I don’t know what it is about Florida, specifically South Florida, where I am constantly tested and bombarded with my ethnicity. Growing up in Cali, I didn’t learn Spanish since my parents wanted to, as they say, “keep up with the white kids” in school. I do understand that motto, since education is a big deal in my family, but now that I’m in college and much older, I still miss the factor of what it takes to be a TRUE Hispanic in this day and age. I have dark skin, curly-wavy brown hair, curves on my hips and a**, on paper I scream Hispanic. But people have criticized my “Latinness” and played me off as not being a true Hispanic. Here are few “to be a Hispanic Checklist” questions Latinos y Latinas always ask me.
1. You don’t speak Spanish? But your name is Latin.
I understand my Puerto Rican parents named me Amanda, which is Latin, but how does my name qualify as me being able to learn my “heritage language?” Why is it my name should dignify myself? What if my name was Tiffany or Brittany? Should I speak Spanish then? I always feel tempted to ask them “well why don’t you speak English?” Childish as it might be, this is South Florida and it is a melting pot of diverse cultures. But then again, SINCE MY NAME IS LATIN it is my “moral obligation to my people” to learn. Trust me I will learn, and not just Spanish but Portuguese, Italian and French, that’ll confuse them…
2. Wait you don’t dance to Salsa, Bachata, or listen to Spanish music?
I grew up in a household where my parents, specifically my dad, played 70’s funk and 80’s R&B, as well as Neo Soul R&B and Jazz. I grew up in the “black culture” style that made me comfortable. Yes, my parents can tear up the dance flow with their Salsa moves as well as their soul train moves, but I never learned their techniques. Don’t get me wrong, my Cuban godfather, who I adore, tried NUMEROUS times to teach me when we had parties, and I would honestly have two left feet guiding me. It seems like me not learning my “Spanish culture” was so hard for me that I just wanted to play Jill Scott or D’Angelo, underground R&B artists that are easier to groove my head to. But that doesn’t mean I won’t join the Latin Rhythm club or go to Salsa clubs to learn.
So maybe my “Latinness” isn’t up to the traditional standards of my fellow Hispanic equals, but does that make me not as proud to be? Am I a true Hispanic if I dance Salsa, eat Arroz Con Pollo, play Reggeaton, or even speak Spanish? I didn’t know there was a rule book to what it means to be a true Hispanic woman.
My life living in America, and specifically Florida, made me proud to be just the way I am, and if I WANT to change myself in anyway, it should be up to me and not what society says I SHOULD be.