DON’T TINX SO!
Over the last 70 years, we’ve been identified by the U.S. government as “of Mexican origin,” “Spanish Mother Tongue,” “Spanish Surname,” “Spanish speaking,” “Latino,” and “Hispanic.” During the 2010 Census, my cousin, a Mexican, called me to ask, “primo, what am I?” After all these labels, any confusion over what to call ourselves should be understandable. The only identifier that has stuck is Hispanic.
About 10-15 years ago, a poll was done to see if we preferred to be called Hispanic (the government’s preferred label), Latino, or by our own national origin. The results found that most preferred to be identified by their national origin – Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, and so forth. We understandably liked our own national origin, but it confused the hell out of the media and people in general who were afraid to wrongly identify us by confusing Mexicans with Puerto Ricans, or Boricuas with Cubans, or Cubans with Dominicans, for example. So, Hispanic stuck and that’s been the case over the last 30-40 years.
Now here comes Latinx and more confusion. Is that pronounced Latinx or Latin X? One word or two? The media use Latin X. Who’s idea was this anyway? Millennials? I ask because hardly anybody identifies with it and even fewer people use it. At least that’s what a recent poll by ThinkNow Research, a major California-based firm, found.
The poll found that 44% of us prefer Hispanic and 24% like Latino/Latina, which reflected previous findings by Gallup and Pew. Only 11% prefer the national origin idea. Fewer prefer to be hyphenated (7%), only 6% like American, and 5% identify as Chicano/Chicana. Interestingly, only 2% identify with Latinx, so there you have it.
An overwhelming 97% identify with any label other than Latinx, and I’m with them. Why? We need unity around a strong identity, not more confusion.
Some people think Latinx usage may be a fad or maybe appeals to women and youth. But the poll found that only 3% of 18-34 year olds and 2% of 35-49 year olds identify with the term. By comparison, no one over 50 identifies with Latinx. As for gender, only 3% of women and 1% of men claim it as their ethnic identifier.
So, if not even the kids identify with it, let’s drop it! Who are we trying to kid?
