This was an interesting video to watch. Growing up, I heard various terms to describe me throughout the years from Mexican, Chicano, Hispanic, Latino, and now Latinx.

Ultimately, I grew up using Latino and Hispanic as interchangeable words to describe me. Of course the word Mexican was always in the mix, but that one depends with whom I am speaking. For example speaking to non Hispanics I can describe myself as Mexican. I can also use the word to identify myself with other Hispanics as long as they are not Mexican citizens. I am not considered Mexican by Hispanics born in Mexico.

Early this this year I moved back to the U.S. after living in Buenos Aires working in Argentina & Uruguay. I was shocked to discover that I am not considered Latino in Argentina, Uruguay, and throughout Latin America. I am considered a Yankee. Growing up in the U.S., I heard Mexican nationals call me Gringo, but I assumed it was jokingly–now I know they genuinely called me a Gringo.

I began to ask how it may be possible that I am not Latino. Sure, I was born in the U.S. but my first and last name are Spanish and my family was originally from Jalisco, Mexico. The replies were all the same. I am not Latino because Latino refers to someone born in and who grew up in Latin America. I never once heard the term Hispanic in Latin America, but even then they acquiesced in agreeing that I am Hispanic.

I have come to accept that I am Latino in the U.S, but outside the U.S. I am an American/U.S. citizen/estadounidense of Mexican ancestry, but not Latino. I did not hear the term Latinx in LATAM. So, my question now is, “Am I Latinx only in the U.S.?