Netflix Selena Y Los Dinos is the documentary we need

This November, Netflix will premiere the documentary Selena y Los Dinos, featuring never-before-seen footage from the Quintanilla family archives.

We need this documentary now more than ever. 

When I was a little girl, I adored Selena. Like many Latinas from the ’90s, I idolized her because she represented something we rarely saw.

In a world with limited Latina representation, Selena gave us hope that we could be so much more than what television and film portrayed.

Before her, there were few Latina pop stars. Most portrayals of Latinas on English-language TV were as maids or drug dealers. We weren’t seen as glamorous or shining stars.

Meanwhile, in Latino culture, many of the prominent singers felt “too old” — they belonged to our parents’ generation.

Then Selena appeared. She rocked bustiers and sang techno-cumbia, and she was exactly what young Latina girls like me needed. She filled a void that hadn’t been addressed.

I was a Puerto Rican girl living in Indiana when my mom first played Selena’s Entre a Mi Mundo. I remember thinking she was the most beautiful and talented singer I had ever heard, and I wanted to grow up to be just like her.

Her music spoke to me. It was young music.

To this day, my mom knows how much I love Selena. Whenever she sees a Selena shirt, she buys it for me.

When Selena was taken from us, I mourned her loss, just like everyone else. I couldn’t believe I had lost my idol.

Since her death, there have been movies and even a Netflix series about her life.

This documentary couldn’t come at a more critical time. We are living in an era of heightened Latino and immigrant hate.

Brown people are being demonized for simply being brown.

What makes Selena so special and transcendent is that she was an American pop star. Born and raised in Texas, she sang in both Spanish and English, even though she barely spoke Spanish.

She made us feel seen.

Selena wasn’t just a star; she was a hero.