The Power of Latino Leadership, Second Edition, Revised and Updated, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 1

Ancient Roots and Mestizo Ancestry

MOST PEOPLE TODAY ARE genetically mixed—our blood intertwined through ongoing migrations, our genetic streams run together from unknown sources. The difference for Latinos is that the fusion of races, nationalities, and cultures was so pervasive that it spread across our entire hemisphere, producing a people traditionally known in Central and South America as Mestizos, the offspring of the Indigenous people of the Americas and Europeans, primarily the Spanish.

The mestizaje, as the process was termed, is not a concept commonly embraced by US Latinos. There are advantages, however, to including it as part of the complex Latino identity. What is important to note is that the Mestizo experience is a ...