On Jan 8th, Cyn Santana went viral for saying something extremely problematic during Angela Yee’s Lip Service interview.
She stated that she preferred dating Black men and suggested it’s because black men “cater” to Spanish women and prefer them to Black women.
“I just like Black guys and Spanish girls,” she explained. “Y’all can keep the Puerto Rican men, I’m good. I do black guys all day, sorry. I did the Spanish thing…doesn’t work out for me. T too emotional. … Black guys cater to us Spanish girls, especially. Like they…you know what, let me not get into it. Black girls gonna take it , they gonna be like ‘uhh !’ Anyway, I’m done with the .”
The conversation starts at 16:46:
Cyn Santana’s comments about Black and Hispanic women are problematic, yes. However, I’m pretty sure she’s not the only Hispanic woman who thinks this way.
I can recall a conversation I had while visiting my beautiful best friend, Kelly in Atlanta. Kelly and I have been best friends since we were 9. We connected because we were the only two Northerners at our Clayton County elementary school. We also connected because we were both products of family. Kelly’s heritage is Venezuelan and Ecuadorian and mine is Jamaican and Panamanian.
While staying at her Atlanta home, she introduced me to her new best friend, a gorgeous, curvy Dominican girl, by the name of Stephanie. Of course, we didn’t know each other so we had to get acquainted.
“So……Where are you from,” Stephanie asked. I answered back “NYC”. “Oh really, it’s cool up there, but I don’t really like it,” she answered. I then say “What do you mean”? “Well, there are too many Spanish people up there.” I then look confused and asked, “but you are Latin, you would love it! They have such strong ties and community.” Then she answers in dismay, “I know, but I wouldn’t get any play out there. I’ll just be a regular Spanish girl. Down here, I’m ‘exotic’. The Black guys love me.” Hearing this, I then say, “You’ll get play anywhere because you’re beautiful.” “Yeah, but that’s not enough,” she answered. “You need an edge, something that separates you from the crowd. Being Latin is what separates me from other girls.” I then answer and say, “Trust me a good personality and beautiful face is all you need. You can pull guys anywhere.
However, she doesn’t believe me and unfortunately, my best friend of 15+ years feels the same way. They both think their beauty and mystique is rooted in the fact that they are Latin in an African-American Community, not seeing how gorgeous they are beyond their ethnic identity. They do not only believe this due to the treatment they receive by Black and Latin men, but also due to the things they are told by those said men. Similar to some African-American women, certain Latin women do not feel beautiful because of their nonwhite features. Similar to the US, Latin countries’ standard of beauty is whitewashed and Eurocentric.
I by no means, think Cyn is racist or anti-Black. I also don’t think she lied about anything she said because these are her experiences. She is a product of her environment, just like my dear friend. They are the product of the systematic racism of this country and their countries. It’s a system that conditions Black men to praise everything but a Black woman in order to feel accepted by society. It’s a system that tells Latin women you are no more special than your bodies, hair, racially ambiguous features. And more importantly, it’s a system that tells Black women and dark-skinned Afro-Latinas that our features are only beautiful when featured on everyone else. And EVEN more importantly a system that teaches Latin America to negate and deny all ties to Africa and its influences on their culture.
Unfortunately, we live in a society that forces on confusion and self-hate. However, we can re-program our minds to relieve us of these misguided notions. Instead of dragging Cyn, let’s educate Cyn. Black women do not have attitudes, this is a stereotype propagated by media and Spanish women are more than just their physical attributes. They are our sisters and they have more in common with us than differences. Especially since we are all children of the African Diaspora.
Cyn Santana took to Twitter to apologize.
What are your thoughts on the situation. Comment below!