Racial Innocence will challenge what you thought about racism and bias and demonstrate that it’s possible for a historically marginalized group to experience discrimination and also be discriminatory. Racism is deeply complex, and law professor and comparative race relations expert Tanya Katerí Hernández exposes “the Latino racial innocence cloak” that often veils Latino complicity in racism. As Latinos are the second-largest ethnic group in the US, this revelation is critical to dismantling systemic racism. Basing her work on interviews, discrimination case files, and civil rights law, Hernández reveals Latino anti-Black bias in the workplace, the housing market, schools, places of recreation, the criminal justice system, and Latino families.
By focusing on racism perpetrated by communities outside those of White non-Latino people, Racial Innocence brings to light the many Afro-Latino and African American victims of anti-Blackness at the hands of other people of color. Through exploring the interwoven fabric of discrimination and examining the cause of these issues, we can begin to move toward a more egalitarian society.
ONE
What Is Latino Anti-Blackness?
TWO
“No juegues con niños de color extraño”:
Playing and Learning in “White” Latino Spaces
THREE
Working in the USA
FOUR
“Oye Negro, You Can’t Live Here”:
Latino Landlords in Action
FIVE
Physical Violence:
The Criminal Justice System’s “Brown” versus Black Dynamic
SIX
Latinos and the Future of Racial Equality in the United States
EPILOGUE
On Being an Afro-Latina Interrogating Latino Anti-Blackness
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
“Tanya Hernández is one of the nation’s foremost scholars regarding racial beliefs among Latin Americans, here and abroad. With nuance and care, her latest book drags into the light the explosive and critically important topic of Latino anti-Blackness.” —Ian F. Haney López, Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Public Law, University of California, Berkeley
“A critical race theory tour de force for understanding Latino anti-Black bias, from the most important Afro-Latina voice on civil rights today.” —Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw
“Dr. Hernández is a brilliant scholar who provides critical analyses of the complexities of race and anti-Black bias as it operates throughout the Americas. Her insights are essential for understanding our contemporary sociopolitical landscape.” —Imani Perry, author of Breathe: A Letter to My Sons
“The racial fantasy is over! In this wonderful yet painful book, Professor Hernández skillfully exposes Latinos’ anti-Blackness. With an impressive command of sources, data, and cases, she stitches together the thick story of racial exclusion, maltreatment, and discrimination against Blacks by people who claim to be racially mixed and ‘color-blind.’ Her book made a Black Puerto Rican man like me cry and get angry (too many memories) but also realize that airing our ‘dirty laundry’ is vital to fight this unacknowledged racism. Bravo, Professor Hernández for daring to address this taboo subject!” —Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, author of Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States
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