Does not speaking Spanish make someone a “fake” Latino?
San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro was headlined across the country as the first Latino keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention earlier this month, but the Mexican-American’s lack of Spanish fluency has sparked some debate within the Latino community.
While introducing “the Democrats’ rising star” The Guardian questioned whether Castro could be considered “Latino.”
But does not speaking the language make anyone less Latino? HuffPost Live’s Alicia Menendez hosted a segment asking guests and viewers “does it matter?”
“I find it hypocritical and frustrating that it’s the language [that is considered binding], when the culture, I think, is more binding,” said Angelica Martinez, a student at Smith College.
Sara Inés Calderón, journalist at News Taco, thinks there may be “some sort of cultural bind between different Latinos,” but she adds “that Spanish is definitely a component of that, even if it is just a little bit.” READ MORE
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