The word gringo is something any person of Hispanic descent can recognize. Recently, I noticed an argument between one of my friends and a boy on twitter. The fight manifested from a picture posted of someone’s lawn. On the perfect, white picket fence lawn resided a sign that said “Anti Hispanic”. Clearly, a plethora of people, including myself were outraged to see this kind of hate. My friend then responded saying “These gringos are crazy” along with a string of profanities. Now, in reply to this tweet, a white man stated that racism cannot be fixed with racism. He fails to acknowledge that the word “gringo” is not racist!
To those of you that are not aware of what “gringo” means, it means “A person, especially an American, who is not Hispanic or Latino.” Basically, anyone that does not have any latinx in their blood. According to many white – Americans, the word gringo is derogatory, rude and discriminative. Now there are several reasons why this is completely incorrect.
Hispanics face a myriad of racism, as do most people of color. The stereotypes and fetishism never seems to end for some. Occasionally, some white Americans still use awful terms like “sp*cs” or “w*tback”, but get aggravated with a term that just expresses they are not Hispanic. We use this word to describe someone who can’t speak Spanish, or isn’t of Hispanic descent. That’s all. An adjective that is not intended to be offensive.
When a simple six letter word has the power to stay on Fox News’s radar rather than focusing on a shooting that is a major problem. In an article written in 2011 by Daisy Hernandez, she stated how relieved she was when the Tucson killer turned out to be a gringo,” Rather than focusing on the white murderer, Fox news focused on the word gringo.
The problem here is not the word, the problem here is white privilege. There always needs to be SOMETHING that distracts you from the actual issue. Gringo is just another word for Americano, it’s not derogatory or racist, and it points out the facts. In some cases, like in Hernandez’ article, it opens people’s eyes. Not being Hispanic isn’t a problem, so why is its synonym?
