Why I'm finding it important not to associate Latin American Nationality with being Indigenous
I'm in a position where I am constantly speaking with and learning about the current struggles of fellow Native people. A specific trend I've been exploring a great deal over the past few years started with noticing that far fewer people throughout Latin America seemed willing to be open about their Indigenous heritage and ancestors than pretty much anywhere else in the colonized world.
In fact, I found as many, if not more, people exploiting Native culture for their personal identity, art, or business who weren't Native than there were actual Native people publicly identifying themselves throughout Latin America. The vast majority of those who were open about being members of an Indigenous people whose ancestral lands exist within "Latin America" didn't actually live there, or in the colonizing country that occupied their land. More often than not, they were living in the United States or Canada.
So, for the past few years, I've been asking every Native person I meet who acknowledges that their ancestors are from these regions and identifies as Indigenous the same question: Why are Native people so resistant to being open about their ancestry there?
The answers have been heartbreaking, alarming, and, unfortunately, not something I hear being talked about enough among Native people elsewhere.
The collective responses I've heard from people who identify as Purépecha, Yaqui, Wari, Nahua, etc., have made me question whether it is appropriate for someone, typically someone from north of the border, to claim they are Indigenous simply because they are "Mexican," "Colombian," etc.
The most common response I hear is simply: "It's dangerous."
In many places, being seen as Indigenous or openly identifying as Indigenous can put you at risk. Governments are still actively erasing Indigenous culture and removing people from their ancestral lands (Argentina at this very moment for one example). In some, Native people are treated as a slave class. In others, there are ongoing genocides against Indigenous peoples. Especially in places with a large cartel presence, Native people are being killed by cartels seeking control of Indigenous land to produce their products, while governments allow it to happen or fail to protect those communities. https://icmagazine.org/flee-or-die-the-naayeri-peoples-impossible-choice/
And then there is the overwhelming discrimination, racism, and violence that creates a reality I can only compare to the fears Native Americans described having in the early part of the 20th century, fears that caused pretty much all Native people to hide who they were when they were outside of the rez. (not to say those fears don't exist now, but more so that the extent of those fears are reminiscent of that time).
So when I hear someone identify as "Indigenous" because they are, say, Mexican, it gives me pause. And I hear it. All the time. And it is always within the context of people wanting access to Native spaces, grants, programs, etc.
Mexican (or insert name of a L.A. country here) is a nationality. And within those nations are Indigenous peoples whose communities have suffered and continue to suffer as a result of colonization. I have to ask: Do they have a lived experience of belonging to one of those Indigenous peoples? Do they acknowledge the ancestors who did? Do they have a relationship with a specific Indigenous community or nation?
And perhaps most importantly: Should we challenge people when they claim to be Indigenous simply because they come from a nation in Latin America, without being able to identify who their Indigenous people are within that colonizing nation?
Because when someone claims they are Indigenous because they are say, "Mexican", I have to stop and realize that a Zapotec person likely sees "Mexico" as a Native American person sees the United States. I have to stop and consider the fact that it is other "nationals" that are committing these brutal acts and continuing the colonizers work within so called "Latin America".
Lastly, I just hope that Native people can be aware of what our brothers and sisters who have a shared history with us are going through. Because prior to a few years ago, I was one of the many who were ignorant, not so much to the history (as it mirrors our own), but rather the current state. And I want to show up for them as a fellow Native in solidarity.
