11.21.09
ENTERTAINMENT

Jessica Alba: "I Want My Baby to be Brown"

In Latina's March 2008 cover story, Jessica Alba gets personal with Editor-in-Chief Mimi Valdés Ryan and directly responds to the rumors that have resulted in her now-commonly used nickname, "Jessica 'Don't Call Me Latina' Alba." Check out some of her revealing answers below, and don't forget to pick up the full story when the issue hits newsstands on February 19!

On her reluctance to walk the red carpet at Latin events: "I'll support those shows, but I can't go on the press lines and have people make me feel bad about myself. Life is too short. I can't change how I grew up, and I shouldn't have to apologize for it. I know I feel close to the Latin community, because that's what I grew up with."

On claims that she's proud to have cut loose from her Mexican roots: "I never said that. Cut loose from what? What the hell are they talking about? Why would I want to cut loose from the only family I know?"

On not learning to speak Spanish as a child: "I wish to God that my dad spoke Spanish to my brother and me, but he didn't grow up with it."

On confusing other men for her dad as a kid: "When I was little, I used to go up to black men and hold their legs, thinking it was my dad all the time. I'd wrap my arms around them, then look up and be like, 'Oh my God!'"

On being accepted for who she is in Hollywood: "I was always trying to figure out: How the hell am I going to be mainstream? How are people going to accept me? When are the going to get a clue that I am American, that this is what America looks like--people like me who are mixed, have different blood, mixed with different ethnicities? When are the people who are hiring for these jobs and writing these screenplays going to realize that?"

On what she wants her baby to look like: "I'm excited for my baby to be brown. I just have to believe the dark gene is going to survive. Cash and I are like, please!"

104 Comments
that is an excellent line...researching your roots is a labor of love...i am a mexican american and was very fortunate in growing speaking english and spanish and growing up in bordertown gave me an interesting perspective on people and life...happy hunting...
"I was always trying to figure out: How the hell am I going to be mainstream? How are people going to accept me? When are the going to get a clue that I am American, that this is what America looks like--people like me who are mixed, have different blood, mixed with different ethnicities?" The funny thing is she IS mainstream... people don't really care that she's a latina or not... she's known for being an actress/celebrity and a hottie... that part of her identity trumps ethnicity, sure she isn't as white as Megan Fox but she's equally mainstream and accepted by the mainstream..
We are talking jessica alba here not Christina Aguilera, Rosario Dawson, Cameron Diaz so d.go83 the comment you made was just as irrelevant. Stop dreaming start action dalam bisnis online memang sebuah kalimat motivasi yang harus di bangun pada diri seseorang agar bisa sukses di bisnis internet. Sikap seperti ini penting ditancapkan pada diri seseorang lebih-lebih ketika baru mulai terjun di bisnis internet ini, bahasa motivasi umumnya yang sering di gunakan adalah MINDSET (pola pikir). Oleh karena itu mari kita paksakan dan tancapkan sebuah kalimat motivasi pada diri kita Stop Dreaming Start Action Agar Sukses menjadi sebuah kebiasaan dan lama-kelamaan menjadi bisa (hasil perbuatan).

Setelah melakukan persiapan selama dua minggu, sekarang saya bisa umumkan diadakannya kontes SEO Stop Dreaming Start Action dari JokoSusilo.com dengan hadiah total Rp 25 juta. Mungkin ini adalah ontes seo Stop Dreaming Start Action kontes SEO Stop Dreaming Start Action dengan hadiah terbesar yang pernah diadakan di Indonesia.

