Biracial Actors Discuss the Challenges of Being Black and Latino

Actors Discuss the Challenges of Being Black and Ethnically Latino

Actors talk about what they have experienced living as both black and Latino. They talk about the challenges to personal identity their dual racial heritages brought. Actors interviewed include Christina Milian and Tatyana Ali.

Tags: actors, black, Christina Milian, Latino, Tatyana Ali

Native Gear

This was interesting
- Sdvssgsre
  
  I am in Air Force and seek ing someone .
  
  I need a woman who can love me back
  
  …I also got a username nathanm on _____【M’ilitáry S’oulmáté.C óM】–_____
  
  It’s the largest and best club for seek ing Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force,
  Police Force, and the admirers of those who wear the uniform.
  I just hope you don’t mind me being a soldier …Please Check
  it out!I’m serious
  @@@@@@@@8140a5bbf4b176d08ae19fae31d9d082:disqus
guest

did you know the 2nd president of Mexico was a black Latin Vicente Guerrero he also was a big part of the Mexican Revolution his Father was black and his mother was amerindian
- Anonymous
  
  Did you know that Blacks or AfRAkans are the oldest race on this planet? Did you know that Blacks existed as the ONLY humans on Earth when there was only ONE land mass. We had already spread out and covered the entire land mass before it split into continents. That is HOW we became the AUTOCHTHONS on EVERY continent. The REAL natives on EVERY continent are BLACKS with woolly hair!! Everyone else is an EXTRACTION and MUTATION. The archeological evidence is overwhelming. Many of the hybrid, mongrelized or ‘mixed’ races have exterminated the indigenous to conceal or hide their origins.
  - http://twitter.com/twillvin Allen Twillie
    
    What’s truly amazing is that most people don’t know these facts.
- BigDawg
  
  His dad was not Black LOL. How do you think he got the name Guerrero. Wow. His dad was Mestizo Spanish/Amerindian and mom was black.
YourBLACK

Cus your BLACK not Latino!! Go learn your history. Just cus the Spaniards ravaged your country and raped your women and you steal from the culture, language, wtc DOESNT make you Spanish from Spain
- BlanishandProud
  
  You are joking, right? I am a Black Latina……my family were slaves brought over from Spain. To this day I have Spanish(From Spain) grandparents, aunts and uncles. My father is Black and American Indian. Basically, where I am going with is, if YOU do not know WHAT you are talking about, educate yourself or SHUT THE HELL UP!!!
  - Anonymous
    
    You’re black but you state that you’re Latina/o to alleviate the confusion of your culture. Being from a latin country doesn’t change the color of your skin.
  - Niki
    
    you are not a latina if your grandparents etc were from spain. you are spanish, you would only be latina if you came from latin america. spain is in europe.
  - black_907
    
    your family were black slaves from spain lol. sorry but somebody lied to you cause that just doesnt add up
    - Dragongirl
      
      I think that you are ignorant of history period. Not only were the British enlsaving blacks from Africa…so were the Spaniards…and that means Spain too….blacks were colonized in every area of this damn world practically…..black slaves were in spain, south america, cuba…etc everywhere!! Open up a book and enlighten your mind!!
  - lilika
    
    WTF!!! Black brought over from AFRICA by some spanish people!!!! Know your story damn it! You are telling some bullshit, there’s no black in spain, all blacks were captured and brought in from AFRICA!!!
  - Adrian Khan (The Soca Warrior)
    
    You obviously are full of it.What slaves were in Spain??
- http://twitter.com/aponterosa janyl ramirez
  
  lol you’re an idiot. are you “african” while not having any idea about where in africa you came from, what kind of food your ancestors ate, and what language they spoke? does an african-american consider her/himself as having “stolen” the american language of english? if you’re latino, chances are you have a combination of spanish and african blood; the same way that if you’re an african-american, you most likely are a combination of african and “white”. it’s really not that difficult a concept, dumbass.
  - Anonymous
    
    How does not knowing the specific country, state, village, tribe, language and customs affect the racial identity of a Black American? Please explain how being culturally ignorant alter or erase the GENETIC MARKERS that determine race? The English language was IMPOSED upon the AfRAkan. The AfRAkan originated the MOTHER TONGUE—from which ALL other languages derived. Why would the AfRAkan ‘steal’ the European language, English? Does speaking the English language change the skin pigment, hair texture, facial features and physical build of an individual or group of people? I don’t understand your logic or recognize your intelligence.
- Mo
  
  Guys, we have to keep in mind what goes around comes around. “Black” history doesn’t begin with slavery. Spaniards enslaved blacks, but blacks did it to them first … at that time we were called “Moors” hence the real Spanish, or Moorish Latine term for a person of color “Moreno”.
  
