills. SMH…
Her Black butt is a African that happened to be born in Mexico and only lived there for less than a year. This girl is 100% African. She has a lot of nerve trying to claim being Mexican. All this time… all the Blacks and Africans been trying to show her support, but she just let you all know that she is not one of yall lol.
Her Black @ss is a African that happened to be born in Mexico and only lived there for less than a year. This girl is 100% African. She has a lot of nerve trying to claim being Mexican. All this time… all the Blacks and Africans been trying to show her support, but she just let you all know that she is not one of yall lol.
Well regardless, Africans populated all of the Americas before the Mongol migration from Asia across the Bering Strait to Alaska. When have you ever heard so called Latinos in the Americas say the have Asian blood. Look up “Blacks in Latin America: Mexico documentary on youtube. The Mexicans of today in the documentary say that Africans were in Mexico before the slave trade. To go further into history, the book “First Americans Were Africans: Documented Evidence,” by Dr. David Imhotep tells us not only were Africans in the Americas before Europeans, Africans migrated to the Americas before that Mongol migration. Now watch all the hate come my way!
She is African, just like all AFRICAN-Americans are African. Just like like all Black Brits are African, just like all Jamaicans, etc. ‘So-called ‘Latinos’ and ‘Hispanics’ are African too. Mixed with black? You’re African. These racial groups were created to divide us so we can have stupid debates like these and never stand together. Do your research. Know your history.
She is 100% African
Why do you put Hispanics in quotes as if it’s a made up thing? And so-called Latinos seriously?
Because it is. Just do the research.
It does not MAKE you African. Blacks born in the US, Mexico, and everywhere else other than an African country have a different culture.
So do Africans who span the African Continent have different cultures, doesn’t mean their not all African.
Yes, and you can thank colonisation for that. But your roots can be found in Africa, hence the use of the term ‘African’.
All Jamaicans? There are European Jamaicans, Chinese Jamaicans, Arab Jamaicans, Indian Jamaicans and others!!!
Yes, most of us are free to move around the world at will. Great point. Does that make a black Jamaican less African??? No, no, and no. The majority of Europeans, Chinese, Indian, Arabs residing or that have lived in Jamaica are/were there to exploit. But don’t believe me, quick research will confirm that.
We are talking about the ROOTS of black people. If you aren’t already aware, most ‘full’ black people (and by ‘full’ I mean the ones that appear to be black with no mix) are indeed mixed whether it’s blatantly obvious to us or not. If you are not a beautiful blue black hue, for example, and are more a yellow, light-skinned complexion, for example, it is almost certain that your ancestor was raped by a dirty, slave -loving cracker. The majority of us are mixed, does that make you any less black? No, you’re black and your ancestors are from Africa.
The black gene is the strongest and most powerful (do the research, if your melanin isn’t evidence enough). The one drop rule applied during slavery and it applies now. The reason we have these ‘mixed’ categories is to cause division and keep us fighting against each other. Oh, and because we have been conditioned to love every other culture expect our own, it works in the favour of our colonisers for continuous control. We are first African, but because of colonisation we don’t automatically identify with this. The sooner you do, the better and happier you’ll be.
Mexican Kenyan would be the correct phrase a Latina is one who is born and raised in the one or more of the various Spanish cultures out there. On the flip side you cannot tell someone who what culture they are allowed to identify with . I’m Puerto Rican Mexican with some white in my ancestry ( dad is more than half Puerto Rican mom is about 80 percent Mexican you take half dna from each parent) but I identify and feel more connected to the Puerto Rican side sometimes your cultura is where your heart is
Lupita doesn’t call herself Afro-Latina, she only discuss he birthplace, but she actually focus on her Kenyan roots. People are funny, last month she openly discussed being discriminated against when she lived in Mexico.
Truth is why would any African want to claim Latino or Hispanic over Africans?It’s crazy,We Africans contributed more to the world than any other race. People are eating off Africans and Africa. They study and stole OUR history and lie and deceive the world. ALL Civilizations came from Africa, Without Africa and Africans white people would not have ANYTHING. We are more advance than whites genetically, technically, etc.We created geometry, martial arts, wrestling, HUMAN LIFE ITSELF etc The only thing white created was white supremacy. Everthing else stolen from Africans. SMH, white people spend billions to lie about how great they are. The whole Renaissance was stolen from African. Our minds are so advanced we did things they can’t figure out to this day.(the Pyramids) Remember they created a whole science to study our culture and what WE created. White people WISH they did what we did.#BowDown #Clapback #WeBeenon #TakeThat
seems to me like she claims both. why should she only have to identify with one part of herself?
