So I'm not sure how many of you have heard about this, but before I unpack this series of events, let me just say now that if you have no intention on reading the OP, please do not bother responding to this thread. There is a lot of context to consider in order to understand why Rodriguez is being criticized so harshly right now, so please take to the time to fully read the OP before replying.
Now instead of starting with the latest news, I'm going to start with one notable sentiment from 2017 that Rodriguez expressed in a way that rubbed some people the wrong way, specifically when she suggested that there was a lack of Latinx representation amidst people celebrating the achievements of Black Panther:
Marvel and DC are killing it in inclusion and women but where are the Latinos?! Asking for a friend...
and here were a few responses:
Look into @AgentsofSHIELD Diversity centered. 3 latino superheroes have had important story lines & need as much support as bigger ones.
When people ask for Latina representation they're never looking for black Latinas
The problem with Rodriguez's tweet was mainly that it was so unnecessary for her to compare the representation of black people to Latinx people, ESPECIALLY when you consider that Afro-Latinx people DO exist, and making comments like "but where's the Latinxs?" just serves to erase the black demographic of Latinx people and perpetuate the notion that being Latinx is strictly a racial identity in and of itself. So when you consider that it was unnecessary and could be seen as detracting from black people's achievements, one has to wonder why she decided to make that statement in the first place.
Fast-forward to a few months later, and Rodriguez posts this tweet:
That photo is supposed to be a snapshot of the diversity of representation of Latina women in Hollywood, but some people found something distinctly lacking in that picture:
Gina girl te quiero but um, where are the afrolatina women?
too bad there aren't any dark-skinned latinas in this picture. and no afros or curls. but i can't even say i'm surprised.
Now on its own, some people might not see any problem with that picture; there's enough room to talk about representation for all kinds of minorities. I think the issue, however, is that Rodriguez's publicly expressed idea of Latinx representation is already problematic with respect to the Latinx communtiy, so when we see her idea of Latinx representation become manifest, and is distinctly lacking in the 'dark-skinned Latina women' department, it's not surprising that quite a few eyebrows were raised. But whatever, moving on...
Things really started to take a turn for the worse with the following video, in which Rodriguez and Yara Shahidi were being interviewed
and when the interviewer started to praise Shahidi for being a positive role model for so many young, black women, Rodriguez interjects by saying, "so many women", basically 'all lives matter'-ing the interview. The interviewer wasn't having it though, and asked Shahidi how she felt for being such a positive role model for black girls, and after Shahidi responded, Rodriguez - without being prompted - felt compelled to talk about her own goals to represent her community.
The above exchange is really where you can start to see that this isn't just about Rodriguez representing her community; she is actively using tactics to detract from the celebration of black people's achievements in order to ensure that they don't get any more recognition than Latinx people's achievements (specifically, of the non-black Latinx variety), and black people on social became increasingly vocal on this issue:
But it doesn't end there! A few months ago, on a panel with Ellen Pompeo, Gabrielle Union, and Emma Roberts, Rodriguez made a comment that really garnered a lot of backlash from the black community
where she proceeded to compare the pay gap statistics between different women of color in a general discussion about unequal treatment towards women in Hollywood:
And we see yet again that her citation of statistics erases black women in the Latinx community, not to mention that it's slightly inaccurate and is not based on data representative of Hollywood actresses, nor does it account for the fact that black women are not offered as many employment opportunities as white, asian, or latina women. And for someone who thinks it's important to have a conversation on intersectionality, there's nary a mention of Native American women, but everybody excludes them, so that should come as no surprise.
Nevertheless, Rodriguez finally broke her silence on the issue in this SWAY interview, where she tearfully expressed her feelings on the matter:
Then in the same interview, we get this golden nugget:
So when you look at everything as a whole, I feel that the black community has every right to be upset with her antics; all of which she was solely responsible for. I decided to make this thread because i didn't see anyone on here talking about it except those in the black community thread and I do not want to continue this trend where we minorities keep our issues tucked away in some thread that hardly anyone visits while white people remain oblivious to what's going on. While I do appreciate that PoC in general are being recognized for our efforts and that more attention is being brought to the issues we face, it should not be at the expense of explicit recognition of black people's achievements and our specific issues.
tl;dr:
There isn't one. Please go back and read the whole OP.
Now instead of starting with the latest news, I'm going to start with one notable sentiment from 2017 that Rodriguez expressed in a way that rubbed some people the wrong way, specifically when she suggested that there was a lack of Latinx representation amidst people celebrating the achievements of Black Panther:
Marvel and DC are killing it in inclusion and women but where are the Latinos?! Asking for a friend...
and here were a few responses:
Look into @AgentsofSHIELD Diversity centered. 3 latino superheroes have had important story lines & need as much support as bigger ones.
When people ask for Latina representation they're never looking for black Latinas
The problem with Rodriguez's tweet was mainly that it was so unnecessary for her to compare the representation of black people to Latinx people, ESPECIALLY when you consider that Afro-Latinx people DO exist, and making comments like "but where's the Latinxs?" just serves to erase the black demographic of Latinx people and perpetuate the notion that being Latinx is strictly a racial identity in and of itself. So when you consider that it was unnecessary and could be seen as detracting from black people's achievements, one has to wonder why she decided to make that statement in the first place.
Fast-forward to a few months later, and Rodriguez posts this tweet:
That photo is supposed to be a snapshot of the diversity of representation of Latina women in Hollywood, but some people found something distinctly lacking in that picture:
Gina girl te quiero but um, where are the afrolatina women?
too bad there aren't any dark-skinned latinas in this picture. and no afros or curls. but i can't even say i'm surprised.
Now on its own, some people might not see any problem with that picture; there's enough room to talk about representation for all kinds of minorities. I think the issue, however, is that Rodriguez's publicly expressed idea of Latinx representation is already problematic with respect to the Latinx communtiy, so when we see her idea of Latinx representation become manifest, and is distinctly lacking in the 'dark-skinned Latina women' department, it's not surprising that quite a few eyebrows were raised. But whatever, moving on...
Things really started to take a turn for the worse with the following video, in which Rodriguez and Yara Shahidi were being interviewed
and when the interviewer started to praise Shahidi for being a positive role model for so many young, black women, Rodriguez interjects by saying, "so many women", basically 'all lives matter'-ing the interview. The interviewer wasn't having it though, and asked Shahidi how she felt for being such a positive role model for black girls, and after Shahidi responded, Rodriguez - without being prompted - felt compelled to talk about her own goals to represent her community.
The above exchange is really where you can start to see that this isn't just about Rodriguez representing her community; she is actively using tactics to detract from the celebration of black people's achievements in order to ensure that they don't get any more recognition than Latinx people's achievements (specifically, of the non-black Latinx variety), and black people on social became increasingly vocal on this issue:
But it doesn't end there! A few months ago, on a panel with Ellen Pompeo, Gabrielle Union, and Emma Roberts, Rodriguez made a comment that really garnered a lot of backlash from the black community
where she proceeded to compare the pay gap statistics between different women of color in a general discussion about unequal treatment towards women in Hollywood:
And we see yet again that her citation of statistics erases black women in the Latinx community, not to mention that it's slightly inaccurate and is not based on data representative of Hollywood actresses, nor does it account for the fact that black women are not offered as many employment opportunities as white, asian, or latina women. And for someone who thinks it's important to have a conversation on intersectionality, there's nary a mention of Native American women, but everybody excludes them, so that should come as no surprise.
Nevertheless, Rodriguez finally broke her silence on the issue in this SWAY interview, where she tearfully expressed her feelings on the matter:
Then in the same interview, we get this golden nugget:
So when you look at everything as a whole, I feel that the black community has every right to be upset with her antics; all of which she was solely responsible for. I decided to make this thread because i didn't see anyone on here talking about it except those in the black community thread and I do not want to continue this trend where we minorities keep our issues tucked away in some thread that hardly anyone visits while white people remain oblivious to what's going on. While I do appreciate that PoC in general are being recognized for our efforts and that more attention is being brought to the issues we face, it should not be at the expense of explicit recognition of black people's achievements and our specific issues.
tl;dr:
There isn't one. Please go back and read the whole OP.
