The Empty Phrase of Latinx

There are two pieces of news that are much more connected than what people (especially the Biden Centrists) believe:

There’s the now-infamous poll of Latin Americans outright rejecting the “LatinX” label as a way to include everyone beyond male/female into the demographic.

Then there’s the Biden Administration reimplementing the Remain in Mexico policy created by Trump and the MAGAts because of a court order.

Let’s start with the Remain in Mexico, which from the very first couple words is clearly a racist, xenophobic, morally repulsive, biased, ridiculous, unacceptable law that should have been burned at the stake or at the very least reduced to irrelevancy. Instead of battling it with every ounce of power of owning the presidency and controlling all branches of government, we’re seeing Biden making a deal with Mexico and keeping most of the worst parts of the damn policy. A 2020 promise has been broken, and if Biden doesn’t outright battle this and nullify it, then this will turn around and bite him and the entire political party when the next few elections come.

But this is more than just a political misfire, this is a moral misfire. Because of violence, climate change, poverty, and political decisions made by the United States within the last century, we’re seeing millions of displaced Central and South Americans seeking a better life elsewhere. While the amount of Mexicans moving north have been reduced by a great number because of (slightly) stronger status of their homeland, the country of Mexico has become a destination for Latinos and Latina refugees. Events in the last half-century has resulted in desperation from a variety of countries nearby, whether its Haiti which is ridden with deadly gangs, poverty, political instability, and nature-related damage, or Daniel Ortega ruining Nicaragua by becoming a dictator.

(Funny how everyone forgot about Haiti even though the assassination of their president happened merely months ago…)

Lost in all the controversies is the fact that Mexico is also experiencing the influx of people moving in, and unlike the United States, doesn’t fully have the backlog of financial strength to receive such a rapid influx in a short period of time. Trump used this to his advantage by basically forcing Mexico to comply and do the U.S.’s dirty work or face economic consequences. And now we see the Biden Administration continuing this procedure of making Mexico basically do the dirty work of prevention as well as holding migrants at bay as the U.S. border remains contentious. We also haven’t forgotten about the men on horseback whipping migrants trying to cross.

The second news story is how according to this recent poll, the Latin American community is rejecting the term “Latinx” entirely, and even going as far as avoid voting for candidates that use the term outright. Of course there will be tons of questions about the validity of the poll, and of course there’s the cultural differences that can clearly be found in the age gap between older Latinos and the first-generation immigrants living in America. But the fact remains the term remains a polarizing one within the community, and one that hasn’t gotten the traction most American activists would have wanted while seeking better inclusionary language for all genders and types of people of Latin descent.

So where’s the connection? Well, if the more progressive politicians insist on seeking out what’s best for the Latin community as a whole, then where are the actions in place?

Where is the commitment?

Where is the drive to openly discuss the horrors being put upon the Latin American/Latin Immigrant community and the migrants?

Why do we still have ICE roaming around?

Why is Remain in Mexico still a thing?

Why has there not been stronger action to prevent another El Paso shooting where a man literally drove across the state of Texas to a Latino-heavy city to kill Latinos specifically?

As hate crimes and anti-Hispanic/anti-Latino sentiment has risen exponentially within the past half-decade, we have seen little effort to actually point this out as a major issue. Worst of all, we’ve seen next to no traction of a voting rights bill that would deter all the racism-influenced changes to voting in states that is diversifying much more than what white supremacists desire. Puerto Rico also remains ignored as its still trying to recover from generations of political chaos and mistreatment, and of course there was the infamous moment where Kamala Harris told migrants “not to come” during a press conference in Central America---which really rubbed people the wrong way and tarnished her poll numbers beyond recognition.

Politically, we’ve been ignored and underrepresented all century long, from the Bush Administration’s wild numbers of deportations all the way through Kamala Harris going to territory she can see for herself remains in disarray and telling the hemisphere for those in need to not try to make their way to the richest country in the history of the world. Let’s also not forget the sanctions levied towards political rivals all over Latin America while being perfectly content doing business with Saudi Arabia and China, the coup of Honduras in 2009, and the coup in Bolivia just a couple years ago which was mocked by Elon Musk of all people. Latin Americans remain disrespected by the country and the elected officials that are supposed to represent us. You expect us to go through with terms being coined and pushed by English-speaking liberals trying to talk the talk but not actually doing the work? Of course not.

The rejection of the phrase to me runs deeper than just the controversies surrounding inclusive language, it’s a rejection of a population of politicians that claims they have the backs of Latin Americans but not necessarily doing enough to actually prove this. We still have a migration crisis that needs attention, Puerto Rico still needs help, we still haven’t done enough to help Central America recover from generations of mistreatment, and worst of all the Democratic Party still hasn’t done enough to reckon with the giant wave of white supremacy that is openly causing chaos in Washington D.C.

I don’t consider the term offensive, nor would I be upset if someone used it. But I do know that the term has good intentions but comes from unreliable sources, and for as long as that continues, the Latin American community as a whole will continue to look at the phrase with a negative light. If you are an ally, prove it. If you have the power to make life better for us, then work on it. Otherwise, these are just empty words put upon a community that has undeservedly suffered way too much.