Yeah, true. Let’s identify with every aspect of ourselves, including the part which came from the rape of our ancestors. BAD IDEA.
white people spend billions to lie about how great they are.
White people WISH they did what we did.#BowDown #Clapback #WeBeenon #TakeThat
HAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! PREACH the truth! Tell them again, I don’t think they heard you!
AGREE…I am a history buff,and still learning….I am sad for her claiming to be latino
I agree. Why she so thirsty to claim Mexican? They just barely recognize true Afro-Mexicans that have been there since the beginning.
She is not claiming Latino or Hispanic over African. She said she was Mexican-Kenyan, i.e. a Kenyan born in Mexico.
She NEVER called herself Latina. The interviewer did, in the jokey way that interviewers sometimes try to find common ground with celebs they are interviewing.
Ah she is claiming to be Mexican because that’s her nationality! Why are you so butt-hurt lol. She isn’t saying that she’s Latina, it’s not her ethnicity!
If the shoe was on the other foot I wouldn’t want some Mexican/non-black person getting bent out of shape because they will not be viewed as authentically African just for being born there. At the end of the day Lupita is African. The Afro-Latins for the most part are generations removed from Africa and generally have admixture.
I wouldn’t consider Lupita be Latina. Her nationality is Mexican. Her race is African. Her ethnicity is Kenyan. Black latina usually refers somebody of cuban, brazilian or Purteo Ricans decent.
You are forgetting Africans who ended up in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Belize, Panama, and all up and down the Americas due to slavery. Your definition even excludes Zoe Saldana, who is Dominican and Haitian. Black Latinos are anyone of African descent whose nationality and culture are of Latin America. Sounds like that can include Lupita.
Those races included too, I just didn’t want make my statement paragraph of all said countries but name just enough of them for most people get the point. Lupita may been born in Mexico but both her parents are native Kenyans and raised her in Kenyan, so culturally I wouldn’t consider her be a Latina like Rosie Perez, Christina Milian, Zoe Saldana, J.Lo, and LaLa Anthony.
I do agree that Lupita is not Latina by heritage or culture, HOWEVER, black Latina refers to ANY black Latina, whichever Latin american country they come from. Why limit it to those countries??? So strange. What about the Afro-Latina Panamanians, Mexicans, Dominicanas, Venezuelans, etc. etc.??? A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
I wonder why she would want to call herself Afro-Latina but today, the name of the game is call yourself whatever you feel like, it’s your right.
She NEVER called herself Latina. The interviewer did, in the jokey way that interviewers sometimes try to find common ground with celebs they are interviewing. Like, “Ah, Lupita, You were born in Mexico. So you’re Latina, aren’t you!!! [Insert big laugh here]
Let’s be honest, if you are claiming she isn’t Latina because her parents are from Kenya and she was born in Mexico doesn’t qualify her from being called a “Latina.”, yet you are claiming you are Latina/Latino then you are a fucking hypocrite. Why? Because you are from North America or South America, from Spanish speaking people. YOU shouldn’t even be calling yourself Latina/Latino. (Since we are following what is accurate.)
Because being Latina/Latino means you are from a Latin country only the French, Spaniards, Portuguese and Italian can claim that they are Latino/Latina. If you aren’t from there then why the fuck are you calling yourself a Latino/Latina. And if you are claiming that you speak Spanish because your a descendent from Spaniards, then than colonization. Colonization colonized many countries, so she can call herself Latina. Grab a fucking book and read. Because clearly you don’t understand.
Being called “Latina/o” or “Hispanic.” is problematic. IF you wanted to follow things accurately. Hispanic is being Spanish decent, in other words “FROM SPAIN.” It was a way for the Full blooded Spaniards born in the new world to be put apart from Mestizos. So when you call yourself “Hispanic” you are basically rejecting your indigenous side, or place of origin and only claiming the Spanish side. THAT’S WHAT COLONIZATION DID. If you are from a Spanish speaking country. Congratulations you are a hybrid you don’t have an REAL identity except for your nationality.
