On Sunday night, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) slammed her fellow Democrats who have argued against using the term “Latinx” to describe Hispanic Americans because they believe it is damaging to the Democratic party.
“I also have a mini-rant about this because there are some politicians, including Democratic politicians, that rail against the term ‘Latinx.’ And they’re like, ‘This is so bad, this is so bad for the party,’ like blah blah blah,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a video posted to her Instagram account. “And like it’s almost like it hasn’t struck some of these folks that another person’s identity is not about your re-election prospects.”
“Gender is fluid, language is fluid, and I think people right now are using the ‘e’ term as gender-neutral in order to be as inclusive as possible. Don’t have to make drama over it,” she added.
Ocasio-Cortez’s push to use the term “Latinx” comes despite only 3% of Hispanic Americans identifying with it and the majority finding it offensive.
As noted by Mediate, Democrat Rep. Ruben Gallego (IL), chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, is one of the Democrats who is critical of the term. In December, Gallego revealed that the term is banned in official communications in his office.
“To be clear my office is not allowed to use ‘Latinx’ in official communications. When Latino politicos use the term it is largely to appease white rich progressives who think that is the term we use. It is a vicious circle of confirmation bias,” Gallego wrote on Twitter.
“Look y’all. Hispanic, Latin American are gender neutral. So we have already gender neutral options to describe the Latino community. Adding an x and creating a new word comes off as performative,” he added. “It will not lose you an election but if your staff and consultants use Latinx in your mass communication it likely means they don’t understand the Latino community and is indicative of deeper problems.”
To be clear my office is not allowed to use “Latinx” in official communications.
When Latino politicos use the term it is largely to appease white rich progressives who think that is the term we use. It is a vicious circle of confirmation bias. https://t.co/kMty6q7UQn— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) December 6, 2021
