Busting Up Stereotypes

This past Sunday, I was riding a San Francisco Municipal bus into the heavily populated Latino Mission District of the city to check out a Peruvian restaurant highly recommended by a Peruvian store clerk I recently met. After about 10 minutes or so, a Black guy boarded the bus and sat next to me. I assumed he was African-American until he asked me a question in Spanish. After answering his question, I said to him that his accent sounds Cuban, and he gave me some dap, affirming that he is indeed Cuban. After spending some time in Cuba myself and having had an unforgettable time, this made a great conversation piece until he reached his stop.

While we were talking, I started noticing others on the bus, mostly Latino, looking at us curiously because two Black guys were speaking Spanish. This is far from the first time I’ve observed such reaction, some even appeared “entertained.” However, many Latinos should really know better because there are Blacks in their home countries. Unfortunately, many forget this fact when they come to the US and seem to feel all Black people are limited to English and Ebonics.  As usual, I'm tickled pink on the inside to know that I am blowing narrow, stereotypical minds. SMH!