In a Washington Post article discussing colorism within the Latino community, Professor Tanya K. Hernández shares research from her latest book, “Racial Innocence: Unmasking Latino Anti-Black Bias and the Struggle for Equality,” which highlights inequality present in the Latino community.
While Latinos in the United States are often described simply as “Brown,” that term does not capture the spectrum of skin tones and races within the country’s Hispanic population. These differences in appearance can affect how Hispanics are treated in the United States, even by other Latinos.
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Tanya Katerí Hernández, a law professor at Fordham University and the author of “Racial Innocence: Unmasking Latino Anti-Black Bias and the Struggle for Equality,” has studied anti-Black sentiments and colorism within the Latino community.
For her book, she analyzed examples of anti-Black bias in the workplace, in schools and within families. One of her most memorable case studies, she said, was the story of a dark-skinned Dominican woman looking for housing. The woman was referred to a housing placement agency by her light-skinned relatives. But when the apartment-seeker showed up to the apartment, moving date set and money arranged, the Latina apartment owner told her, “Nope, not you. There’s been some mistake,” Hernández said.
“It’s a stark example of rejection based on racialized appearance within a Latino community,” she added.
