AOC Defends Latinx Term Despite Unpopularity Among Hispanics

AOC Defends Latinx Term Despite Unpopularity Among Hispanics


Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Ortez said that people were stirring up “drama” over the made-up term “latinx”, which studies have shown is viewed negatively by most hispanics.

“In the spirit of pride, I wanted to have a note on gender inclusivity in the Spanish language,” Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said in a video posted to her Instagram Story, according to The New York Post. “People sometimes like to make a lot of drama over the term ‘Latinx.’ But even before ‘Latinx,’ people were trying to do this, like, use an at [@ symbol] to have the ‘A’ and the ‘O’ [in ‘Latino’ and ‘Latina’] together.”

“Gender is fluid, language is fluid,” she said.

“Don’t have to make drama,” she continued.

“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.’ And like, it’s almost as though it has not struck some of these folks that another person’s identity is not about your re-election prospects,” she said. “Like, this is not about you.”

She went on to say that those who were afraid of the term had bigger issues at hand.

“You need to talk about health care more, you need to raise people’s wages, you need to talk more about issues that also matter to people,” she said.

“That being said, if you don’t want to use it, no one’s forcing you to,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “But for people who enjoy trying to figure out language and have it meet the modern age, that’s kind of where it’s at.”

Recent polls have found that the Hispanic community largely rejects the term Latinx, with some polls showing that as few as two percent of Latinos use the term. “Hispanic” was the most preferred term at 68 percent, with Latino and Latina coming in at 21 percent.


Poll

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