Authentic Latino Voices

by Mayra Lazara Dole

You’ve started a YA book club that’s reading an authentic Cuban-American YA novel. Which of the following foods will you serve?

A. Chinchulin and milanesas
B. Guacamole, chips and salsa
C. Anticucho de corazón
D. Bocaditos, mariquitas and Materva
E. Patacones and quesillos

If you chose D, your answer is correct.

Latino cultures are as distinct and diverse as ants (which, by the way, have over 280 species). All Spanish-speaking folks don’t share the same culture, heritage, dialect, or culinary traditions. The reason you might think we’re all alike is because we’ve been lumped together as “Latino” or “Hispanic,” which strips uniqueness from our cultures. Almost fifty million Hispanics live in the U.S. Yet, who writes for our young people? Who publishes Latino-Americanos? Can you list five authentic middle grade Latino novels? List all the authentic YA Latino novels ever published? Can you name five editors who speak fluent Spanish who’ve published authentic Latino authors? If not, why not?

The word “Latino” has been incorporated by Hollywood, the media and publishers to glamorize actors and authors with Spanish heritage even if they don’t speak or understand Spanish, and have never lived in a Spanish-speaking community. Luckily, some educators use the words “Latino” and “Hispanic” as powerful political tools to enhance our visibility, especially during Hispanic Heritage Month.

Our common Spanish language is a tool that helps Latino kids and teens unite, but they also need to feel proud of their diversity and unique customs. When the media, journal reviewers and publishers list books as “Latino” or “Hispanic,” instead of, let’s say, Cuban-American or Nicaraguan-American, it leads children and teens to believe our culture and celebrations are identical. Once, when an Anglo teen found out I was born in Cuba, she asked me if my family celebrated Cinco de Mayo and El Dia de los Muertos, celebrations that aren’t Cuban. The following are a few examples of how Latinos in our country and in the US express our differences:

• Chileans celebrate el festival Dieciocho with a parade, food and live music, on September 18th, the day of Chile’s independence from Spain.
• Peruvians celebrate La Virgen del Carmen–an Indian/Catholic festival that dates back 100 years—on July 16th. Nineteen troupes dance for two consecutive days to the beat of the drums while folks gather to celebrate in the streets for a full week.
• Venezuelans celebrate La Feria del Orinoco (river basin) when the river is at its highest in late August.
• El Dia de los Muertos is an indigenous observance of the dead, dating back thousands of years, celebrated November 2nd by Mexicans and other Latin Americans.
• El Dia de la Caridad del Cobre, is a Cuban holiday which celebrates the patrón Saint of Cuba on September 8th.

If we identify which Spanish-speaking culture is being depicted in each contemporary Latino-Americano novel, it will help kids understand that there is massive variety in our cultures. Most children’s books are Mexican-American, one reason why many kids and teens think our customs and traditions are all like Mexicans’. (I LOVE my Chicana/o sisters and brothers, but we are very different!) We don’t seem to have any authentic Latina/o middle grade novels and very few young adult books that authentically show our varied and unique cultures. I strongly feel it is an important responsibility for editors and publishers interested in education—not just moola—to seek out diversity and publish books that authentically portray our different Latino-Americano cultures.

Latino kids and teens in the United States need to feel proud of their heritage. Some Spanish speaking folks have Indian and/or African blood. “White” Latino ancestry can be linked not only to Spain, but to England, Scotland and so forth. Blonde Cubans or Cubans with light skin and hair, and blue or green eyes, are often told: “You don’t look Cuban.” Our diversity of colors and richness of cultures and special holidays express our uniqueness—yet middle grade and young adult books don’t.

Yes, we are Latino or Hispanic but please, consider writing about us in the following terms:

Cuban-American (Cubiche)
Puerto Rican (Nuyorican/Boriqua)
Chilean-American
Nicaraguan-American
Colombian-American
Dominican-American
Mexican-American (Chicana/o)
And so on…

To me, “Culturally Authentic” means:

• A bilingual author born in Latin America and raised in a “Hispanic” U.S. community. The writer is uniquely suited to writing in an authentic voice because she/he has lived, breathed and experienced her/his culture to the fullest.
• A U.S.-born author with Hispanic parents or grandparents. Perhaps this author doesn’t speak Spanish but grew up in a Latino community, feels “Latino,” has Latino friends and understands the dialect.
• A U.S.-born author with Hispanic heritage who may not speak Spanish or Spanglish. She/he understands, respects, and loves the culture, has lived in a Hispanic community, feels Latino and has Latino friends. (Included are Nuyoricans and Chicanos.)

“Authentic” does not mean:

• Caucasian authors using pen last names such as Garcia and Rodriguez.
• Authors with Spanish last names who have never lived in a Latino community or heard family stories but give Spanish names to characters to fill diversity quotas.

Our diverse dialects and territorial colloquialisms form a crucial part of our identity. The root of our mother tongue is Spanish, but Latinos don’t use the same slang or standard dialect in our nineteen countries, and our accents differ, too! Sometimes we don’t fully comprehend the other’s dialect just as an English speaker may not completely understand someone’s slang from Scotland or Australia. South American Spanish is different from Caribbean Spanish (we drop our S’s). We don’t understand Catalan spoken by folks in Cataluña. Spanish spoken in Argentina and Uruguay is influenced by Italians who settled there in the early nineteenth century and therefore sounds massively different from other dialects of Spanish. No matter how educated you are, or how long you’ve lived in the United States, if you grew up in a Cuban community, you’ve got the slight Cubiche accent!

As you can see from the test at the beginning of this article, our culinary traditions drastically differ, too. A German would never say, “I’m European and all Europeans eat wurst and drink beer!” Germans, Italians, Spaniards and French aren’t lumped in one “European” category; thus I ask the literary world to consider making distinctions between us, too.

I strongly believe that the publishing world should view our critical distinctions and diversity as important so kids and teens don’t experience Latino-Americanos as one-dimensional and don’t become adults who end up judging us as one people. It’s imperative for children and teens to see and understand the diversity in our cultures.

Please consider giving authentic Latino-Americanos a voice.

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