Thread by @hooliwho

This week’s Experiment is a personal one. It steps into a bit of a minefield: the “Hispanic/Latino/Spanish origin” category in the U.S. census [THREAD] #TheExperimentPodcast @TheAtlantic @WNYC

How did we start using “Hispanic” and “Latino” to refer to millions of Americans? To answer this question, I called Professor @GCristinaMora. She wrote an entire book about how activists, bureaucrats, and TV stations created this category in the 1960s:
bookshop.org/books/making-h…

So much thoughtful writing on this topic is out there. @DanielGAlarcon's essay reflecting on his own identification with the category “Latino” and the way others saw him was pivotal to my wrestling with this. salon.com/2005/05/24/ala…

For @TheAtlantic, @realcpaz wrote about the real implications of media and lawmakers’ failure to recognize the nuance and rich diversity of perspectives within this category. theatlantic.com/politics/archi…

.@isvettverde’s piece in @nytopinion crystallized the frustration many of us felt in the days after the 2020 election, when pundits seemed bewildered that some Latinos could *CLUTCHES PEARLS* be conservative?!
nytimes.com/2020/11/05/opi…

.@LatinoUSA is a pioneer in pushing conversations about further challenging this category. Here’s their episode about how the category can often erase anti-Blackness within the Latino community. @futuromedia latinousa.org/episode/too-bl…

Also from @futuromedia, this @selena_podcast episode made me think deeply about race and Latinidad. @NopalitaMami earnestly grapples with her own identification as a white Latina, and the world is richer for it: wbur.org/anythingforsel…

Shoutout to @gabrielleberbey for putting her brain + heart into the production of this ep. To Katherine Wells for sharp editing/story doula-ing. To @dhermanq for making it sing w/ the best sound design in the biz. And to AC Valdez + @realcpaz for thoughtful notes on early drafts

Finally, to revel in this deeply imperfect but also meaningful category of “Latinidad,” I leave you with this Calle 13 banger, “Latinoamérica:”

Listen to the episode of #TheExperimentPodcast here: theatlantic.com/podcasts/archi…