Using the term “Latinx” instead of “Latino” or “Latina” is seen by some Democratic politicians as a way to include more voters and attract votes. But research shows that the neologism can generate more revulsion than identification in the US Hispanic public, and even derail the party in the midterm elections to be held in November.
The survey, initially released by the website Politico, showed that only 2% of voters chose the Latinx option to define their ethnic origin. Another 21% prefer Latina or Latino, and 68% adopt Hispanic.
In another question, 40% said they considered the use of Latinx, adopted by activists as a way to include people who do not identify with the male or female gender, uncomfortable or offensive.
There was more criticism of the term among voters aged 30 to 39 and 55 to 64. Among Republican voters, 50% said they were uncomfortable. Asked whether using the term might affect their vote, 49% of respondents said it makes no difference, 30% said they feel less likely to support a candidate who uses the neologism, and 15% say it would increase their chances of support.
The poll surveyed 800 Hispanic voters who live in the US and identify as Democrats, Republicans or Independents between November 17 and 21. The study, carried out by the Bendixen & Amandi institute, which specializes in the Latino public, has a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.
“The use of Latinx, a term that did not exist until recently but has been embraced by Democrats, may be doing more harm than good to the party’s chances of winning,” said Fernand Amandi, president of the institute, in releasing the poll.
Currently, Democrats have a majority in Congress, but by narrow margins. All they need to do is lose one seat in the Senate and eight in the House to lose control of the Legislature.
After the publication of the research, Lulac (League of United Latin American Citizens, for its acronym in English) determined that the term Latinx should no longer be used in its official documents, although it has not prohibited its use by its members. The entity was created in 1929. “The reality is that there is very little or no support for the use of the term, seen as something used within the Beltway [referência a Washington e arredores] or in the Ivy League [conjunto das principais universidades dos EUA]while Lulac has always represented José and MarÃa, the residents of the neighborhoods, and we are sure that we talk to them the way they talk to each other,” Domingo GarcÃa, president of the entity, told NBC News.
Ruben Gallego, a Democrat from Arizona, also said he had vetoed the use of the term in his cabinet and in official communiqués. “When Latino politicians use the term, it’s more to please rich, progressive whites who think this is the term we use. It’s a vicious cycle of trend confirmation,” he said on social media.
The Miami Herald newspaper ran an editorial against the new word. “Every time a Democrat uses that term, a Republican celebrates. That’s all the GOP needs to come out saying Democrats are too busy being wokes.” [adjetivo usado para definir quem defende polÃticas identitárias, geralmente de forma estridente] to care about the everyday concerns of Americans”.
The Latinx term came into use in the early 2000s, but gained momentum in the 2010s, especially after the attack on Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, when a gunman opened fire on the public, many of whom were LGBTQIA+. Reports, speeches and posts about the case used the word ending in x.
In recent years, the word has gained traction in universities, which have used it to rename Latino classes and research centers. Progressive politicians such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, star of the Democratic Party, have also included him in speeches. In 2018, an opinion piece in Time magazine argued that the use of Latinx had become a success, while other gender-neutral terms had failed to gain ground.
In June of last year, President Joe Biden used the neologism in a speech. “It’s hard to get Latinx vaccinated. Why? They’re worried they might be vaccinated and deported.”
Even with the term being used even by the president, it is still largely unknown. According to an August 2020 Pew Research Center survey, 76% of Hispanics didn’t know about it, 20% had heard of it but didn’t use it, and only 3% said they used it.
Activists who defend the term say that adopting it is also a way of reaching out to young progressive voters who seek to combat machismo and rigid views about gender. “We want to make sure we’re talking to youth, and we see more and more young Latinos who are attuned to our movement’s inclusion,” said Yadira Sanchez, co-director of Poder Latinx, an NGO that seeks to expand the presence of Latinos in US politics. USA.
The Latinx debate is yet another chapter on what terms to use to define the US population that comes from Latin America. Until the 1960s, the use of “Mexican-American” was common. In the 1970s, the US government adopted the term “Hispanic” in the census, to cover residents coming from countries on the continent. In the 1990s, however, criticisms arose of the use of Hispanic, for the reference to the colonial past, and the government began to use “Latino” in official documents.
A new official change will depend precisely on which politicians will be elected in the coming years.
Source: Folha
