100 Days of AfroLatinidad

1st Day

I currently work at H&M, right in the heart of Manhattan, New York ... well the second heart of Manhattan. Better yet, think of it as Times Square younger sibling and the only relation the two have is the last name: Square.

A lot, and I mean, A LOT, of tourists stop by to shop before heading off to either Penn Station or the PATH Trains right nearby. Working at H&M, I have serviced people from almost every continent and I have learned how different they can be from your average New Yorker. But if there is one thing they all seem to have in common is the belief that a Black person cannot be Hispanic or that is such a rare sight to see a Black Hispanic.

"Where did you learn Spanish?"

"Your Spanish is so well! How long have you been speaking?"

"You're Puerto Rican? I would have never known!"

Of course this isn't limited to customers. Anytime I meet someone, I never tell them i'm Puerto Rican and the reason for that can be written another day. I tell them my name and based on what they see, they see me as a Black woman, which is true. Whenever I close I'm known for playing my music out loud on my phone. I put it on shuffle and it can go from hip-hop to salsa to rock to bachata ... English speaking singers to Spanish speaking singers ... I realized it's whenever I started to play Aventura, legendary bachata group from New York, that I hear a gasp or a "Whattt?!?!", which is then followed by a:

"Iesha I didn't know you spoke Spanish?!"

Which is THEN followed by a:

"Yo, did you know Iesha spoke Spanish?!"

And here they are, looking at me, wondering how in the possible hell can this Black woman with 4C hair speak Spanish. Do they say it? Of course not, because they don't want to come across as racist or ignorant. But they're definitely thinking it. I can see it almost like a thought bubble above their heads.

It is not like I deal with this once every few months, which is understandable then I suppose. There are always going to be ignorant people in this world, whether innocently ignorant or purposely ignorant. But I deal with this almost on the daily. Not a day really goes by where I have to assist a Spanish speaking customer and they are in almost complete shock that I can even utter a Spanish word, let alone hold a simple conversation.

I think it is even worse when they make the choice to continue speaking English and struggle, rather than speak to a Black person who speaks and understands them perfectly in their native language. I was on register and started out speaking in English to the customer I was helping. I realized he wasn't really understanding what I was saying and asked if he spoke Spanish. He responded, of course, in shock and said yes. I started speaking to him in Spanish but instead of responding back in Spanish, he insisted on continuing to speak English even though I was struggling to understand what he was saying. My co-worker was besides me watching it all, and was able to see the irritation on my face and hear the irritation in my voice. It got to the point where I just said "f*ck it" and started speaking English back and got him out of the store as quickly as possible. After the transaction was done, I wanted to punch something so badly. I knew deep down if I was a lighter skinned Hispanic, he would've never done that, even if their Spanish wasn't all that good.

My Spanish isn't perfect, and the story for why it isn't will also come another day, but honestly even those who are fluent in Spanish don't speak perfect Spanish. There are multiple dialects, just like there are different dialects in the English language. There is no such thing as speaking perfect Spanish and people tend to forget that whenever dealing with an AfroLatine.

Instead we are met with racist and anti-Black comments.

Isn't this the life? 🙄