What Does Brown Mean?

In a World That Often Feels Black and White, I’ve Learned to Embrace My Space in the Middle

Illustration of a brown man's face sideways. One side of his face is a brown silhouette of a city skyscraper landscape, and the landscape has tree-like roots.

Zócalo is celebrating its 20th birthday this year! As part of the festivities, we’re publishing reflections and responses that revisit and reimagine some of our most impactful stories and public programs. Writer, actor, and filmmaker Christopher Rivas reflects on what Brown—as color, as concept—means to him, inspired by the 2017 Zócalo event “What Does Blue Mean?“

“Suppose I were to begin by saying that I had fallen in love with a color…” opens Maggie Nelson’s book, Bluets, a study devoted to the hue that spurred a Picasso period, …

by Christopher Rivas | October 19, 2023

Why Is the Latinx Debate So Fierce?

Gender, Language, and Identity Are Complicated. But Inclusivity Doesn’t Have to Be

by Sebastian Ferrada | February 16, 2023

In 2018, I was interviewed for Univision’s morning talk show ¡Despierta América! (Wake up, America!) to discuss the meaning of the identity label Latinx. I was nervous because I had …

How We Brought a Pan-Latin Flavor to Portland Theater

For the Milagro/Miracle Company, Being a Cultural Minority Has Been a Boon

By José Eduardo González | June 22, 2017

It may appear surprising or counter-intuitive to operate a bilingual, Latino-centered theater company in a city that is less than 10 percent Latino.

But for me, my wife Dañel Malán, …

Targeted Education Can Help Dispel the Deadly Myth That Only Light-Skinned People Need Sunscreen

In the U.S., African Americans and Latinos Are Far Less Likely to Survive Skin Cancer Than the General Population

By Ariella Herman and Lance Chapman | July 13, 2016

People go to South L.A. for many reasons. We went there to figure out how to get kids to use sunscreen to protect their skin from sun damage.

We’re scholars—Ariella is …

The South Los Angeles Future Will Be Shared

In a Stronghold of African Americans and Immigrant Integration, New Identities Emerge Rooted in a Sense of Place as Much as Race

By Manuel Pastor | July 7, 2016

The typical story of neighborhood change, often called ethnic succession, is one in which an incoming ethnic group “takes over” and wipes away the past. But that does not capture …

Why I Long for El Swapmeet de la Alameda

The South L.A. Market Once Connected My Family to Mexico; Now It's a Memory of the City We Fled

By Miguel Molina | July 7, 2016

I miss el Swapmeet de la Alameda, on East 45th Street where South Los Angeles meets the city of Vernon.

I miss how the smell of churros—cinnamon, brown sugar, and baked …

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