COURTESY STACY FERNANDEZ

Stacy Fernandez, a Charlotte actor of Dominican descent, says she passes up African American-specific roles out of deference to Black Americans’ shared culture. She will, however, audition for roles cast for people of color.

Checking the box for ethnicity and race is a hassle for Charlotte educator Kiana Johnson.

Johnson identifies as Afro-Latina, a term used to describe people of Latinx and/or Hispanic descent who are also racially Black.

“I only ever questioned my identity when I have to check the boxes of those forms because they only allow you to choose one option,” Johnson, 26, said.

According to the U.S. Census, 10.2% of people in North Carolina identify as Hispanic and/or Latinx, which includes people that identify as a different race. That same data showed that 2.5% identify as more than one race.

Race and ethnicity are terms many Americans struggle to differentiate. The U.S. Census Bureau defines ethnicity as the “cultural expression and place of origin of a person, while race describes a person based on their physical and biological attributes.”

Afro-Latinx and/or Afro-Hispanics came about during the 15th and 16th century.

“The multiple dimensions of Hispanic identity also reflect the long colonial history of Latin America, during which mixing occurred among indigenous Americans, white Europeans, slaves from Africa and Asians. In Latin America’s colonial period, about 15 times as many African slaves were taken to Spanish and Portuguese colonies,” Pew Research Center researchers Gustavo Lopes and Ana Gonzalez-Barrera wrote in a report.

That same study revealed that “18% of Afro-Latinos identified their race or one of their races as Black.”

Furthermore, 130 million people of African descent live in Latin American countries such as Mexico, Guatemala and Costa Rica.

Johnson, who was born in New York to a Black American father and Puerto Rican mother, grew up with people questioning her identity.

“Oftentimes, many people assume I am Black as in African American, so when I mention my Puerto Rican roots people are often surprised or in disbelief,” Johnson said. “As a kid, many people didn’t believe me or wanted me to prove I was Puerto Rican.”

Johnson thought hiding her ethnicity was necessary to avoid having lengthy conversations about her culture as a child.

“As a kid, I think I hid away my Latin heritage because it was easier than trying to defend my identity,” she said. “I think in high school I started to embrace my Latin roots and this may be due to having more Latinx friends and not feeling like the only one. I was able to comfortably enjoy that part of myself without feeling judged.”

During Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15) people of Hispanic descent — specifically current and historical figures — are celebrated in the United States, but many often feel it excludes Afro-Hispanics and Afro-Latinx.

According to Natasha S. Alford, executive producer of the documentary “Afro-Latinx Revolution: Puerto Rico” and author of the forthcoming memoir “American Negra,” “the intersection of Black and Hispanic history still tends to occupy an uncomfortable middle ground.”

“Despite an estimated 90% of Africans trafficked by the trans-Atlantic slave trade having been taken to Latin America and the Caribbean, the history of their descendants has often been omitted or oversimplified in public discourse,” Alford wrote.

In her memoir, Alford addressed the lack of recognition for Black Hispanic historical figures that fought for racial inclusion.

“In the United States, there are untold stories of unique Afro-Latino history-makers who were thrust into a racially segregated society that made little distinction or recognition of their specific cultural origins,” she wrote.

The representation of Latina and Hispanic women in media prompted many to continue to question Johnson’s identity. According to a study by University of Southern California Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, stereotyping of Latinx and Hispanic characters is still a hallmark of portrayals.

“The qualitative results demonstrate that depictions of Hispanic/Latino characters still involve criminality, poverty, immigration, and a focus on Hispanic/Latinos as foreigners,” researchers wrote in the study. “The depiction of Hispanic/Latinos in top movies from 2019 not only communicates that this community is dangerous, it continues the trend observed in the previous study.”

The misconception of Latinx and Hispanics on the silver screen does not stop there.

According to Remezcla, a media company that focuses on Latin American culture, Latina and/or Hispanic women are represented as being “White with blonde hair.”