  And … really the only race would be human right ? Human (man of color), Man, and Mankind at worst case.
  - Dragongirl
    
    This is true…every culture has some type of “in house” slavery. But…..that is done within the culture…..it doesn’t make it right…but anybody else trying to enslave others outside of their culture..that’s where the problem is. If green people wanted to enslave some tribes within the green culture that’s one thing….but say a blue person came over trying to enslave a green person….that’s warfare!!!
  - Bigdawg
    
    The moors never enslaved the Spanish. Also they were kicked out of Spain. Look up Reconquista. DNA has proven that only 10% of Spanish have North African DNA. The moors though are Arab and how do we know this? They brought Islam which was not native to Africa. The Arabs invaded North Africa and killed the men and then raped their women. During the conquest of Spain their were rebellions in North Africa that caused the forces of the moors to head back to North Africa and leave a very small force in Spain.
- Anonymous
  
  The Neanderthal-Caucasian invaded indigenous populations and imposed their sound-distorted, non-ma’athematically coded languages. That is why there is wide-spread ignorance and deception. DNA is the blueprint. It reveals TRUE identity.
Miller

I enjoyed this video. The topic gets on a lot of people’s nerves, but at the end of the day we have a clearer understanding of one another and can take it from there.

No one denied their blackness, they are just pointing out that they are natives of another place, speak a different language & share a different culture.

They give a clearer understanding to the meaning of the words native, race, culture, ethnicity etc etc. A lot of people don’t know the difference.

You have people calming native to places they know nothing about, can’t even speak the language, nor have they ever indulged in the culture….. Videos like this can be used as a get your facts straight as to race, native, ethnicity, culture…..I’d be mad too if all the perpetrators, people who know nothing get a pas s in front of people who actually are & live the life as to who they are !!
BKNYC28

All hispanics should identify with their nationality first, because the island or country they come from is their true heritage. But MOST of them not all should definitely identify with being apart of the black race because we all of us wether being west indian, hispanic, or african american carry more than 25 percent sub saharran african decent. NOW! the real issue is the question of what is considered “beautiful” light skin long hair seem to be the status quo among with not just hispanics african americans as well are guilty for this foolery. Zoe Saldana being a darker skin hispanic woman is just as beautiful as Jennifer Lopez a lighter skin Hispanic woman. Beyonce a light skin african american woman who is just as beautiful as Naiomi Campbell a dark skin woman. I think we should leave it being a matter of taste
- WashingtonHeights
  
  There true heritage is slavery. Society sees color and race first over nationality no one would know your nationality unless u told them and even then they don’t care which is why these folks in the videos and all the others who look like them have such a difficult time in the world. In all Spanish speaking countries black latinos are at the bottom of the socio-economic strata and are discriminated against in every facet of society.
  - Pfeiffer87
    
    I think this is a problem in the Americas alone. In Europe the concept of national identity is completely different. No-one would define themselves as white.
iguessuguess

I am west indian panamanian what does that make me? lol
- LucySkyDiamond
  
  beautiful baby!!!!!
- Anonymous
  
  I was about to ask the same thing because I am from Colon, Panama. I know that I am black, however, it seems it is the nature of people to “assume” what Hispanic should look like. If you heard me on the phone without seeing my face, I sound like Selma Hayek. If you saw me walking down the street and I didn’t speak, I have that same chocolate complexion that has made Naomi Campbell and icon.
- Anonymous
  
  –An AfRAkan who speaks Spanish.
  - iguessuguess
    
    I for one actually know what I AM and the stock that I come from my dad has been working on our history for years and everyone of his children (3) has a copy of his work so for those of you who don’t know take it upon yourselves to find out so you will never be lost in a state of confusion and it can be passed down to your children and so on.
Kris1

@YourBLACK why must the two be mutually exclusive? Why is it so hard for you to accept that someone can be identify as latino and black? Aculturation is differrent from race and culturally speaking the affrican slaves imported to the caribean, central and south America can identify in ways that as African-Americans can not because the culture is differrent. That makes them no less black. No one in the segement denied their blackness but they are also undeniably latino that’s all.
- BlanishandProud
  
