#THIS IS *NOT* MORENA OR CAMILA SLANDER!!!!!!

[kurapikunt]

inspired by this post

[andsmile]

I stumbled across a youtube vid where Camila had spoken about feeling secondary to her friends growing up and down in the comments people were stating that her comments didn't make sense since (to them) she is white. I know that Brazil is a bit of an anomaly cus its not a Spanish speaking country but I don't know how someone can look at Camila and think she's white. If anything she strikes me as being mixed.

ahm, this is kind of a hard topic imo, so i’ll put it all under the cut!

camila is a latina who grew up in the united states, where the racial/ethnic aspects sometimes get confusing... and i’m going to do my best talking about this because i am white, way whiter than cami even though my dad is black, and i am not from the US, but as a white latina it’s how i’ve learned how to look at it. PLEASE, educate me if i’m saying something wrong! always willing to learn here.

in brazil, cami would be considered “white” or “parda”, which is the word we have for those who aren’t black but also aren’t really white - but “parda” just refers to the skin color, not the ethnicity. 

here, you could only say she’s mixed if she was the daughter of a black woman and a white man, for example, and her skin tone reflected that; or if she was the daughter of an asian man and a white woman, etc, but she isn’t.

i am the daughter of a white woman and a black man, however, i am super white, so i can’t be considered mixed or parda. the “pardo” here is just a color. and the ethnicity doesn’t really play a game.

example of a white actress in brazil. she’s the grand-daughter of german immigrants:

example of a black actresses in brazil:

example of a mixed actress in brazil, daughter of a black man and a white woman. same as me, but you see she’s essentially the same color as the black actress, so she’s considered mixed and could self-identify as parda. i, on the other hand, cannot.

cami. her parents are not black, but her skin color isn’t as white as the white actress or me, so she would be considered “parda” here in brazil, or just a white “morena” (brunette), depending on how you want it to be:

however, in the US, it doesn’t work that way. 

this happens because the US, historically, had colorism policies and race segregation that we in Latam never did. so, when there was segregation back then, you would only be considered white if you were “purely white”, so if you had “one-drop” of black blood you’d already be considered black. this is why it gets so confusing, imo, because you consider the ethnicity, and not just the skin color.

ok, so, when feminism movements started to blow up in the seventies, US black activists came up with the term women of color. it was supposed to be about the afro-american/black women in the agenda, but other minorities who felt like the white feminist agenda didn’t suit their needs, wanted to be part of the “women of color” agenda, and it ended up englobing everyone who isn’t considered “purely white”. you should read about this in wikipedia and other sources, it’s pretty interesting!

the fact that cami’s ethnicity is latin-american already places her in a "in-between” position. it’s what we call “white passing” in english. she’s white passing, but she isn’t “purely white”. the culture she grew up with doesn’t fit. that means she is, as a latina, considered a minority in the US. her ethnicity places her in this position.

so, is cami as a latina a woman of color? yes, if you go by this term definition. just like asian-american women and black women. OF COURSE she would never struggle with the same issues as a black woman. but she also isn’t considered an “equal” to her white friends in many ways, because of her origin and culture. it’s hard to understand! but it’s valid that she feels like this in a society that consider latinos non-whites, no matter how white-passing they are.

gisele bündchen is a brazilian model who is obviously white, but she hasn’t suffered any kind of prejudice about being a minority because she’s white and german descendant. if she has suffered with anything, was probably with the misconception that all brazilian women are down to fuck, etc - same kind of prejudice i’ve been through, rooted on sexism and misinformation about latinx women. 

but there’s a huge difference between gisele, who has a white skin, german last name, blue eyes, blonde hair, supermodel body, etc, and cami, who has dark hair, latinx features, latinx body, dark eyes, etc.

so cami’s struggles are super valid in the society she lives in.

none of this applies to veronica, though. veronica comes from a mexican family in canon, both her parents are mexican, and she most definitely can be considered a woman of color in the show, regardless of how white-passing cami is. 

you see how much the character is hated, mistreated, and slandered by the fandom. you see how much she’s disregarded by reviewers who pay more attention to betty. of course, she’s still in a better position than the black women in the show, but if veronica lodge was purely white like in the comics, she’d be a bigger contender for archie’s heart in the eyes of the fandom, for sure.

anyway! i hope this helped? and if you guys have something to add please do, i hope i didn’t say anything wrong.