America is a continent. The US appropriates everything. We are so brainwashed in the US to believe we are so much better than the rest of the world, that we truly will believe all of the propaganda about how great we are. The fascist superhero complex is so ingrained that some

of the most well meaning people are victims of falling for it. America is a continent of which the United States is just one country. America extends from Canada all the way down to Argentina. The United States of America has appropriated the names America and American, the name

an entire, very big, diverse, complex, nuanced continent, and has completely changed its meaning to imply that only the US is America, thus erasing an entire, vast continent. Growing up in Uruguay, one of the countries with the one of the best education systems in the world, and

the first country to separate education from the church and have education stand as its own institution separate from religion, where the focus was intellectual advancement of concrete knowledge, I was taught that there were 5 continents. America is one of them. America is a

continent. José Martí, one of the most brilliant thinkers in history and fiercest advocates for Cuban independence from Imperialism as well as one of the dreamers who saw the potential in considering Latin America as La Grande Patria, referred to our continent as “Our America.”

Calle 13 has a song, called “Latinoamérica” which is equal parts inspiring and heartbreaking, and has become an anthem of Latin American unity and struggle. Joaquín Torres García, Uruguayan artist and creator of the School of Universalism (a type of art) has a very famous work

called “América invertida” where he philosophizes about the absurd idea that the north is “on top” metaphorically, and reclaimed the power of The South (as in the Global South) thus literally flipping the narrative. America is a continent. This is one of the hardest things for

United Statians to come to terms with and grasp. All over the world there are words used to mean specifically people and things from the US (estadounidense in Spanish, for example) and yet the US cultural arrogance is so strong that we’ve now completely erased an entire continent

and its cultures by appropriating the name. This is why it’s so hard to believe (or accept?) for folks that yes, there are white, black, and indigenous Latinos. The US centrism is so strong that y’all truly believe this country is unique even in its history of genocide and

and slavery, and it isn’t. That is a shared history and legacy in the entire continent of America. I always say we are all a work in progress. If you’ve never heard of this being an issue, you are privileged. You can choose what to do with that. You can get defensive and

nationalist about it and continue to perpetuate US exceptionalism, or you can be humble and attempt to do better going forward. America is a continent.

Here is a visual I didn’t make but use every semester in my classes:

Here is an explanation of América invertida in Joaquín Torres García’s own words:

Here is “Latinoamérica” by Calle 13 with English subtitles: