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Who's really Latina? A recent controversy draws outrage over identity, appropriation
NBC News / Comcast ^ | February 28, 2021 | By Raul A. Reyes

Posted on 02/28/2021 4:16:32 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer

Who's really Latino?

For millions of Americans, the issues around racial, cultural and ethnic identity are complicated. There are broad debates about how best to describe Americans of Spanish-speaking, Latin American descent (is it Hispanic? Latinx?), and endless choices reflect self-identification preferences.

Claiming Hispanic, Latino or Latinx identity is a matter of personal choice. As the Pew Research Center said in a 2020 report: "Who is Hispanic? Anyone who says they are."

But a recent controversy illustrates the tension between identifying as part of a group and being accused of appropriating an ethnic or racial community.

Until January, Natasha Lycia Ora Bannan was known as a prominent Latina civil rights lawyer in New York City. She was active in social justice organizations and the recipient of prestigious honors. She was senior counsel at a leading Latino advocacy group, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, and president of the National Lawyers Guild.

She contributed to anthologies of Latina writers and published articles on a Latino website, and in 2017, she appeared in a video for Voice Latina, saying she was a "cultural mix of Puerto Rican, Colombian, Italian and some other." Earlier, in a 2015 video, she mentioned dancing salsa while visiting family in Colombia.

Then the online news site Prism Reports alleged that Bannan was not Latina.

According to Tina Vásquez, a senior reporter at Prism Reports, historical records showed that Bannan grew up in Georgia and was of Italian, Irish and Russian heritage.

(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: latino; race; whatever; woke
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1 posted on 02/28/2021 4:16:32 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Who cares?


2 posted on 02/28/2021 4:23:40 AM PST by HangnJudge (Amen (Awomen) brother!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

I’ve identified as Latina since I was three. That,of course,would make me one. In fact,I’ve had my birth certificate changed.


3 posted on 02/28/2021 4:24:21 AM PST by Gay State Conservative (Trump: "They're After You. I'm Just In The Way")
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To: HangnJudge

Anyone screwed because they don’t self-identify as anything other than American...?


4 posted on 02/28/2021 4:25:50 AM PST by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds. )
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

The left cares about appropriation?

5 posted on 02/28/2021 4:27:20 AM PST by BookmanTheJanitor
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
All things considered, it's better to be a member of a minority in America today than not to be one, or claims regarding minority status would never be controversial.
6 posted on 02/28/2021 4:41:12 AM PST by Sooth2222 (“Taxation without representation is tyranny.” -James Otis (1761))
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Latino is an ethnic not genetic classification. Anyone can be Latino, from blonde blue eyed pale f
Skins to charcoal black and everything in between.

Being English or French is the same. Idris Elba is an Englishman just as much as Daniel Craig. Sarkozy’s, zidane, etc, are all French.

The USA needs to move to economic classification to level opportunities.


7 posted on 02/28/2021 4:45:41 AM PST by Cronos
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Here’s a better. Identify as American. The left created these “identities” to divide the country and destroy it. It’s working.

It’s wrong to ask one’s “identity” on census forms and applications of any kind.

American!


8 posted on 02/28/2021 4:47:58 AM PST by I want the USA back (The nation is in the grips of incurable hysterical insanity, as usual.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Ethnically my wife and kids are moreno Latinos/as. Practically they are conservative Trump supporting American patriots.

How does that race divide BS taste right now, lefties?

9 posted on 02/28/2021 4:48:19 AM PST by Caipirabob (Communists...Socialists...Fascists & AntiFa...Democrats...Traitors... Who can tell the difference?)
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To: mewzilla

..l Anyone screwed because they don’t self-identify as anything other than American...?

Or better, Child of God, who’s worth is completely defined by The Creator


10 posted on 02/28/2021 4:56:33 AM PST by HangnJudge (Amen (Awomen) brother!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Mercedes Shlapp. Rachel Campos Duffy.


11 posted on 02/28/2021 4:59:21 AM PST by jimfree (My 20 y/o granddaughter continues to have more quality exec experience than Joe Biden.)
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To: Sooth2222

Yep.

Can’t say I’ve ever met someone faking German, English, Jewish,* or Irish.

* I get we are technically a minority, but we don’t get free stuff.


12 posted on 02/28/2021 5:11:44 AM PST by Jewbacca (The residents of Iroquois territory may not determine whether Jews may live in Jerusalem)
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To: BookmanTheJanitor
😂 You nailed it!

You win the thread!

13 posted on 02/28/2021 6:08:24 AM PST by Eagles6 (Welcome to the Matrix/1984.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
“I’m black and my wife is a Filipina ... so that makes our kids Puerto Rican, I think.” — Dave Chappelle
14 posted on 02/28/2021 6:11:57 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("And once in a night I dreamed you were there; I canceled my flight from going nowhere.")
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

NBC= Comcast

Comcast is an American enemy more dangerous to the Republic than Russia or Iran


15 posted on 02/28/2021 6:14:15 AM PST by bert ( (KE. NP. N.C. +12) History: Pelosi was pitiful vindictive California crone)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Italians have a much better claim to “Latino” (from latin, the language of Rome) than some mestizos.


16 posted on 02/28/2021 6:14:43 AM PST by SauronOfMordor (A Leftist can't enjoy life unless they are controlling, hurting, or destroying others)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

My neighbour once made me an honorary Mexican. Does that count?


17 posted on 02/28/2021 6:23:21 AM PST by real saxophonist (The mouse doesn't understand why the cheese is free.)
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To: HangnJudge

Exactly. If you are an American citizen, you are American. The only ones that want people separated by groups are the ones that want to create distrust between the groups.


18 posted on 02/28/2021 6:40:46 AM PST by Dutch Boy
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Reading a book on people who are born in 1 country but raised in another, they had a general formula of how people will identify. When you ask someone, “where do you consider home?” People will generally choose the place where they spent the majority of years between ages 11-18 (maybe 12-18). My wife was born in the US but her parents were missionaries in South America. You ask her where is home, she says she is Latin and from Ecuador. Other Latinos even recognize her as more Latin and US American. But outwardly she is white with blonde hair and blue eyes.


19 posted on 02/28/2021 6:45:27 AM PST by Marko413
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Does her Italian ancestors who spoke Latin qualify her as a Latinx?


20 posted on 02/28/2021 6:57:54 AM PST by rwa265
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