Title: What is Latinx — Latinx Activists
Headings: Why Is the Term "Latinx" So Important?
Why Is the Term "Latinx" So Important?
Four Latinx activists talk about community, identity, pain, and unity.
What does Latinx mean to you?
I define Latinx, broadly, as anyone with a familial, cultural connection to Latin America.
What conversations are being had among the Latinx community?
What topics need to be addressed and dealt with among Latinxs?
The shooting at Pulse placed the Latinx community at the center of current affairs conversations. How did you feel about the shooting?
How do we strengthen solidarity between black people and Latinxs?
We also need to realize that black and Latinx aren't mutually exclusive categories.
Lighter-skinned Latinos get treated differently than dark-skinned Latinos, by non-Latinos and Latinos ourselves. We've seen this colorism affect Afro-Latinos the most. What are your views on colorism within the Latinx community?
How do we as Latin Americans continue to unify?

Content: Latinos feel as if we're in America as guests. We feel like we don't belong here. We don't feel entitled to speak, because we don't feel like we're a part of this country. What topics need to be addressed and dealt with among Latinxs? AA: Division among ourselves. We've had a label more or less foisted upon us, and it doesn't always fit comfortably, but we can and should use it to our—and one another's—advantage, amplifying one another's voices and having each others' backs, rather than attempting to dictate what makes someone a "real" Latinx, or Latinx "enough." Imagine how much more of an impact we could have made after Trump's "Mexicans as drug-smuggling rapists" comment if we had greater organization among ourselves—if we'd not only denounced these comments as unacceptable, but also shown it through widespread protests and boycotts. The shooting at Pulse placed the Latinx community at the center of current affairs conversations. How did you feel about the shooting?