Latines Are Opening Up About The Endless Microaggressions They Face Daily, And It's Important

Microaggressions are subtle insults or slights toward individuals or groups, often based on race, gender, sexual orientation, and/or other identities.

Latines may face stereotypes, assumptions, or biases about their ethnicity, language, or culture. These can appear in different ways and can have a negative impact on their daily lives and interactions with others.

So, I asked the BuzzFeed Community, "Latine individuals, share the painful microaggressions you've faced." Here's the feedback, and some of the responses are quite shocking:

1."Being told 'your English sounds great and we don’t hear an accent'…even though I was born and raised here and am first generation."

2."In Charlottesville in 2013, my partner and I (both white-presenting but raised in Central America) were walking down the street speaking Spanish when some drunk white guy shoulder-checked me and said, 'English.' Also, hearing white people say things like 'beaner,' obviously in different contexts, but it can be as offensive to some people as if they were Black and you called them the n-word. Oh, and my personal fave, 'Wow, your English is so good!'"

—flinnchristian

3."In high school, my best friend would use slurs when referring to Mexican coworkers. I would remind her that I was also Mexican, to which she always responded that I was different or didn’t count because I spoke English with no accent and basically because I was Americanized. At the time, I was just new to the community and grateful for friends, and I figured the comments were part of her darker humor. However, after a while, I realized she was a low-key narcissistic racist. I have since ended our friendship; I could no longer ignore her comments."

4."I’ve been told that I 'code-switch,' and admittedly, my California vernacular will come out when I’m speaking casually. One day, a colleague stopped me and said, 'Wow, your accent actually sounds authentic.'"

5."I’m white-passing Mexican, and any time I code-switch while translating in our work office, I get the 'wow, you have such great English!' Duh, I went to school with your kids and grew up bilingual."

6."I worked as a translator at a dental office in Charleston, SC, and a coworker asked a dark-skinned Mexican patient about their tan. There was no tan; it was simply a darker complexion from the region the patient migrated from. This was the comment: 'I love your tan. Do you have any tips for me?' (Pale woman). With no hesitation, I simply looked at her and said, 'I’m not translating that; we can talk about it later,' and continued to talk to the patient. I do love code-switching to protect my people."

7."My name is Roberto, not Robert, not Rob, not Bob, not Bobby. ROBERTO. And I still get called Rolondo, Francisco, Alberto, on top of that. I don’t mess up Michael or Jennifer."

8."On behalf of the non-Latin communities with 'Latin-sounding' names, no assumptions should be made about one’s heritage. I was friends with a woman whose parents came from the Philippines; she had dark hair, dark eyes, and a 'Spanish' last name, so people often assumed she was Latina or Hispanic...Spain colonized many places, not just the Spanish-speaking ones we have today."

—lasra

9."Unnecessarily rolling R's. My husband is from South America; I took his last name, which our kids, born and raised in the US, now have. The last name has a single R followed by a D, which involves no rolling of the R, and I cannot even count how many times over the years we’ve gone to school events or birthday parties and some parent or teacher has made a big show of rolling the R in the last name. Like, maybe I get that they’re trying to meet our culturally blended family somewhere in the middle, but if you’re going to play like you know the language, at least learn a thing or two about it. Luckily, no one has tried to turn the N in the name into an ñ, that I’ve heard anyway. General PSA, same goes for ‘no problemo’…it’s problema."

10."I went to a mostly all-white school and was cast as the Indian character in a play. I tried out for three roles that were not the Indian character. Unprovoked but simply for existing, I was chased home in a car by an older white girl from school while she yelled that affirmative action was 'bullshit.' I'm in my 30s now, but I often followed around stores while shopping. I was told, as a compliment, that 'you’re basically white.' If I had a dollar for every time 'where are you really from?' was asked, I would absolutely be a millionaire."

11."I'm half Mexican. I used to walk with a Mexican woman on my work breaks. We were counting how many Mexican women were in our office. She said five. I said, 'Six, me!' She said, 'Oh, you don't count.'"

12."I was a new teacher at my elementary school and walking down the corridor. The white male vice principal was calling, 'Alicia, Alicia.' It was not my name, so I kept walking. He kept calling out, and I turned around and said, 'I'm not Alicia.' He confused me with another Mexican teacher who was 50 pounds lighter, shorter and had lighter curly hair. We looked nothing alike, even from the back."

13."I'm Mexican-American and was born and raised in California. I speak better English than Spanish, to be honest, but I definitely look Mexican. I was in beauty school at the time and was conversing with a group of girls, one of whom was a white girl originally from Idaho. We were all getting to know each other, and she asked me if I had a green card. My best friend at the time (who is also white) was shocked and offended for me that she'd asked me that, but for some reason, at the time I wasn't offended. Being Mexican, we are used to asking each other where we're from and having family members who are immigrants, as I myself am the child of an Immigrant."

14."I'm not Latine by any means, but I date a Mexican man and have been since we were teenagers. Often, I get asked by other races, 'Is it tough dating a Mexican man?' Oh yeah, like it's so hard. I get there are stereotypes of Mexican men either cheating or being possessive, but my man isn't like that at all. And it always annoys the hell out of me when people treat him differently because he's Brown or assume that he isn't from the US (he was born in Missouri). And one more thing, he's a quiet person and people automatically assume he doesn't speak English so they won't address him or even say hi to him. English is his primary language!"

15."White teacher here. Students talk about what they hear on the news and repeat it at home. When I remind them that some of the students they're friends with are immigrants, they seem a little shocked and always reply, 'Yeah, but they're one of the good ones.'"

16."At work or school by coworkers, students, or teachers, it baffles me how people always feel comfortable asking about citizenship status. As soon as I answer the stubborn old, 'So where are you REALLY from?' It’s always followed up with that. For people who are, it’s weird, and if someone’s in limbo or not, what are they supposed to say in front of everyone? So intrusive and rude to ask. Do better, people."

17."Saying negative stuff about other Latine people to my face because they don’t realize I am fully Latine."

—Anonymous, 54

18."I've been told that I speak very good English, and when I get asked where I'm from, I say Mexico. I migrated to the US when I was 16. I'm now 46."

What are your thoughts about these microaggressions? Let me know in the comments.

Note: Some submissions have been edited for length/clarity.

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