Raquel Roxanne “Rocsi” Diaz is best known as the co-host on the BET show “106 & Park” from 2006–2012, but her time on the show was marred by underlying racism.
While some struggled to accept a Latina hosting Hip-Hop show, Diaz says part of the problem was that the Latin community did not recognize her as one of their own.
“At first it, I think it wasn’t received well right away because they just didn’t know. It wasn’t so much that I got a hard time, it was more like, Latinos didn’t know I was Latin, and then the demographic didn’t really know what I was,” she told MadameNoire.
“But you know, we pushed through. Terrence [Jenkins] is absolutely amazing. He’s like a brother to me. We had nothing but the best time at 106 & Park. But yeah, at the beginning there was a little resistance because it was Black Entertainment Television and the Spanish girl was hosting the flagship show. But once people saw that I had experience in that field, all that went aside and we had nothing but an amazing seven-and-a-half year run.”
Speaking to Daily News back in 2010, Diaz shared her views on why she caught so much flack during her time with the network. “It’s the underlying racism that still lives in the United States, that isn’t talked about but is still there. I think it’s a problem that people just have: Either you have it in you, or you don’t have it.”
However, here in 2020, Diaz remains secure in her identity, asserting that she is not Afro-Latina, despite people’s assumptions.
“It’s definitely in my roots, but I am 100 percent Latin: Honduran and Chilean. I think me growing up in New Orleans kind of made people think that I might have been Creole. I never really addressed any of that when I was on the show. I just had fun and did it for the culture.”
