Laura Gómez’s new book, “Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism,” has been selected by NPR for its annual best books list. Gómez, a professor at UCLA School of Law, was the only law professor to have a book named to the list of 137 nonfiction titles.
In “Inventing Latinos,” Gómez makes the case that Latinos are a racial group rather than an ethnic one. She does this by examining the Spanish colonization of the Americas, American colonialism in Latin America and how laws in the United States have led to the racialization of Latinos by denying them “full and equal participation in American life,” according to Shereen Marisol Meraji, co-host and producer of NPR’s “Code Switch” podcast.
Gómez has lectured widely and has published numerous articles, book chapters and books. Her research focuses on the intersection of law, politics and inequality both today and in the distant past.
Gómez co-founded and served as the first co-director of School of Law’s Critical Race Studies program, where she continues to be actively involved. At UCLA Law, she is the faculty adviser to three student organizations: La Raza, Chicanx Latinx Law Review and Womyn of Color Collective.
Gómez is currently focused on the role of Latinos in electing Joe Biden as president, the designation of Latinos on the U.S. Census and the rapidly changing demographics of Latinos in the United States.
