How do linguistic constructions of race, immigration, and coloniality intersect to produce restrictive categories of citizens of color in contemporary Italy? What happens when multiple colonial regimes interfere as diasporic communities negotiate multiple conceptualizations of race while asserting national belonging?

I am a professor at the University of Texas who happens to be Latino with a son in Travis Heights Elementary (hereafter THES, Austin, Texas).

In 2017, I enrolled my 9-year old son in kindergarten at THES and without my knowledge, he (who was born in Austin and is a native English speaker), was...