Over the course of last week we wrote a lot about Latino racial diversity, and today we’d be remiss if we didn’t give a shout out to our Asian Latino brothers and sisters. Yesterday and today mark the celebration of the Chinese New Year – we’re moving from the year of the Rabbit to the year of the Dragon, the luckiest of all Chinese Zodiac Symbols – and so we’re taking this opportunity to say “Happy New Year!” to the descendants of Chinese that were either brought to Latin America in the Coolie slave trade of the 19th and 20th century or immigrated later in search of opportunity. Latinos of Chinese descent make up about 1% of the population in a number of South and Central American countries, but are mainly found in the Caribbean, particularly Cuba. (La Habana has a Chinatown known as Calle Dragones.) Since they’re a relatively small percentage of the Latino melting pot, they’re often forgotten. But not today!
恭喜发财 to all our Chino-Latino friends!