In this week’s readings and podcast, explored the issues of racial identity for Latina/o individuals in the U.S. “Race” is always at the center of discussion most of the time, whether it’s how we identify ourselves or who we are racially characterized by society in the U.S. For many Latina/o’s, our racial identities is a constant issues that are brought into questioned because of the way we define ourselves among others. “Race” is relative because is an issues we have to often deal. In the U.S there are many identities especially among Latina/o’s. The Latino USA podcast, “Being Blaxican in LA” Walter Thompson Hernandez has to question his identity when he is confronted with the reality of what his race really is. However, Walter who is part black and part Mexican but has dealt with the being biracial/bicultural growing up as child. He discussed although in the U.S biracial is seen to be only black and white; it can also be black and brown. As for Walter, he sees as a struggle to identify between both because they are both two distinct Ethnicities. Therefore, he considers himself multiracial for having a little bit of both but not fully identifying with both ethnicities fully. I myself identify, as both part Mexican and part Salvadorian. As a result, I considered myself bicultural but sometimes I find myself dealing with what culture do I identify more. What are your thoughts on the different racial identities of Latina/o’s in the U.S?

On the contrast, “race” continues to be in Latina/o’s. In the readings, “The Latino Flight to Whiteness” by William Darity Jr. and “Why Latinos won’t become white” by Gabriel Arana discusses similar issues of the Latina/o fight against whiteness. Both describe about how Latina/o’s can assimilate with time to become more white. Arena mentions, “The idea of Latinos becoming white in the American sense a vision of racial and cultural assimilation independent of self-identified race…” Latinas/o’s racial identity is discriminated in the U.S. However, with time Latina/o especially lighter skin Latinos can assimilate to the white culture similar to the Irish. Even when marrying to a non-Hispanic marriage can end up for identifying more white than Latino. Do you believe as time goes on, Latinas and Latinos can assimilate to the white culture?