Table For Four: An Interview With The Girls Behind ‘Sh-t White Girls Say To Latinas’

By Arturo R. García

Even after it seemed we’d analyzed the “Sh-t (x) People Say” meme into the ground, the video above came from a perspective we generally don’t hear from, even in our safe spaces.

“Sh-t White Girls Say to Latinas,” put together by two eighth-grade Latina students, was sent to us a few weeks ago by their teacher, Jennifer Swift, in a Race, Gender and Culture course at their school. For the sake of their privacy, we’re identifying the students as Rosie (the girl in the blonde wig) and Alison (who does not appear in the video). Racialicious confirmed with the girls and with Ms. Swift that their parents approved of their decision to be interviewed via e-mail.

Arturo García: Thanks to all of you, first off, for sharing this video with us and agreeing to discuss it. Could you tell us how you came up with the idea? Which of the “S–t (x) Girls Say” videos was the first one you saw?

Rosie: It was “Sh-t White Girls Say to Black Girls.”

Alison: We saw it in our Race, Class, & Gender course. And then Jennifer came up and told us we should do one.

Rosie: We were thinking that was a good idea. We related to the other one in some ways since we’re a minority race, but there were other things we hadn’t experienced.

Alison: We wanted to show the stereotypes and things people say to us daily.

Rosie: When we thought of it, there wasn’t one that we knew of out there (about Latinas). It’s kind of awkward to go up to someone and say something’s not very nice of you…

Alison: … to just come up and ask me how to say something in Spanish.

Rosie: I speak Spanish, but I’m not your dictionary.

AG: Did you put it online before or after telling your parents or Ms. Swift about it?

Rosie: We decided to put it online, but before we did, we showed it to Jennifer and our parents. My mom said, “Oh, it’s very shocking–it’s like a slap in the face.” My dad said it was good. My dad actually helped. I asked him some stereotypical things people have thought of him. He’s a professor of finance, and once he went to a fancy hotel for a conference, and a man told him that he did a really good job of cleaning the bathroom.

Alison: My mom asked me if people actually say these things to me. I think she was shocked.

AG: Ms. Swift, what was your initial reaction to the video and the girls’ plan?

Jennifer: I loved the idea because these girls are passionate about their heritage. I love the pride that they have, but I have also witnessed some of the struggles they’ve experienced. They are both so hardworking, creative, and smart that I knew it would be incredible.

AG: How about your parents? How did they feel about it going online?

Alison: My mom was okay with it. She wanted people to see it and be aware of it. My mom showed it to my aunt, uncle, and some of my cousins, as well as her boss.

Rosie: My mom said to make sure we didn’t have our last names because she didn’t want people tracking us down or cyberbullying us.

AG: Jennifer, how has this video come into play in your Race, Class and Gender course?

Jennifer: A colleague shared the “Sh-t White Girls Say to Black Girls” video with me, and I showed it to the class. They absolutely loved it. We used it as a way to talk about the unintentionally offensive comments that are sometimes said to people of color. I really like using humor as a way to address some of these topics, which can be so difficult to discuss.

AG: How have other students reacted to the video?

Alison: I could see the guilt on people’s faces when they realized that some of the things that were in this video they had actually said to someone who was Hispanic.

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