It is well known: Latinos are the fastest growing segment of the US population; together with African Americans, Latinos and Latinas are among the nation’s poorest and sickest, over-represented among drop-outs and prisoners, under-represented in business and government; Latinos are the largest of the so-called “minority” groups in the U.S. today. 

It is a little less known that Latinos, together with African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans and other People of Color, will soon outnumber Whites to become the nation’s new “majority.” That is, if they are still to be considered “People of Color” or if they are even be counted as a distinct group at all! 

In the Latino Challenges Toward Racial Equity workshop, we examine how Latinos/as have historically been racialized, both in the US and in Latin America. Additionally, we examine the changing nature of race definitions and its implications for Latinos and for other People of Color, as well as for Whites, today. 

In this 2 1/2 days workshop, we explore the healing power of identity and culture for Latino children, adults, families and communities in the United States. Also, we discuss how a critical understanding of the Latino experience for anyone that works in and with Latino communities is key to ending racial disparities in our institutions and to working together to create racial equity in our society. 

ABOUT THE TRAINERS: This workshop is lead by Dr. Raúl Quiñones-Rosado and María I. Reinat-Pumarejo, Latino community educators and antiracism organizers for over twenty-five years. Together, they established the Institute for Latino Empowerment and the Undoing Racism Organizing Committee in western Massachusetts, and founded Ilé: Organizers for Consciousness-in-Action in Puerto Rico.