I agree with you!
Hey this is a great debate…everyone… if she should trace her lineage back to Africa..then we all should…every human on the planet.. so anyone who comes to the US just so their kids can be considered US citizens is guilty of the same thing.. example… two Mexican Americans (remember we are all on the continent of America) comes to the US to have a child…is that same child a US citizen or Mexican citizen.. people come to the US all the time to do this…it’s all about geography…lol…if your parents had you in the US and your birth certificate says your a US citizen. ..can that child claim to be a US citizen. ..yes…
Now do I agree that she is claiming to be Afro Latina…no I’m not pleased. She is no more Latina then Raven Simone being from crazy land… Was she born in Mexico…yes… Are both her parents Kenyans…yes…she is a Kenyan-American born in the country of Mexico…just like I’m African-American born in the United States…
Lupita your not a Latina by definition…not to say there is not AFRO Latinas…it’s millions of them…
Folk need to research their mf history, black folk were here on every f continent before the Europeans came on the set. If you are a non-melinenated human, and you*look* like the Europeans it’s only because your ancestors were raped and their land was conquered, and you and your ancestors were made to speak the language of the invaders. http://www.realhistoryww.com
Self hate is real.
Latino and Hispanics are not even nationality. They are the by-product subculture of Conquistador raping of indigenous people. I don’t know why they fetish over that title so heavily. Spanish are people from Spain. They need to claim their indigenous heritage and land.
My Spanish is rusty but it didn’t seem like she made any claim to being Latina, so I’m unclear where anyone is getting the idea that she did.
Just be the beautiful African woman you truly are, and leave it at that.
The interviewer called Lupita latina, not her. And everyone is getting in their feelings over a title when they didn’t actually watch the interview. Maybe BGLH should take more care to verify their titles/articles. Don’t drag Lupita, drag yourself for commenting without knowing facts.
she is not latina just because u were born somewhere doesnt mean anything. her family ancestors are kenyan nobody in her family is latino its stupid for her to think tht
she never made a statement that she was Latina. People are literally saying words SHE never spoke.
Right, she’s actually claiming both, so why are people feeling some sort of way? I’m lost.
She’s a Mexican African (or Kenyan Mexican , or Black American, because Mexico is still on the North American continent) by nationality, but that ? Latina heritage. I can’t believe we have to have this conversation.
I see both sides. I guess it depends if you see it as a bloodline thing or a cultural thing. I know people who were not born in Latin America, have never been there, don’t speak a word of Spanish and know little about the culture their ancestors came from. These people identify as Latino because their ancestors came from there. But then I have several Asian friends who Japanese parents immigrated to Peru and they were born in Peru and grew up there. So although all their blood lineage is from Japan they do say and I agree that they are Latino. They speak both languages but their main language is Spanish and I always see them at Spanish mass. They embrace traditions of both Peru and Japan.
She’s Latino, not hispanic, unless she speaks fluent spanish that is. Nationality by birth or by ancestry, heritage, or generational culture makes one what they are identified as. She was born in Mexico. Mexican Kenyan. Lived in Kenya all her life until 16. Returned to Mexico when she was 16 until whenever. That makes her Mexican Kenyan. If her other relatives or parents lived in Mexico when she returned when she was 16, she’s Mexican. You’re Mexican, Kenyan, or American based on how long you’ve lived in each country. If you’re Mexican Kenyan, you have dual citizenship. She is currently living in America, so she has multiple citizenship now. She can choose to identify as Mexican, Kenyan, and American if she has lived in each country depending on how many years is required to be declared a citizen of each country. She is a Mexican citizen, therefore, Latina. But people have no probelm with northern Mexicans with German, Italan, or Russian ancestry. No Spanish blood in them whatsoever, but they’re officially Latino, right? Yep!
I am baffled by her making this statement. Is she just delusional because unless she/parents/grandparents share the same history as Afro Latinos then she is not Latino but research says she’s. Surely she’s intelligent enough to know this.
You can unbaffle because the interviewer made the statement, not her. Very poorly titled article and clearly nobody watched the interview.
