My example comes from a clip of an online Zoom forum hosted by the National Hispanic Media Coalition in which a group of scholars, activists, and celebrities were discussing the exclusion of black people from Latinx communities and ways that media should strive to be more inclusive. I argue this example evidences multiple concerns involving language, race, and social justice as all three are deeply intertwined in the conversation. After this conversation, Bedal received online backlash for being a Latina with anti-black beliefs because of her language in the clip. Throughout the conversation, she commits a number of microaggressions toward Simone. Not only does she speak in a passive aggressive tone, but also the word choice she uses is condescending (i.e. using the loaded word “mama” to address Simone).

((9min 37sec to 11min 57sec))

01 Simone: [Do you identify as a Black woman?
02 Bedal: I identify as everything.
03 Simone: But the thing is, I identify as a Black woman =
04 Bedal: = (unintelligible)
05 Simone: I speak on the Black experience.
06 Bedal: I hear you mama, I hear you. Let me just answer one question. I’m very
07 proud of my roots. Do I know the full history of my lineage? I don’t. I know some of it.
08  All I’m saying iswhen I say we are the same, as human race wise, we are people.

Second, Bedal also adopted a “blaccent” during the conversation as she tried to justify her self-identification as a Black woman. The appropriation of a “blaccent” in conversation is an interesting reverse implementation of racial profiling through affiliating oneself with a racial group that one many not otherwise be a member of. Third, her later statement “I’m not here to fight with you” plays into the stereotypical notions of the “aggressive black woman” even though Simone was not speaking with an aggressive tone. While Simone was attempting to critique how Bedal minimized and deflected attention away from the Afro Latinas (whose voices are often silenced), Bedal tries to redefine what blackness is and redefine what culture is, which often functions as a form of erasure. In this way, Bedal weaponizes a certain privilege as she continues to speak over the critiques from Simone, an Afro Latina woman. While both women participated in the forum to promote social justice and equity among Afro Latinas within broader Latinx culture, there was a fundamental disconnect between the privileges and experiences of the two women’s racial identities, as evidenced through the language of the conversation itself.