- One of my biggest pet peeves ever
is hearing other people say things like,
ugh you're so white washed!
You're so white.
(speaking in foreign language)
Oh my god, you're so American.
What do you mean you don't know the difference
between Vicente Fernandez and Pedro Infante.
I can't tell the difference.
For as long as Latinos have been in the US,
which is a very long time and in fact a lot of the US
was actually Mexico, but we don't have to
talk about that right now.
We've had people treating us and telling us
that we're not American enough.
What's even crazier to me is that people within
our own community tell us that we're
not enough for each other.
(Latinx music)
- Growing up I never felt Latina enough.
I never went to speak Spanish, I spoke Spanglish.
- I'm Dominican, and I always get
that I'm not Latino enough.
Where were you born?
Are you sure you're Dominican?
Are you sure your parents are both Dominican?
- It wasn't until I went to Mexico
that I started feeling backlash about who I was.
They started calling me (speaking in foreign language).
What makes me a gringo?
- I am Mexican and I'm Puerto Rican.
Many a times in my life I did not feel Latin enough.
Where it kind of builds a little insecurity for me.
- So my parents are Colombian, and I'm second generation
on my dad's side and first generation on my mom's.
So my dad grew up in Kansas,
he's a very Midwestern Colombian boy.
I do question my Latina a lot.
I didn't grow up with a big Latino population
and when I came to LA I was like, oh!
- When I'm at home, I'm in mini El Salvador,
I'm talking to my parents and my abuelita in Spanish,
I'm eating pupusas with my hands, sopa de res,
and eating that nasty ass cheese that smells like
(speaking in foreign language).
Why do, that cheese is so good though.
And when I walk out that front door
I'm also 100% American.
- It's almost like someone does a little math kinda
and you get a Latino score, and I've always felt like
my Latino score has been pretty low.
- Like I don't know how to dance salsa,
and everybody freaks out about that like,
oh my god, you're so American,
how do you not know how to dance that like?
- Growing up when my Latina friends would be like,
oh you're Mexican, why don't you speak Spanish?
Why don't you know this, this, and that?
It used to make me feel very, very bad about myself.
- Not all Latinos speak Spanish!
- We'll have people being like, you're not Mexican,
you're not real Mexican, you don't know Mexican culture.
But like you can't know absolutely everything
about everybody.
- Don't like a lot of plantain dishes
and I'm Puerto Rican.
- [Curly] Wow.
- And see, and then Curly's over here judging right now.
- Give me back your Latino card.
We constantly invalidate each others Latinidad
with words and accusations of not being enough.
- Listen, we give each other a lot of shit, we do.
It's not just non-Latinos, it's each other
within our community.
- I was constantly growing up with
I'm not black enough to hang out with the black kids,
I'm not white enough to hang out with the white kids,
and I'm not Latin enough to hang out with the Latin kids.
- Do I roll my Rs more?
Do I walk around my 23andMe score?
- You have to be proud of who you are,
you have to be proud of your roots, of your heritage.
Don't let anybody else tell you
that you're not Latino enough.
- (speaking in foreign language) is so real
for so many of us, but if we can stop
calling each other names and actually start
supporting one another no matter
where we are in the spectrum, imagine how much power
we could have as a community.
- The best piece of advice I can say
is research your culture, learn about your culture.
- I own my Latin experience now.
I grew up in northwest Indiana, I don't speak Spanish,
I don't like plantains, sorry,
but that is my Latin experience, I'm owning it.
- I just got to a point where I was just like F it,
I don't have to prove myself to anybody.
I know what I am, I know where I'm from, I know my roots.
- If you want to learn more Spanish
because that's important to you, great,
if you're just chasing this Latino standard
it's just not gonna make you happy or you're gonna burn out.
- This is who you are man, you gotta become
your own person first.
And you gotta become the person who's proud of who they are.
And represent your people, that's the important part.
- Ever since learning more about my culture
I've gained this confidence and now I know who I am
and nobody else can tell me anything different.
- Anyways guys, be kind to one another.
And let us know about your experiences in the comments.
(speaking in foreign language)
I love you guys, adios.
(speaking in foreign language)