  It really can be hard professionally. When I talk to people on the phone they think I am white, then when they see me in person they are shocked at what they see. I modeled for quite a while and I either wasn’t Black enough or Latina enough. This should not be as confusing as it but unfortunately this is the world we live in!
Anonymous

Why not just say I’m a black dominican/brown dominican, black cuban/brown cuban or black mexican/brown mexican? Problem solved. I don’t see how they have a hard time defining who they are.
- http://twitter.com/aponterosa janyl ramirez
  
  i think it’s other people that have the most problems, apparently
- Anonymous
  
  The whole black and brown thing confuses me b/c everyone in this video was brown. I didn’t see not one “black” person on the video. Black is the color of this screen. I realize that’s a term we use to describe ourselves but regardless of if you were dropped off on any of those islands or in america one thing we all have in common is that we all got here by way of africa and mixed with other people. We are all brown. We have allowed white people to screw us up so bad mentally it isn’t even funny. I say identify with whatever culture or heritage you were raised however, don’t deny the ethnicity that everyone can clearly see just by opening up our own two eyes. Who said light skin was better, who said silky hair was better?? If you notice most whites try to buy the attributes that we were naturally blessed with. How can we be so weak to allow someone who isn’t us determine our beauty??
Queen 2bee80

none of these ppl are african..they are ISRAELITES ….also spaniards and latinos are not the same ppl…..all black(negro)hispanics and native american are ISRAELITES
- Info
  
  Israel is in what continent ?
  - Anonymous
    
    You better school them
  - Pfeiffer87
    
    Asia
- guest
  
  thanks for saying this i am from the tribe of Judah everyone will not agree with you but i do
- black_907
  
  lie!
- blackand proudmama
  
  Not Israelites but the true Hebrews we are the original people – not angelo saxtons (white folks) this is what people of color need to realize after over 1000 years – we all are descendants of Africa this is a scientific fact – even now people of color are playing into the game of the Willie Lynch theory – pit them against one another and white folks (the we) will always be in control – and the main premise of this theory is pit the light against the dark – this will allow them to try an assimilate and yearn to the white but they will never obtain but this gives us a control mechanism. Teach your children different don’t continue to let the minority (whites) claim the majority status – they have never been and now in 21st it is manifesting the negation of this theory around the world. Be Proud Colored folks – take this world and reverse the negative stigma associated with it we are color Europeans are not!
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_INPJG3ZG3OF7HG5MQKJBYXSZAY Tweety_slim

Hollywood always focuses on the stereotypes and ignores the reality. I don’t think we should acknowledge this type of mentality. Know who you are and tread forward. We are black and Latin.
Jasmine_harvey17

They all look spanish to me. If i saw all of them on the street i would say they are mixed up with some type of spanish. You can tell by their features, not skin tone. And i LOVE dark spanish people their look is so exotic.
- Luiz
  
  Then you must be blind. Not by features or skin tone do they look Spanish, Spanish people are European I know Spanish people tan in the sun but not to this extent and Spanish people usually have long straight noses and straight or wavy hair.
  - Anonymous
    
    being that the Moors were in Spain nearly five centuries, that is actually an inaccurate statement
    - Miranda
      
      The Moors were in certain parts of Spain they didn’t conquer the entire country and the majority of Spanish people are Castilian and they look it though they do tan because of the fierce sun. Slaves were never in Spain.
- black_907
  
  americans especially! africans americans call anything that cuban and etc or from latin america/central america.. spanish! they may be mixed some down the line with spanish actually they’re but they are not “spanish” they are cubans. puerto ricans and etc… if your spanish then you are from spain ! and simply none of these women in the video look spanish.yes these women in the video look mix but thats it,
  
  if we talk about spain to day not the moors
Alonzo

None of them look like they have any European Spanish in them they are disliked by their own family members so how do they expect not to be disliked by the world at large and white Hispanics in particular?
- black_907
  
  i live in sweden and these women look mixed as they are in their blood line
SunnnyDNYC

Your headline is quite misleading. This story was not about “biracial” people, per se. You are making their point that people fail to see them as Latinos because of their complexions.
Chenderson703

Your headline is quite misleading. This story was not about “biracial” people, per se. You are making their point that people fail to see them as Latinos because of their complexions.
- Anonymous
  
  They’re afro latinos. They have African blood in them which would make them bi-racial
Pedro Martinez

None of them look like they have any European Spanish in them they are disliked by their own family members so how do they expect not to be disliked by the world at large and white Hispanics in particular?
Pedro Martinez