Charlotte-based actress and UNC Charlotte student Stacy Fernandez, 26, has experienced some misconceptions while auditioning for roles.

“As an actress, I’ve been questioned about my identity and told what I can and cannot audition for,” she said. “It was discouraging because I’ve had to either choose between Latino or Black. I’m both,” said Fernandez, 26. “Now when I am cast, I’m cast as either.”

Coming from Dominican ancestry, Fernandez has fought misconceptions within her occupation, recalling that she is often discouraged from auditioning for certain roles. She now more selective in terms of roles she auditions for to avoid stereotypes.

“If the play calls for an African American female, I wouldn’t audition since I don’t identify as that. But if the play calls for a person of color, I sometimes would ask the director what experience that they are looking for. If they are looking for an experience of any person of color, then I’ll audition, but if they are looking for an African American person, I respectfully won't audition.”

However, Fernandez did not always feel this way and explained why many Latinx and/or Hispanic communities aren’t aware of their Black ancestry.

“A lot of Black Americans assume that Dominicans are racist because we don’t claim we are Black,” she said. “As a matter of fact, we do acknowledge our ancestry, but I’ve grown up in an area where being Black meant you’re African American.”

As time went by and new information surfaced, Fernandez educated herself and learned how to embrace her identity.

“I have learned to embrace my identity and stick firm to what I believe,” she said. “Afro Latinos aren’t only Caribbean. We are everywhere.”

Aside from the difference between race and ethnicity, Latinx and Hispanic are terms many do not understand.

Though many people identify as both, “Hispanic” is a term used to identify those who are from or are descendants of people from a Spanish-speaking country, while “Latinx” is used for those who are or descent from a country in Latin America.

For example, someone from Brazil, where Portuguese is the primary language, is considered Latinx but not Hispanic. A person from Spain is considered Hispanic but not Latinx, as their primary language is Spanish, but the country is not located in Latin America. Both terms are often interchangeable because most countries in Latin American and the Caribbean identify as both.

However, many who are just either Latinx or Hispanic believe the terms should be completely separated from each other.

“Hispanic and Latino should be separated because they are two different terms,” said Maria Tauchert, 31, a native of Equatorial Guinea. “When you fill out a form and have to choose your identity, Black and Caucasian are in two different columns, so why not Latino and Hispanic?

I don’t think it is necessary to remind ourselves where we are from because we know, but it is important to differentiate the two terms because some people do not realize Hispanic and Latinx are not the same thing.”

As a Hispanic but not Latina Black woman, Tauchert goes through many misconceptions about her culture. Unlike the majority of Hispanics in the U.S., Tauchert, 31 was born in a Spanish-speaking country in Central Africa, located close to Cameroon.

“I do not consider myself a regular African person,” she said. There are no other countries in Africa that speak Spanish, so it always takes me 20 minutes to explain where I am from. Then people get confused because I am Black and I speak Spanish, but I am not Latina, so then that’s another conversation.”

Though she was born in Africa, Tauchert left her native country when she was 6 years old and was raised in Alicante, Spain. She moved to the Charlotte area four years ago after meeting her husband, a white American, while visiting family.

Growing up in Spain, Tauchert was not aware of the difference between Hispanic and Latinx communities.

“In Spain, we don’t mention those communities as much as it is mentioned here,” she said. “I never heard people speaking so much about ethnicity until I moved here.”
Upon relocation to America, Tauchert had to adjust to a new culture while explaining how someone from an African country can be considered Hispanic, yet not Latina.
Though she finds it frustrating at times, Tauchert encourages conversations about culture and the many different aspects of identity, so in the future, her daughters won’t have to face the same misconceptions.

“If I could change things, I would want my children to be taught more about these topics,” she said. “More people need to understand the history of Hispanic versus Latinos. We have to open up a little bit and add more history than just American history.”

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