Celebrity Ancestry: Rapper Cardi B’s Heritage: Is She Black, White, Indian, Hispanic? 100,000 Google Her Ethnicity, Nationality, Parents Race & Family Background 

IS SHE BLACK, WHITE, HISPANIC? Rapper Cardi B’s ethnicity and heritage seem hard to place for many fans who Google details about her ancestry and her parents racial background and origins. By Ben Arogundade. Feb.26.2021.

ETHNICITY BLURRED: Thousands of fans are curious about Manhattan-born rapper Cardi B’s ethnicity, nationality and parents racial background. Is she Hispanic, black, Indian, bi-racial or Other?

MILLIONS OF FANS around the globe watch rapper Belcalis Almánzar, otherwise known as Cardi B, on their devices, and they wonder — is she black, white, Spanish, Mexican, Indian, mixed race? With her light skin and dark, straight hair she looks like she could be all of these, such is the aesthetic complexity of modern beauty. Inevitably, those of Cardi B’s fans with questions about her ethnicity, nationality and her parents’ race heritage turn to the oracle that is Google for answers, illustrating that to many around the world, the race and racial identity of celebrities still very much matters to them. Each month Google records the total number of Internet queries that their users type into their browsers. For example, 3,000 Cardi B fans Google the term, “Cardi B ethnicity”, each month, while a further 2,000 search, “Cardi B parents”. Meanwhile, 2,000 people ask, “Is Cardi B black?”

CARDI B ETHNICITY & NATIONALITY: THE FACTS

If we add up the total number of search queries about Cardi’s ethnicity, nationality and family background and heritage, it amounts to over 100,000 searches per year. So, what are the facts about her ethnicity and race heritage? Cardi B (which is short for Bacardi) was born in Manhattan on October 11, 1992, and raised in the Latino neighbourbood of Highbridge, South Bronx. Her father is from the Dominican Republic, (which is located on the island of Hispaniola, which it shares with Haiti), while her mother is from Trinidad, in the West Indies. Both to them possess European ancestry, which explains Cardi’s aesthetic. 

CARDI B ANCESTRY - NOT MEXICAN

As a Latina of African descent, and who speaks fluent Spanish, Cardi B finally set the record straight after years of questions and curiosity about her ethnic background and racial identity, all of which culminated in June 2019 after someone chastised her for not representing for Mexican people. “A lot of people don’t know the difference between nationality, race, ethnicity,” she said on Instagram Live in 2019. “I’m not Mexican at all. I’m West Indian, and I’m Dominican,” she continued. “I speak Spanish because I’m Dominican. And it’s like, so what’s the difference between Dominican and Mexican?’ And it’s like, everything!”

BLACK & LATINO
“People just don’t be understanding s–t,” Cardi said “It’s like, ‘Cardi’s Latin, she’s not Black.’ And it’s like, bro, my features don’t come from…white people f—ng, okay?’ And they always wanna race-bait when it comes to me.” Cardi was in fact making reference to a common misconception that Latinos, because they speak Spanish, cannot also be black, despite the fact that many Latinos are of African origin. Afro-Latinos (or afrodescendientes) often face prejudice from both sides — from those who consider them not to be black, and those who consider them not to be Latino. More than ever, these issues remind us that we are still very much in a world in which people cannot let go of their misconceptions about race.

CARDI’S WORLD: (From the top): Rapper Cardi B (left), with her mother. (Above): Cardi B with her father. Her parents are different nationalities — her mother is from Trinidad, while her father hails from the Dominican Republic.

*RAPPER CARDI B’S ETHNICITY, NATIONALITY, PARENTS RACE - ACCORDING TO GOOGLE SEARCH

2,000

The number of people worldwide who Google the phrase, “Is Cardi B black?”, each month.

5,000

The number of people worldwide who Google the terms, “Cardi B’s ethnicity, nationality, parents race background & heritage”, each month.

*All figures for “Rapper Cardi B’s Ethnicity, Nationality, Parents Race - According to Google Search”, supplied by Google. Stats include global totals for laptop and desktop computers and mobile devices.

BERNIE SANDERS & CARDI B GET SERIOUS

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