I don’t know if she made the statement or if it’s just people commented on the video. I think (my Spanish isn’t that good) the interviewer opened with saying she’s from Kenya and Mexico and the guy is Guatemalan and Cuban. I think the interviewer said Lupita came/arrived (llega) from Kenya to Mexico. I didn’t pick up on HER saying she was Latina and I don’t think it was said anywhere in that clip that she was.
Carlos Slim Helu sometimes is the richest man in the world has parents who came from the Middle East. Nolan Nolan questions his heritage or his Mexican nationality. Latino is a culture not a race. There’s plenty of Asian Latinos and also Jewish Latinos, this separation of race is just North American ideological nonsense. The one drop theory is garbage
I understand the difference between culture and race. However it now states at the of this post that claim she made is incorrect.
She was born in Mexico, just like many other black women who are also Latina, black, and Mexican at the same time. Mexican citizenship is by birth. Black people from South America are originally from Africa (like Lupita’s parents), and THEY are responsible for a lot of the culture, despite their lack of visual representation. People of African descent make up a LARGE part of the Latino/Latina populations of MOST South American countries, whether we learn about them in US schools are not. This would be like telling black Americans that we can’t call ourselves Americans because we have black ancestry.
It’s not quite the same, because American is a nationality and Latina is not. A white Australian person (for example) who happened to be born in Mexico and left at the age of 6 months wouldn’t be considered of Latino/a origin. A Mexican who was born in Kenya and left at the age of 6 months wouldn’t be considered, say, of Bantu origin.
I absolutely agree that there is a lack of acknowledgement in Latin American of Afro-Latinos as Latinos and of their contributions to Latino culture, and of discrimination again people of African descent. But Lupita is culturally not an Afro-Latina.
When I clicked to the interview, though, I saw no indication that she has ever claimed to be. The caption describes her as one of two actors of Latino origin in the Star Wars movie, but the interviewer calls her, more accurately, “a girl born in Mexico and from Kenya”. Afro-Latina, to my mind is a less accurate descriptor.
If the Australian returned as a teenager and lived there as a citizen for a few years, people might have split opinions on it, especially if he has a Spanish first name, was raised by people who lived in Mexico a long time, and speaks Spanish.
Lupita is a Latina the same way all the recent immigrants from Spain are able to call themselves that even though most are late to the culture that was created there when the population was significantly blacker. It SHOULD be widely known enough that Latinos/Latinas can be of African descent that they shouldn’t need a hyphen in the first place to be associated with their own culture. To me she is just another first generation Latina who happens to be very international.
cultural appropriation is not ok from any race….
…..what the heck, what are you talking about. She was born in mexico, her parents immigrated and lived there, it’s her culture, or at least she has a real attachements and knoledge of it, it’s her langage, and she identifies with that. This has nothing to do with cultural appropriation.
Cutural appropriation is when a priviledge social group (most likely white people..) use minorities cultures as a trend and pretend they came up with the very elements the stole from that culture ( Haem haem.. Iggy Azealia, Rachel Dolezal, Miley Cyrus, Kylie Jenner, Mark Jacobs, Allure Magasine, Elle Canada …just to name a few)
So don’t throw big words like cultural appropriation without understanding what it really means…
why not? it happens all the time. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Race is a social construct and bar people’s actions and what culture they choose to embrace based on what they look like is racist.
How do you think things get invented? People mix up and pick and choose the best things from every culture to get an even better thing.
Native Americans copied Spanish costumes and buttons from Spanish cowboys when they made their beautiful “squash blossom” necklaces, which are actually pomegranates (the Spanish buttons were shaped after pomegranates) and not squash since there was no squash in Spain. People with curly hair “appropriate” straight hair and people with straight hair “appropriate” curly hair and people with light skin “appropriate” dark skin and people with dark skin “appropriate” light skin. People everywhere should be able to look exactly how they want to look and wear exactly what they want to wear without fear of recrimination from others.
African people in Benin appropriated art styles from Spaniards and Matisse and Picasso appropriated African art styles in their paintings, and its all wonderful. The appropriation is never the same as the original, so it really doesn’t overshadow the original. It is just something new and interesting that itself can then be appropriated and remodeled.
