Latino Is Not a Race: Unmasking Mestizaje

💡 About the Event:

📅 Date: December 1st, 2025

🕒 Time: 7:30pm EST

📍 Location: Online (Zoom)

🎤 Hosted by: Nydia Simone of Blactina Media

💵 Ticket Price: $25-$50

"Latino" a race? Why do colorism and anti-Blackness persist in Latin America? This groundbreaking presentation uncovers how Spanish, Portuguese, and French colonial caste systems, "blessed" by the Church, invented racial hierarchies that still shape Latino identity today.

We’ll expose:

🔴 The truth behind mestizaje : How "racial mixing" masked oppression.

⚫ The Church’s role in policing racial purity through baptism, marriage, and doctrine.⚪ Blanqueamiento, how governments whitened populations through policy and benefits to white european immigrants.

💰 The brutal tribute tax system that trapped Indigenous and Afro-descendant people in their caste.

✨ Why Attend?

• Learn why "Latino" is an ethnicity, not a race and how colonialism made it this way.
• See how caste systems evolved into modern colorism (media, politics, religion).
• Discover resistance movements challenging these legacies today.
• Q&A + resources for unlearning harmful myths.

Nydia Simone - Host| Filmmaker | Writer| Curator

A Panamanian-Geechee Brooklynite raised in a Pan-African household, Nydia has spent a decade shaping narratives at Disney Animation Studios, CBS and NBC while carving space for Afrolatinx truth-telling. Her unique perspective - forged through living across Latin America ie. Mexico, DR, and Panama - fuels her mission to dismantle industry erasure.

As founder of the groundbreaking Blactina Media (featured in NY Times, Forbes and Oprah's Magazine), she spotlights Afrolatinx and Caribbean stories through:

• Film/TV/Media production

• Incisive commentary (HipLatina, NYU Latinx Project, MV Times)

• Cultural curation that centers Afrolatinx/African American history through food and expereinces

A walking testament to self-determination, Nydia transforms her dual Afrolatinx/African-American ancestry into cinematic bridges weaving together storytelling, sociocultural commentary, and unapologetic advocacy across platforms.