The young and upcoming rapper has had enough with having to choose between her cultures–and we don’t blame her.
Photo captured by DigitalMajority. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
WHAT’S THE ISSUE HERE?
As she rises towards fame–people are demanding to know what Cardi B culturally identifies as–and it has to be a choice. Well, that’s just wrong. Cardi’s black and proud, but she also embraces her Latina pride–and there’s nothing wrong with that. The “Bodak Yellow” star’s celebrity presence became more mainstream causing people to have been quick to criticize her for not explicitly stating her blackness or simply disregard her roots. But Cardi B has no shame in telling that she is black and is a confident Afro-Latina.
CARDI GETS REAL.
In an interview with CR Fashion Book, Cardi explains her frustration with her identity as an Afro-Latina, ‘One thing that always bothers me is that people know so little about my culture. We are Caribbean people. And a lot of people be attacking me because they feel like I don’t be saying that I’m black’.
The rapper is Dominican and Trinidadian. She very proudly expresses her Latino side and even recently appeared on a Reggaeton track Ozuna’s “La Modelo.” As wonderful as this all is, it also caused her to receive a lot of criticism–with people claiming that she was shunning her black side.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Be6X4HdBkkW/?taken-by=iamcardib
However, Cardi is active in both parts of her culture. She attended Jamaica’s Dream Weekend in 2016 and visits Trinidad quite often, showcasing it on her Instagram. She’s never seemingly tried to bury her Blackness or shove it aside to make way for her Latina roots. She is still a proud Afro-Latina who is aware of the way the music industry (and the rest of America) treats people of color. She is trying to represent two totally under respected and underrepresented groups of people–so why would we shame her for that?
BUT ARE WE REALLY SURPRISED?
This isn’t uncommon with Afro-Latinas, who receive more criticism than most Latinos. Not long ago, actress Lupita Nyong’o received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in 12 Years a Slave, but she faced massive amounts of criticism for claiming her culture as both black and Mexican. Her native countries are Kenya & Mexico, yet the two cultures are feuding over which country gets to claim her. But the question is, why can’t they both?
Photo by Stephanie Moreno. CC BY-SA 2.0.
This is the issue with Afro-Latinas. People shame them for claiming both cultures as they cannot be apart of both. We are all people of color, minorities, fighting every day to earn the respect that we deserve. We should not be shaming these badass, hardworking women who are just trying to represent themselves and us, properly.
BUILD A BRIDGE.
All of this shaming needs to stop and we need to embrace our brothers and sisters. Just because we don’t all look alike does not mean that some have more of a right to claim a culture than others. We need to build a bridge and get over this terrible underlying discrimination against Afro-Latino/as and come together as a community.
We all want the same thing and that’s proper representation and respect as a whole. If we shame and don’t accept one another, there is no way we will gain the respect that we deserve. We shouldn’t take away the success of these women because we are confused by their cultural identification–there’s no confusion. Afro-Latinas exist, and they are just as beautiful and badass as other Latino/as. As long as we have the Latin blood, we all have the fuerza, and no one can take that away.
Let me know what you guys think about the controversy regarding Cardi B in the comments below!
La Fuerza 