FYI: 99.5% of latinos are of mixed race. Latino isn't a pure race, neither is Hispanic. These are cultural identities that group several inter-racial groups. Mexicans are mostly mixed between Spanish and Indians, Cubans are mixes of Africans and Spanish and Indian, Puerto Ricans are mixes of Indian, African and Spanish, etc. See the pattern? The Spanish had a simple empire-building policy, kill the men and marry the women. So, even the Philippines are populated by a mixed race. So, if Alba is concerned about the mixed race thing, she should feel right at home with every other Latino. We are all mixed, and we've been mixing for hundreds of years. As for her cultural dilemma, that isn't new either. I know many Latinos in Texas who are not in touch with their heritage. There is even a term for Latinos ignorant of their culture - "coconuts". It is very common here to find Latinos who don't speak Spanish. Basically, past Anglo racist attitudes drove many to try to assimilate into the "American" culture. It was easier if you were light-skinned, parents forgot their heritage and schools penalized cultural pride in schools. The result was broken cultural links that have rippled through the following generations. Maybe her kids will reunite with their heritage someday. Hopefully, they'll be brown and beautiful like her.
I love the way you think plus im mixed im puerto rican black white native american and asian but i connect to all my races. puerto ricans are mixed races QUe TeNgO qUE hAcEr--Dady yAnKeE
I actualy liked this article becase Jessica sort of tells how its hard to be accepted in the Latino Comunity when your a mixed race your ither not latino enough to fit in or u over do it to try and fit in .. im Mexican, Spanish,Gitano, and Native Amercican.. But un Like Jessica i was fortunate enough to be tought Spanish as a chiled. So in my opinion Jessisca is as much as Latino as any latino out regardless of wether she can speake Spanish or were she grew up
its kind of funny that people are dissing her when magazines make up alot of stuff so they can get sells lol! My father is brown but i came out white, and im still white...hes mixed with white and mexican, so there is a slight chance she could have a lighter skinned baby, so people need to stop dissing Jessica, dont always believe what you see in magazines because a good deal of it could be made up. lol
one word, mailman.
It's nice to see a woman in the spotlight who is proud of her color and unafraid to say so, just like Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who has been nominated by President Obama for the US Supreme Court. And we all want to help her to get there!

Here's a link to a site with HTML for a widget that leads to a petition in support of President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor.

Here's the text of the petition:

"View Current Signatures - Sign the Petition

To: Members of the US Senate

I strongly support and urge immediate Senate confirmation of President Barack Obama’s nominee for the US Supreme Court: “wise Latina woman”, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who now sits on U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

At present, the US Supreme Court has nine members, of whom seven are white men. This is unfair and unbalanced. According to the US Census, the nation is less than 33% white male, while it is approximately 51% female, 15% Latino and 13% Black. Although white males are the minority of America, they remain the vast majority of the US Supreme Court, just as was the case before women and minorities gained the right to vote.

It is impossible in a pluralistic society for a Court comprised of 78% white men to make wise, reasoned and sound decisions affecting the lives of a nation which is less than 33% white male. A wise and just Supreme Court requires a diversity of experiences, with the participation of representatives of the majority of Americans.

For far too long, there has been a quota system at the United States Supreme Court. The de facto quota system required that all or the vast majority of the nine members of the Court be white males. In the history of the nation, there have never been more than three members of the court who were not white males at any one time. The anachronistic white male quota system is no longer tenable as the nation strives to treat all Americans equally and to have a government all of whose branches have the consent and participation of the nation’s diverse populace.

The US Supreme Court cannot function wisely, justly, and fairly without the full participation of wise women and wise members of the nation’s minority groups, including the nation’s largest minority – Latinos. Therefore, we urge our elected representatives in the US Senate to immediately confirm the “wise Latina woman” who has earned our respect and support: soon-to-be US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html

Sincerely, The Undersigned

View Current Signatures" "

"I want my baby to be WHITE" Somehow it sounds different, I'd gamble the majority here would say even racist in it's implications. So how is that "brown" statement received so warmly here? It's all nonsense, who cares what some air-head actress thinks anyway? Right now it's hip, convenient and profitable for her to pretend to be ethnic. Replica purses

SUBSCRIBE NOW AND SAVE 66%

Limachips built this