These textbooks reinforce mestizaje narratives which educate U.S. students to see Latinidad as a light-brownness that obfuscates blackness. This Facebook group of Spanish teachers seeks to right this through sharing of resources on Afrolatinidad: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2024151774569280/?ref=share https://twitter.com/ujuanya/status/1308057222178648064

In the obfuscation of blackness, these textbooks also help white Latin Americans to comfortably pass into brownness, this aiding them to avoid discussing race in history, culture, and everyday life when/if asked by U.S. second language learners.

The quintessential “whose country is more racist?” game that I’ve heard at so many gatherings, parties, on dates, etc. in Latin America. The belief that interraciality proves a place to be “less racist” is an equation that makes absolutely no sense to critical thinkers.