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By Juliana Britto Schwartz • @JulianaBrittoS • 9 years ago

SNL: Let Latinxs in on the joke

This weekend, Saturday Night Live celebrated the show’s 40th anniversary with performances from a slew of big name musicians, actors and comedians. However, among all those funny people, there was not one Latina cast member. 

Gina Rodriguez poses for the camera in a pair of overalls.

Gina Rodriguez (Image Credit)

To date, SNL has never had a Latina cast member. In fact, most of its Latina characters are white people wearing “brown face,” performances that tend to highlight the show’s problems with race rather than make up for them. Last year I wrote about why Cecily Strong’s imitation of an ignorant and oppressed Latina woman next to enlightened white feminist Lena Dunham was offensive and incorrect. Around the same time, Feministing participated in #StillNoLatinas, a Twitter campaign organized by Latino Rebels to pressure the show into hiring a Latina cast member.

It’s not as if there is a dearth of funny Latinas. The Comedy Girls are a dynamic duo who have been ready for SNL for years, and have no qualms about telling the world (see their video below). Just last month, Gina Rodriguez won a Golden Globe for her role in Jane the Virgin. Latinas are funny. SNL just doesn’t know it.

Felix Sanchéz of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts notes that the conversations with NBCU and Comcast in recent years and requests for meetings with SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels have been futile.

On this 40th anniversary of a show that has kept Americans laughing for decades, it’s time that Latinxs be in on the joke.

Header Image Credit

Bay Area, California

Juliana is a digital storyteller for social change. As a writer at Feministing since 2013, her work has focused on women's movements throughout the Americas for environmental justice, immigrant rights, and reproductive justice. In addition to her writing, Juliana is a Senior Campaigner at Change.org, where she works to close the gap between the powerful and everyone else by supporting people from across the country to launch, escalate and win their campaigns for justice.

Juliana is a Latina feminist writer and campaigner based in the Bay Area.

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By Nia Evans • 6 years ago

Dear Betsy DeVos: Fighting for Survivors of Sexual Violence Is a Racial Justice Fight

For the past few months, I’ve seen several articles — almost exclusively written by white women — arguing that we shouldn’t enforce Title IX protections for survivors of sexual assault because the authors believe Black men are more likely to be accused. The narrative has been picked up by numerous media outlets and used by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to strip protections for survivors.

The idea that survivors’ rights are a threat to Black men leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Let me be clear: that’s not because I’m not worried about race discrimination in school discipline. We have no data to support the argument that Black men are more likely to be accused of or ...

For the past few months, I’ve seen several articles — almost exclusively written by white women — arguing that we shouldn’t enforce Title IX protections for survivors of sexual assault because the authors ...