Study and Roundtable Explore How Latinx Community Experiences Colorism

By Tiarra Mukherjee Apr 11, 2019

An April 9 report from the Pew Research Center finds that Latinx people with darker skin are more likely to say they’ve been subjected to racism than those with fair complexions. Additionally, those with darker skin say the discrimination is, of course, linked directly to their race.

NPR hosted a panel with Latinx people who shared their firsthand accounts of colorism within the community. Sociologists Margaret Hunter and Christina Gomez said they are hopeful that the findings from the report will support honest conversations about colorism in the Latinx community. Gomez sees a generational shift underway, as young people increasingly bring the issue to light. “Our young people today are really talking about this on college campuses and making it literally visual to all of us,” she told NPR, “and so they talk about Afro-Latinx people in a way that, 20 years ago, we weren’t talking about it.”

Listen to the panel here.