The term Latino, despite its popularity is till highly debated among those who are called the name. Since the adoption of the term by the US Census Bureau and its subsequent wide spread use there have been several controversies and disagreements, specially in the US and to a lesser extent, in Mexico and other Spanish speaking countries. Regarding it as an arbitrary generic term, many Latin American scholars, journalists and INDIGENOUS rights Organizations have objected against the mass media use of the word “LATINO pointing out that such ethnonyms are optional and should be used only to describe people involved in the practices, ideologies and identity politics of the supporters.
Journalist Rodolfo-Acuna writes: when and why the Latino identity came about is a more involved story. Essentially, politicians the media and marketers find it convenient to deal with the different US Spanish speaking people under one umbrella. However, many people with Spanish surnames object to the term Latino. They claim it is misleading because no Latino or Hispanic nationality exists since no Latino state exists, so generalizing the term Latino slights the various national identities included under the umbrella. Latino is an American made term that the people of South America do not use.
Brooklyn

They are black racially but Hispanic ethnically.
Black Americans are black racially but African American ethnically.
Asians are Asian but still have their own ethnic groups, such as, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Filipino.
- Anonymous
  
  Well wouldn’t you be a Afro Latina? Im confused
- JamCanSense
  
  What?????
  
  Everyone is on “Compartmentalization overload”!! WTF? People in general want to belong to an identifiable group. Due to travel, migration, slavery, among other factors, we now have sub-sub-racial groups. This is the equivalent of creating file folders on your computer that are so descriptive, they contain only one file.
  
  My Jamaican mother’s mother is 1/2 Chinese 1/2 black, her father was 1/4 Metis (amerindian and Scottish) 1/4 Indian 1/2 black. My father is straight from Africa so at first glance, I appear to be dark-skinned black. All this gets me are lots of comments on my eyes, nose and hair (“good hair”…gimme a break with that BS, you can have it.) WITHOUT the social advantages afforded the “fairer skinned” sub-population. So, what category do I fit into? What am I “racially”? Ethnically?
  
  May I propose “United” as my race category?
Tika

I don’t think most people care. I think we realize that there are black people that speak Spanish. I think where some of the issues come in at is when you have people whose heritage is from Spanish speaking countries get pissed when they are called black. Even on the reverse I’m a African-American that comes from a African, French and Native Am mixed heritage and I have black Hispanics say oh you look “Dominican” or “Puerto Rican”…….no I look “Black” just like you. Ok you are Dominican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, ect ect but you still got off the same ships black Americans got off of.
ProudBlackWoman

*Sigh. I am of Black Creole descent. Maybe I should just say I am a French/Spanish/Native American who is tan instead of acknowledging that I AM BLACK. Black people have many different cultures so I do not see how it is inaccurate if you are of African descent.
- Florida
  
  Slavery really worked a number on these peoples heads. In the cradle cocoon of the islands they come from they lie to themselves but once they leave the shores of those islands and run smack dab up against reality they can’t cope. I wish I had a dollar for every time some black skinned kinky haired Spanish speaking person told me they were Spanish then reeled off a list of white nationalities in their bloodline without producing any DNA to verify it. They will say: I am Spanish, Irish, Italian and so forth, as if nationalities were races and not countries. Besides, they are just as prejudice against their own black family members as any white person is.
  - Selly18
    
    Listening to this video, they all sounded uncomfortable with their blackness. I understand their culture is prejudice against “blacks” and it was probably imbedded in their brain that “white/European” is better. I also found it annoying that since they couldn’t get any Spanish acting roles, they are going for African American roles. I think African American roles should be given to “African Americans” only. If you don’t know much about African American culture, I don’t see the acting being as believable.
Shrugs

The only ones who are biracial are Soledad (black & white) and Ali (black & East Indian). They just look like brown & light complected black people to me.
Anonymous

A few celebrities were missing;Kid Cudi,Stacie Dash,Rosario Dawson,etc,but a good discussion.I just find it interesting how over the years the world has become more diverse than it’s ever been with fusions of different cultures,skin tones,and languages.But it seems that society is determined more than ever to put everyone in a box to make themselves feel more comfortable.
- Gill
  
  Leave Stacey Dash out of it she is black and only identifies that way she is not confused about who she is and her language is english. Ditto for Kid Cudi, part African American.
  - Tonya
    
    Kid Cudi & Stacey Dash are half African American and Mexican they did not have two Hispanic parents and they weren’t raised in Spanish speaking households. They were born and bred in the US in African American culture which is why they have fewer problems that the people belly aching in the video.
  - Anonymous
    
