Around 3 years ago, I was in a house party in the Upper East Side. I remember that I was recently back from Russia, where I spent 3 wonderful weeks, so I felt happy and re-energized. I was telling some people about my experience in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, when, out of nowhere, an acquaintance said, “You have it so easy, Ignacio.” I stopped talking, but looked at him with an expression on my face that shouted “what are you talking about?!” So, he went on and, from what I recall, claimed, “You are attractive, guys like you, you have a supportive family, you’re healthy, you have cool friends, your family pays for your trips, etc.”
“Is he talking about someone else?” I thought. But because I’ve always been a bit uncomfortable with compliments, I just thanked him and moved on. Then I realized that it wasn’t a compliment, though. That he was just assuming all those things about me without even knowing me beyond nightlife, a weekend on Fire Island and a …show more content…
“I love rice and beans” “Latinos are so passionate,” “Latin American families are so large and united,” “Latinos are so cheerful and really know how to dance” are others. I, as a Latino, don’t like rice and beans, don’t have a large family who is united, am not an extremely cheerful person and certainly don’t know how to dance. I understand that some Caribbean countries like the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico have many cultural factors in common, and that people from countries in Central America look alike because they share common ancestors; however, not even then are these countries the same. Many of them have totally different cuisines, economies, governments and ways of seeing life. I know for sure that in South America, for instance, we are all so different that not even our typical foods are similar. Wouldn’t it be much easier to just ask “where are you from,” instead of putting more than 400 million Spanish speakers in one