It was first with travel, and now the internet that the world is becoming one big global mish mash of all sorts of wonderful culture. And even if culture is not appropriated, with time, it will still change and not be the same as it was years ago. Go to Tarpon Springs in Florida. That is a traditional culture from Greece who has kept the culture they came over here with in the 1920’s. Their culture is 1920’s Greek culture, so when you compare them with culture in Greece today, they are totally different.
It is a nice sentiment to want to preserve a culture perfectly, but whether it gets diluted from time or diluted from appropriation, culture everywhere is always changing and evolving.
She’s not appropriating anything
Lupita is a Mexican by nationality but it begins and ends there. Once again, people need to learn the difference of nationality, race & ethnicity.
THANK YOU. This really isn’t that complicated…
She isn’t Latina. Pointblank. If some of y’all don’t count white ppl born in Africa as African then don’t say she Latina. Don’t try double standards because she black
White- South Africans or white Africans, in general, are a thing. It’s ignorant to say otherwise. Being white, doesn’t exclude them from being “African,” and being “African” doesn’t automatically mean that someone is black. There are black people born and raised in Mexico and other South and Central American countries that are Latino. The question is whether or not Lupita’s nationality qualifies her as a “Latina,” not her race or skin color.
Maybe if you read correctly you would’ve read that I directed that comment towards those who believe they aren’t african. Read before you respond
Learn to communicate better so you won’t be misunderstood. You began your remark with “She isn’t Latina,” and then you qualified your remark with an analogy conflating race with national/regional identity, when race has nothing to do with it. You said, “If some of y’all don’t count white ppl born in Africa as African then don’t say she Latina. Don’t try double standards because she black.” If communicating sarcasm was your goal, you failed. Better luck next time (tee hee).
Latina isn’t a nationality, though, it’s an ethnic heritage and cultural identification. So you’re right that it’s not about her race and skin colour, but her cultural heritage. Neither of her parents are of Latina cultural heritage, and she wasn’t raised in Mexico or in Latina culture.
Latino is a culture not a race, there’s plenty of Asian Latinos and Jewish Latinos and Caucasian Latinos and Turkish Latinos and Gypsy Latinos. The richest man in Mexico and sometimes in the world is from the Middle East or his parents are so yeah no one question him and neither you should question this woman she is Mexican and Latina
For your information they celebrate afro-colombian day in Colombia
You hear little missy?
Eeeeeh…this is a bit of a stretch for me. I had no idea she was born in Mexico. But here’s the thing: my parents were in the air force and stationed in Germany where my older sister was born. Maybe they were there anywhere from less than a year to about a year after her birth. My grown arse sister (who has a narcissistic personality disorder btw) is determined to call herself German…and Jewish (a whole nother story, a whole notha level). Serious delusions of grandeur (as if being anything but ‘common ol us’ is any grander). Huge side eye, right? So if she went back to Germany for 15 years to learn the culture and language, she’d be considered an American transplant. Culture isn’t about where you were born. I mean, if my parents were in the Arctic and on their way back to the states had to emergency land in Canada to have me, and had to work it out there a few months before going home…that doesn’t make me Canadian. Lupita is Keyan, and is a beautiful thing to be. To be born in Mexico is one thing, to go back and claim citizenship is another, to have a direct family lineage rooted in the culture is still another. And if her parents did not maintain dual citizenship, then calling herself Mexican based on birth location is dubious. She would be Mexican, because of her citizenship at 16. But that does not make her latin. Latin is ethnicity. You cannot change the ethnic group you were born into.
Please understand, black is beautiful. I don’t understand why every black person tries to disassociate from it. Do we really care that much and have that much disdain for Africa and African descendants? I seriously don’t see what is so wrong with it.
The interviewer introduced her as a Kenyan born in Mexico and the other gentleman a Cuban born in Guatemala. In Latin America there is a STRONG sense of NATIONAL pride, Nationality being what country you are born in. Doesn’t matter your race (skin color, completely fabricated). In this interview Lupita NEVER acknowledged the statement about her nationality nor ethnicity nor race. She simple address her gratitude for having this great opportunity to be in the production. There was no self hate, no denunciation of her heritage etc. People are literally putting words in her mouth that were never spoken.
The interviewer made the statement, not her. If you actually watch the interview this is very clear even with basic understanding of Spanish. She simply answered his question. The title is incorrect.
But…she didn’t correct him either…
EXTREMELY WELL SAID….. I’m really appalled by Lupita’s latina claims….
She’s Mexican by birth, but Latino speaks more to your ethnic and racial background. The thing is, did someone call her a latina? Because I don’t understand why the issue came up in the first place. Her racial and ethnic makeup was pretty much known from the very beginning.
I wouldn’t necessarily call her Latina. How could she be, with no Latin ancestry?
I agree with the internet posters she isn’t Latina or Hispanic in the slightest. Where you are born doesn’t define your ethninity who your parents are does. Her parents are straight AFRICAN!
Unfortunately it isn’t as simple as that if she turned up in Kenya or Tanzania today they would say she is American.
They certainly would not.
I’m sorry, but I would have to agree with the commentators who says she’s not Latina. If she’s saying that her HERITAGE is latina, than that is straight up impossible if her entire family before her came from Kenya. Her parents left Mexico before she even knew how to speak; she didn’t grow up in Mexican culture but returned when she was a teenager. How does that make her Latina? There ARE Mexicans that are of black descent and they ARE Latino/a, but most if not all of their recent foreparents were born and raised in Mexico, and so were they.
…Correct me if I’m wrong but being latino is not really an ethnicity, it’s a culture. No? So if Lupita was born in Mexico, technicaly, she is a latina….I might be wrong but, these people are just racist they want to out her because she’s black smh…Anyways Lupita you can just call yourself black if you want, we love you!
People are horrified at the thought of HER or anyone else who is black being Latina, despite the demographics of most Latin American nations. It’s funny how blonde hair, blue eyes, and European ancestry don’t seem to disqualify people form using this word without being scolded and lectured.
That is an excellent point. Having clear European ancestry is acceptable as a latino. Having clear African amcestry is and being latino is not allowed. People all over the world are so racist because gladly swallowing white supremacist doctrines.
It’s so SAD. I didn’t know that there were black people in Latin America until I was just out of high school (I had met some in person but thought they were biracial or raised in the country and that was why they had the accent). The people who contributed to the culture that is exported out of Latin America looked more like Lupita than Salma Hayek. Spain didn’t bring women with them, so technically NO fully white woman should be allowed to call herself a Latina in the cultural sense by those standards. Most women who fit the Latina beauty standard are recent immigrants from European countries.
Thank you! Technically she is but I understand why some people wouldn’t consider her to be Latina. I do think if she had grown up there (some) people would be more comfortable with her being referred to as a Latina.
Also, just because a black person refers to him or herself as Latino/a it doesn’t mean that person is trying to disassociate from his/her African Ancestry.
Wow, that is an interesting story Lupita has. I absolutely love her. I am not surprised by them excluding afro-latinos. I don’t know how many *clearly* afro-latinos I’ve met who are repulsed by being associated with Africa. I have met latinos and hispanics who refuse to be called anything other than white. It is all politics, a racial social hierarchy. We all know who falls where.
BGLH: “…like most Afro-Latinos her African heritage causes much debate about her right to call herself Latina.”
Me: ???!!!…Stop. You all can sound off, but to me if she were to trace her lineage it would begin and end in Africa.
Yeah like yours lmao and the other afro Latin whose ancestors came over just a little bit earlier than her parents did also if youre Latino and she’s not get off the black girl long hair page lol like go to the Latino girl long hair page smh troll
I agree with you, her ancestors don’t have the history of being Mexican, neither of her parents either culturally or ethnicity wise identify as such. She did not grow up in the culture , moving to a country when your damn near an adult and experiencing another culture show you that she knows it’s not her own. If she lived in Mexico up until she was 16 than it could be debatable, but this is case closed no.
” You all can sound off, but to me if she were to trace her lineage it would begin and end in Africa.”–That’s already been establish.
The question is, are you Latina based on your birth country or your ethnic makeup?
Exactly. Its not true she’s an African born in mexico. Not a Latina.
But that would be true for most people…Afro Latinos are descendant of slaves…the problem is both her parents came from Kenya and she so happened to be born in Mexico…it’s the same thing as people coming to the USA to have kids so their kids can be considered an US citizen . The problem there is both parents are Mexicans. ..so what should those kids really be called…