atalaya: watchtower

Not really a social justice related term exactly. I stumbled on this term in Alfredo Molano's last weekly column (for now) in El Espectador, as he takes a leave to serve on the Colombian Truth Commission. He called the paper "la atalaya desde donde miro."

Listening to stories of horror for three years will be hard on the hearts and lives of all of the members of the Truth Commission, and I thank them all for taking it on and hold them in the light and send them all good energy for this important work.

chinito

I've often struggled to render racist terms of endearment from Spanish into English like chinito and negrito. It is hard to convey in English how racism is normalized and even used affectionately. Little Chinese man is clearly not going to do it.

There was recently an incident in US baseball that brought this to the fore, and several good editorials in the NYT about a player being suspended for using the term chinito. They are worth reading. 

(and note, this blog is on a bit of a hiatus as I get settled into my new position as an Assistant
Professor of Peace Studies at Kent State University)