Latinos come in different colors and sometimes face confusion when it comes to cultural identity. Christina Milian is Cuban and doesn’t look like the “average” light-skinned Cuban and she faces challenges being an Afro-Latina in Hollywood.
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“Since early, it’d be like, I’m Cuban but [people] didn’t get it because I was also brown-skinned, and you usually see a fair-skinned Latino, so it was just like, ‘Oh, what are you? Are you black? Are you white?'” she told HuffPost Live host Alex Miranda. “I didn’t feel like I had to make a choice. I am what I am.”
Afro-Latinos in the U.S. and abroad are often approached with skepticism, exoticism, and even discrimination. The fact that their skin is black and their hair is curly, complemented by the ability to speak Spanish, confuses many. They are shocked to learn that this person is speaking in Spanish, and this prompts questions on nationality, language, status and ethnicity.
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In Hollywood, many Afro-Latinos like Milian and Zoe Saldana are often given roles as African-Americans, which is the easier route. Rarely do you ever see an Afro-Latino speaking in Spanish because those roles are very hard to come by.
“We’re all different, but you have to accept our differences,” she affirmed. “As far as Afro-Cuban [goes], I’m finding more and more that there’s people opening their eyes to seeing that. Latinos come in all colors, all shades,” explains Milian.
She says that even within her immediate family, her siblings are all different size, shapes, and color. “You should see my mom and her brothers and sisters,” Milian continued. “Same parents, but we just vary in color, shapes and sizes. But we’re still Latinos — that doesn’t change a damn thing. You can tell it’s in the core of our blood.”
See the full interview here:
