Darren Lenard Hutchinson

Throughout her academic career, Tanya Kateri Hernandez has engaged the subject of antiblack racism in Latinx communities. Her latest work, Racial Innocence: Unmasking Latino Anti-Black Bias and the Struggle for Equality (“Unmasking”), provides an extended analysis of this important issue and will likely become the definitive text on this subject as it relates to law and political mobilization. Hernandez’s primary goal is to demonstrate that racism exists within Latinx communities; that it originates in negative stereotypes of Blacks cultivated during the enslavement of Africans in Latin America; and that antiblack racism among Latinx persons contributes to the marginalization of persons of African descent and threatens antiracist political mobilization by persons of color. Unmasking makes a compelling contribution to research on law and antiracism in several ways. This Essay focuses on three concerns: 1. The breadth of the analysis; 2. The complication of debates regarding a “black-white paradigm” in antiracist theory; and 3. The implications for political mobilization in a fragile United States democracy.

Drawing from her extensive background as a scholar of antiracist legal theory, Hernandez has crafted a work of exceptional breadth. She traverses numerous legal, political, historical, and cultural practices inside and outside of the United States in order to explicate her thesis. With respect to law and policy, Unmasking analyzes an array of issues, including spatial segregation, discrimination in places of public accommodation, police misconduct, employment discrimination, systemic racism, colorism, educational inequality, and racist violence. Hernandez’s discussion of criminal justice matters is timely and persuasive. She analyzes the harassment of Sandra Bland by a Latinx police officer in Texas and the killing of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, a Latinx man, to provide examples of antiblack racism among Latinx populations. Often, accusations of racism within Latinx communities are dismissed with incredulity, because people who are of color, indeed of African descent, cannot have racist viewpoints. The data and individual experiences that Hernandez analyzes help to deconstruct this “Teflon shield” against accusations of racism. Scholars sometimes sacrifice depth in order to cover a wide range of subjects in their research. Unmasking, however, does not suffer from this trade-off. Each topic Hernandez discusses reinforces, rather than dilutes, her analysis, because she carefully and persuasively relates each policy matter to her thesis. The range of topics builds a strong body of evidence of antiblack racism and provides a rich foundation for future research in the field. 

Unmasking makes a second important contribution to academic research by complicating discussions of a “black-white paradigm” in antiracist theory and activism. The black-white paradigm refers to the idea that analysis of racism in the United States centers on relations between Blacks and Whites to the exclusion of Latinx and Asian American experiences. In response to this criticism, some scholars have argued for the development a more inclusive antiracist discourse even while defending the paradigm on grounds of Black exceptionalism. Hernandez complicates this discussion by demonstrating the relevance of antiblack racism to Latinx experience. Critiques of the black-white paradigm can obscure the experiences of Latinx persons of African descent and the problem of antiblack racism among Latinx individuals. The privilege and subordination resulting from antiblack racism mean that scholars cannot sufficiently analyze Latinx experiences with racism unless they consider white supremacy and its relevance to persons of African descent. Hernandez analyzes numerous examples of Black persons, including Afro-Latinx individuals, being subjected to racism from Latinx persons. Hernandez chooses as sites for analysis the issues of colorism and employment discrimination, discrimination in places of public accommodation, residential segregation, and police misconduct. Her analysis of these concerns and their relation to antiblack racism among Latinx communities makes a rich contribution to works in antiracist scholarship. 

A third point of analysis concerns the political implications of antiblack racism among Latinx communities. Hernandez examines racist political mobilization by Latinx individuals. Notably, she discusses the white supremacist Proud Boys movement and its leadership that includes Enrique Tario, a Latinx man from Miami, Florida. In addition to participating in the Proud Boys, Tario also led the group’s activities in the January 6, 2021, rebellion at the US Capitol. Tario was subsequently arrested and charged with several crimes. The participation of Latinx persons in white supremacist politics has serious implications for the ability of people of color to engage in coalition movements to contest racism and secure progressive economic policies. 

The changing racial demographics in the United States has led to optimism that people of color, along with liberal whites, could form a national and local voting bloc essential for the enactment of progressive change. From one perspective, the optimism is reasonable. Opinion polls and post-election surveys repeatedly demonstrate that strong majorities of persons of color, including Latinx individuals, believe that racism remains a strong source of inequality and that they embrace progressive remedial policies. With respect to election politics, this difference in perspective has meant that most persons of color vote for Democratic candidates, while White majorities choose Republican candidates. Progressive political candidates can only benefit from this racialized voting pattern, if people of color adhere to voting trends. Racism, however, complicates the future of these electoral and political coalitions. In 2020, for example, Tario helped to mobilize Florida Latinx voters in support of President Trump’s reelection. Trump gained a larger percentage of the Latinx vote in Florida than he did in 2016, even though his policies, particularly with respect to immigration, harmed Latinx communities. The embrace of antiblack racism made Trump’s white nationalist populism tolerable or even desirable. The ability of white nationalist candidates to make inroads among Latinx voters in Texas and other southwestern states could further dampen the potential strength of progressive political coalitions. These issues are salient, given recent threats to democratic participation in the United States and elsewhere. By unmasking racism among Latinx communities, Hernandez helps to contest the assumption that Blacks and Latinx communities are natural allies. In order to create durable coalitions between these groups, organizers need to confront racism and strive to demonstrate the mutuality of interests among Blacks, Latinx, and Asian American populations. 

Unmasking is a rich exploration of racial justice concerns affecting Latinx communities. By broadly engaging the legacy of antiblack racism among Latinx persons, Hernandez has created a compelling work that will benefit other scholars in the field. Unmasking is destined to become a leading text on racism, law, and policy.

Darren Lenard Hutchinson is John Lewis Chair for Civil Rights at and Social Justice at Emory University School of Law. You can reach him by e-mail at dlhutc3@emory.edu.