    The point is there nationality is the same not about identity confusion.Tatyana Ali considers herself a black woman,but does not deny her latin roots.That’s why they apply to the topic that was discussed
Erica

There were no Latino people in this video. Unless they are Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, or some other place in southern Europe, AND speak Latin, then these people are Mestizo, Black, Central American, etc. The Europeans are the ones who labeled brown people in that region with words like Latino/a and Hispanic. Blacks mixed with Indio is a better way to describe the people in this interview. NOT LATINO.
- JamCanSense
  
  @Erica Thanks for a comment that made the most sense to me.
- Quasi
  
  speak latin? The language that has been dead now for quite a significantly long time? And its offspring linguistically is English, German, Spanish etc so what exactly do you mean by speak Latin.
uniformedkiss

Every weapon, every war, every soldier, every branch. Every story
deserves to be heard. Share the stories of servicemen and women at **uniformedkiss**, and find friendship, love, romance, marriage or even more with our heroes.
Clearmind

This is ridiculous. Thats all I have to say, your genetic makeup is that of a black man or woman, all your physical attributes exude that of a black man or woman. Your ancestors(SLAVES) happen to have been brought to a country which was dominated by the spanish plunderer. Your first language is therefore Spanish.

My genetic makeup is black. I was born and raised in a caribbean island dominated by the French. My first language is french. I am not a “francaise” in every sense of the word. A language has nothing to do with race. It is your genetic makeup. Im sick of this Bullshit talk. Only in America is this of great importance.

There needs to be a clear distinction in this place on the difference between ethnicity and race.
- Hasw123
  
  What a bout native American, they are. Brown because they native not black, only four could have black ancestry. Less than 5% from Africa or descendants of slaves, so the Spanish and native Americans mixed. Native Americans can get brown.
  - Nevada
    
    None of them look Native millions of Black Americans are brown but they don’t have Native ancestry. They look like the millions of African slaves most of the black people from Cuba and the Dominican Republic are descendant from.
Anonymous

Neural LINGUISTIC Programming and miscegenation has phucked up the MEMORIES and disconnected Blacks/AfRAkans from their OWN minds.

The speaking of non-AfRAkan foreign languages among Blacks distorts their THINKING and confuses them about their DNA heritage. I can understand why certain AfRAkan people REFUSE and REJECT European languages. That way, OUR ancient intelligence is
preserved!!!
Adrian Khan (The Soca Warrior)

This goes out to all those blacks who talk mad crap about latinos not acknowledging there african roots,but why should they when alot of afro americans dont even acknowledge there african roots.
FTW

These people should really stop judging themselves by what some white film producer has defined them as. I’m really waiting for these actors to form their own film companies and stop explaining themselves to white people with incorrect identifiers. Please stop viewing the world and yourselves by eurocentric standard.
Mirabella

This topic will always strike a nerve with black Hispanics cause white Hispanics are closer to the color and culture of power and the dark ones resent it because as Jesse in the video states “we don’t get to chose”. It’s like if you are a black Hispanic you are not good enough or won’t measure up to the physical standards society sets for typical Hispanics.
Just call me Shey

Interesting story
Awewqt

Every weapon, every war, every soldier, every branch. Every story
deserves to be heard. Share the stories of servicemen and women at — uniformedkiss.c0’m
—, and find friendship, love, romance, marriage or even more with our heroes.
Nico

Mexicans are mixed to with native American black and euro what does that make. Me Mexican That’s all I no then they say or your not black then they say or ur not Mexican I never win ahi that why I’m Mexican I don’t think we should say your a black Mexican every one. I that Latin American is mixed but I’m proud of my mix
Nico

And Mexico first president was mixed he was a Afromexican
dvinemrsshay

Some people on here are very confused. These people are ETHNICALLY Black or Mixed which is common in Latin America…and their race is Latino/Latina. Their Nationality is wherever they were born: American, Cuban, Dominican etc. One clearly can be black, and culturally Latino/Latina, however 95% of these people are mixed race anyway with orgins of African, Hispanic, and Indigenous blood. Not hard to grasp at all.
ikee

What people has to understand Latinos, Mexicans, Cuba and African Americans ancestors are from Africa that make us Africans period. What kind of Africans that’s up you, but we are scare to use Africans because of slavery being look down on b/c of color in the way color people was treated. For years some of these countries didn’t even what to admit they had African blood and that’s a shame.

Now Trending

Trending Videos