Latinidad

Remember earlier this year when Nate Cohn of The New York Times let the world know that a significant number of U.S. Latinos were becoming more “white” by misrepresenting a study that had yet to be finalized? This week that study was finally published. Here it is: America's Churning Races: Race and Ethnic Response Changes […]

As with any embarrassingly disappointing opinion piece that gets my attention, I usually find out about it via Twitter. This weekend was no different, when @RachelDecoste tweeted this: @julito77 Historical amnesia: @EnriqueKrauze in NYTimes «Latin America’s Talent for Tolerance» http://t.co/7HtHdJT0N7 #latino #racism — Rachel Décoste (@RachelDecoste) July 12, 2014 After tapping my laptop to make sure […]

By now regular visitors to this site will have seen the images coming out of Murrieta, California, where an angry mob this week blocked three buses from delivering immigrant detainees apprehended in southern Texas. Presumably among the close to 140 detainees on-board the buses were unaccompanied child migrants from Central America, tens of thousands of […]

Ever since Latino Rebels formed more than three years ago, we never tended to shy away from raw and honest discussions relating to culture, identity, ethnicity and race. It is what we do, so it was no surprise to see the comments from a June 20 Facebook post go completely insane.  Just another normal day at […]

After receiving a May 22 email about reporting issues surrounding a May 21 New York Times “Upshot” piece by Nate Cohn proclaiming more and more Latinos are becoming this country’s next whites, “Upshot” managing editor David Leonhardt sent the following response to me this morning: Mr. Varela, Thanks very much for your e-mails, and I’m […]

The Proyecto Más Color campaign is using an online petition and social media “to promote the awareness of the lack of representation of Afro-Latinos and other minority groups in Latin American media.” The following video explains more about the project: As the Proyecto Más Color organizers say on their petition site: This is important because […]

Yesterday, President Barack Obama awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to the 65th U.S. Army Infantry Regiment, also known as the “Borinqueneers.” A decade ago no one would have predicted such an occasion nor was the 65th as popular as it is now. Not only was the 65th virtually forgotten by Puerto Ricans but the contribution of  hundreds of thousands of […]

Recently, a controversy about Latinos and racial classifications has led to heated debate based on a toxic mix of incomplete conclusions from research and rampant speculation. A draft presentation at the Population Association of America (PAA) chronicled by a Pew Research senior writer was then picked up by Nate Cohn, writing for The New York […]

Bronx Writers Center director and Rebelde Charlie Vázquez sat with Daniel José Older at a Brooklyn restaurant to discuss —among other things— the spirit world in storytelling, the importance of building community and how the publishing industry needs to restructure its acquisitions and marketing strategies if it wishes to engage more Latino readers.   CV: […]

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this piece was published on Dr. Rodríguez’s blog. Nate Cohn in The New York Times opened a racial pandora’s box with his article on the whitening of Latinos. He received responses from a number of interested observers of Latino issues—from Latino Rebels to academics such as Amitai Etzioni and Manuel Pastor. Today […]

When I wrote an opinion piece on May 21 basically questioning an incredibly misleading piece by Nate Cohn of The New York Times’ “Upshot” blog, I never would have thought that 1) Latino Rebels would still be covering the story; 2) The Times would not yet respond to my emails about Cohn’s reporting; and 3) […]

“I got so much trouble on my mind, refuse to lose.” — Chuck D There is not much more to add about why the now infamous “More Hispanics Declaring Themselves White” piece by The New York Times’ Nate Cohn was so problematic. Not only for what the post proclaimed, but also the fact that, according to […]

Now, you can read this or this if you really want to dive into why this whole Latino/Hispanic Census White silliness is so complicated, just watch this:

Yesterday, The New York Times’ “Upshot” blog announced the following to the world: “More Hispanics Declaring Themselves White.” The piece, written by Nate Cohn, included the animated image of a figure shifting from silver grey to ivory white and this lede paragraph: “Hispanics are often described as driving up the nonwhite share of the population. […]

UPDATE, 8:15pmET, May 22, 2014: I had an email exchange with one of the study’s co-authors today, and she wrote me that Cohn’s inferences about the data were his and not her research group’s conclusions. She also wrote that the study was still not public, nor was it finalized. Read more here. In the ongoing […]

NUEVA YORK, NY – The Memorial Day weekend will be transformed into an art and culture celebration in Manhattan’s Lower East, where the Loisaida Festival will bring together theater companies, poets and musicians, in a celebration of the performance fusions that evolved at iconic venues such as the New Rican Village, in the 1970s and […]

As a regular watcher of Latin America, come Monday morning I usually expect to read about the terrible things that almost inevitably occur every weekend. In a region so vast and unstable, there’s bound to be a riot, a corruption scandal, a police crackdown, the shooting of innocent bystanders, or at least an earthquake or mudslide, […]

On April 29, the legendary Pepe Aguilar performed with the USC Marching Band during the school’s Latino Alumni Event. As you can imagine, the performance was all over YouTube. Here is just five videos from that night.

Editor’s note: Viviana Leo (pictured below) is the writer and co-producer of “White Alligator,” a feature-length comedy about stereotyping in the entertainment industry. The film’s next screening will be this Saturday, May 10, at 1:30pmET at The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival. 180 Remsen St. in Brooklyn Heights. You can purchase tickets here. “Ethnically Ambiguous” has been […]

[View the story “A Beautiful Response to Morgan Hill’s Cinco de Mayo Protests” on Storify]

Three years ago today (May 5, 2011), a small group of crazies launched LatinoRebels.com. As the Lead Loco who came up with the idea of forming a new type of site the would try to tackle (and celebrate) what it is to be a “US Latino” in a digital age, I wanted to take a […]