Can You Name 5 Famous Latinos Who Aren’t Celebrities?

By Dustin Mendus

An event that I am planning for next week as part of a Latino student group of which I am academic chair is something that wouldn’t seem complicated or grandiose — but is proving to be difficult. I’m trying to make a presentation about famous Latinos/Latinas that includes more than the usual pop stars like Shakira and Jennifer Lopez.

It sounds nice. I like the idea, of course. Educate people about their heritage. But, it’s difficult to think of famous Latinos/Latinas off the top of your head. Maybe it has to do with a lack of exposure to my Latino heritage, that’s arguable, of course. Having an absent father that, when he was present, was as Puerto Rican as Stolichnaya isn’t really a good backing to learn about my heritage. Now, forget that.

I decided to ask a few college age Latinos/Latinas to name some famous Latinos. The Latino student answers were generally celebrities: Marc Anthony,  Selena Gomez, Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, and so on. Not surprising. Most of the students I polled were either of Mexican or Puerto Rican background. One student, also Mexican, gave me answers I didn’t really expect, and I had to look up myself. Frida Kahlo,  Benito Juárez, Guadalupe Victoria, Emiliano Zapata, and Lázaro Cardenas.

This survey was by no means scientific and could’ve done with a wider base and more questions other than ‘”name five famous Latinos/Latinas,” but it does provide us with something to think about. Most famous Latinos/Latinas seem to be celebrities in the music and film industry. That’s interesting, no? Our culture is represented by celebrities. Strangely enough Alex Rodriguez or other Latino athletes never came up. Two people mentioned Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

I also asked a few non-Latino students. The results of these questions were remarkably similar, maybe more disappointing. One student couldn’t name more than two famous Latinos/Latinas.

Why do I care? Why should anyone care?

This makes for good trivia at first glance, but this information is meaningful and should be taken not of, not by Latinos to read history, or for non-Latinos to go out and indulge in every form of Latino media out there. Instead, the information to glean from this simple survey is that the numbers of Latinos in this country are irrelevant to a degree that Latinos and Latinas cannot make a name and a face for themselves. Everybody talks about how Latinos are the big minority now, but, what’s the point if no Latinos can accomplish anything and gain recognition by their own peers and others outside of media?

Dustin Mendus is an undergraduate student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He focuses on cultural geography.

[Photo By rockwilder]

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