Latino-Hispanic Identity and Traditions

Is The Phrase "La Raza" Racist?

Written by Rich Vázquez

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Articles - Culture & Identity

Colonial governments in the New World needed ethnic and racial identities so they could manage the citizens, indentured servants, slaves, and indigenous people. Statistics, politics, and advertisements are still determined by labels. It has only been forty years since the U.S. stopped using the idea of race to forcibly segregate people, but the checkboxes on forms persist.

Colonial governments in the New World needed ethnic and racial identities so they could manage the citizens, indentured servants, slaves, and indigenous people. Statistics, politics, and advertisements are still determined by labels. It has only been forty years since the U.S. stopped using the idea of race to forcibly segregate people, but the checkboxes on forms persist.

While the government and various agencies depend on ethnic categories, individuals must use them cautiously. If you use ethnic labels to refer to yourself, you may be accused of encouraging separatism, misplacing loyalty, and even being racist. The easiest target for this accusation is "La Raza". Translated literally, it means "The Race". Sounds isolating, right? The advocacy groups, bands, tattoos, and slogans use La Raza to carry a message that uplifts people and promotes community. The phrase is sprinkled throughout the Americas, wherever you can find a Latino wanting to show pride. It's hard to be isolating in such a diverse culture

La Raza is associated with, and perhaps used most by, Mexican-Americans. José Vasconcelos first coined the term in the early 1900s. He was a politician, educator, and philosopher born in Mexico. The term he actually used was "La Raza Cósmica" (The Cosmic Race). While stuck in the theology, philosophy and the pseudo-science that defined race in that era, Vasconcelos put in writing his vision of the future in La Raza Cósmica (1925). He talked of mythical notions dividing races based in science. Moreover, he spoke of how they finally arrived together again in the New World to become one.

"In any case, the most optimistic conclusion that one may derive from the observed facts is that even the most contradictory mix among the races can be resolved most beneficially as long as the spiritual factor contributes to enhance them. In fact, the decadence of the Asian peoples is attributable to their isolation, but also mainly and without a doubt to the fact that they have not been Christianized. A religion like Christianity advanced the American Indians, in a few centuries, from cannibalism to a relative civilization."
--La Raza Cósmica

The images many people have of La Raza are of brown skinned, ethnocentric separatists. La Raza is seldom associated with the same mentality that justified the genocide and general oppression that is a legacy of the New World experience, and the heritage of La Raza. I will admit to enthocentricism any day. The fact is that having a conceit for La Raza today fulfills the mantra of those who condemn labels: We are all one. The phrase has been borrowed by various shades of brown people who celebrate their African, Asian, Native, and European blood with varying equality. There is no one I could marry who would make my children anything other than Raza. Having pride in La Raza means having pride in every continent. The dishes I make in my home have Spanish, Native, and African origins. La Raza is a melting pot of cosmology.

A motley spiritual presence has brought people together from separate worlds to make families. Regardless of the scorn and legal penalties they and their children faced, people came together all over the Americas to build the Cosmic Race. If La Raza was racist in its origin because of its Christian European deference, it certainly isn't now. It never seemed to be the type of racism people attach to it. Any term can be misused by zealots, and there are some movements within the Latino community that do carry a strict tone of separatism. Many of these are still focused more on creating a cohesive community than preaching superiority. When La Raza is mentioned, it speaks of the fact that my children can have blue or brown eyes, thin or wide eyes, pale skin or the darkest skin. The hair may vary from kinky to straight. We dance to the rhythms of many nations. La Raza is the first unique creation of the colonial Americas. It is about inclusion, not exclusion.

Don't Miss These Resources

    Political and Community Groups

  • National Council of La Raza (NCLR) - Established in 1968 to reduce poverty and discrimination, and improve life opportunities, for Hispanic Americans.
  • El Centro de la Raza - Seeks to raise the awareness level of the general public, politicians, business and civic leaders toward the needs of the Chicano/Latino community.
  • La Raza Lawyers - Our mission is to attract, inspire and support Raza attorneys to achieve their full potential at all levels within the legal profession. We seek to increase our ability to access the legal processes and to influence legal policies and practices so that they are responsive to our community.
  • Committee on Raza Rights - One of the more zealous grass roots campaigns

    Cultural Groups

  • Galería de la Raza - A gallery, which offers to its diverse public art exhibitions, multimedia presentations, and educational activities relating to Chicano/Latino Art.
  • Raza - Bilingual publication with sections on Chicano/a studies, activism, the job search, immigration, queer resources, civil rights, film, and events.
  • RazaTeca Magazine - Emphasis is on the Indigenous aspects of the culture. The objective is to provide their readers with information that can assist and motivate them to work towards the betterment of the social, economic and political conditions of RAZA (Indigenous people of the Americas) in the United States.
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