Written By
Eda Del Rio
Director of Latinx experience
There was no freedom to celebrate this 4th of July so I celebrated Sinners with a 2nd and 3rd rewatch. I started identifying the ways Sinners questions Christianity. Are minorities in a parasitic relationship with Christianity due to the effects of colonialism? More specifically, is our Latino community’s enmeshment with Christian religions enabling the work of White Supremacy?
“We are earth and beast and for woman and man you and I are everything.”
If you think we weren’t represented in the movie, we have got to talk. The effects of the TransAtlantic slave trade in North and South America blended together West African and Indigenous tradition. While Mestizaje through Spaniard imposition and various factors fused Native American and Latino cultures. To summarize, we’re kin.
Do we remember the Casta system? Or has the American school system truly failed us?
It’s a disgusting, but visual reminder of how we’ve homogenized. In these divisive times, minority groups need to identify our commonality to unify against oppressive systems.
“They told stories of a God above and a Devil below… lies of a dominion of man over beast and Earth.”
Our ancestors were abused into abandoning our craft for the fellowship of the church and the love of a Christian God. How, como se dice… vampiric?
Connecting Ancestral Practices to How Sinners Questions Christianity
Habitually leaving on subtitles led to a new discovery about Annie’s character I didn’t pick up on in theaters. She’s speaking Yoruba. A dialect deriving from an African region once known as Yoruba, known today as the areas of Nigeria, Benin and Togo.
In an article with OkayAfrica, Nigerian-British actress Wunmi Mosaku discusses how Annie connected her to Yoruba and Nigerian history and her ancestry.
Despite practicing the Yoruba language for 5+ years, it was her preparation to play a Hoodoo Priestess that made her feel connected.
The Yoruba Connection
Annie’s character in Sinners speaks Yoruba, a language with roots in Nigeria, Benin, and Togo.
This isn’t just a stylistic choice. It’s a reclaiming of ancestral power.
Actress Wunmi Mosaku shared that playing Annie, a Hoodoo priestess, made her feel connected to her Yoruba heritage in a deeper way than five years of language study ever had. The film makes it clear: our magic has never been lost, only suppressed.
Like Wunmi, many of us are disconnected to our backgrounds. Pagan religions like Hoodoo, Voodoo, and Santeria are all thriving in South America. We just need to tap in like Annie and Wunmi.
Sinners questions Christianity’s power. Does it wash away sin? Or is it washing away our connections to our origins?
“I know the truth hurts. Yes I lied to you.”
Astrology girlies, have you looked into Mayan astrology? Green witches, how about picking up a book on Yerbateras? For those of us seeking spirituality. Our ancestors have left us keys and maps.
Sinners Questions Christianity by Uplifting Marginalized truths
My last glimpse into Yoruba culture was in Gabriel García Márquez’s novel Of Love and Other Demons.
In 18th century Colombia, the abandoned daughter of a nobleman was raised by enslaved people and later deemed possessed by local church officials. The evidence the Catholic Church gave for Maria’s possession? Her stubbornness and choice to speak Yoruba dialects, languages the church could not understand.
Márquez’s novel parallels the ways Sinners questions Christianity’s record of demonizing Indigenous practices.
Like Remmick seeking out Sammy’s gifts, many choose Christianity for a deeper connection to life and death. Remmick didn’t need Sammy or Christianity to access his ancestors. His dance steps form sigils in the dirt and his folk music is like a siren song. He was using his gift to create a family in place of connecting with his.
What is the difference between the hymns sung by enslaved people, church hymns, and the folk music like the blues? The truth is, there is none. They are all a musical expression of sorrow and hope. The ability to heal the lame and blind through touch is the same witchcraft we are punished for.
Reminiscent of Remmick and his trio’s ragtime version of “Picked Poor Robin Clean.” We’ve replaced our spirituality for its whitewashed versions in the name of love and fellowship. Sinners questions Christianity in the hands of the colonizer and the colonized. Is what was once full of soul now replaced with heartless gimmick?
“Chicago ain’t nothing but buildings instead of plantations.”
Faith, Evangelism and the latino vote: a warning
Christianity runs rampant in the Latino community. Outside of Church, we worship saints and virgins through prayer and holiday. Many of us have been baptized, received communion and confirmation through the Catholic Church before we’ve hit puberty.
Sinners questions Christianity’s overreach. According to ReligionNews, 43% of Latinos are Catholic. 15% are Evangelical. PBS reported in 2024, Trump won a shocking 43% of the Latino vote. Catholicism is seeing a decline due to various factors. But one that continues to be dangerous is the conversion of Latinos to Evangelicalism.
Now that Trump’s lies about Project 2025 have finally been exposed, many Latinos are talking off the red cap. Artists like Nicky Jam are regretting their vote and support long after the damage has been done.
Religious Latinos were manipulated into supporting Trump through issues like abortion, vaccinations, and our American dreams of wealth security. Those that voted for a “Pro Life president” voted for mass deportations, and threats like the removal of birthright citizenship. Putting their community, and even themselves at risk through racial profiling at the hands of ICE.
The consequence of this is unfolding in real time. Promising people that we can police things like abortion has led to the overpolicing of the country. The way many of us fearfully foresaw.
Those warned of false prophets allowed themselves to be sold a dream that has become a nightmare for América. Latinos’ blind trust in the church made them perfect candidates to be fed propaganda from the pulpit.
Don’t get sold a killing floor in place of a juke joint.
Reclaiming Our Spiritual Roots as Sinners Questions Christianity
“Through this ritual we heal our people, and we be free.”
Sinners questions Christianity’s ability to normalize control. Preacher boy’s relationship to church isn’t personal, it’s through his father. He’s experiencing something familiar to us raised in strict Christian households.
If Christianity wasn’t your personal choice, it was always an adjacent influence pressured by tradition and family. Like Sammy and the Smokestack twins, generational trauma is the reason we do so much without question.
Am I saying reject Christianity? No.
Christianity isn’t evil. Christianity was at first a small and harmless division of Judaism. It wasn’t co-opted for the purpose of moving agendas like colonization until Romans and the Roman Church sunk their teeth into it. In fact, many small churches in Latino and African American communities are still proponents of their roots. It’s why hymns like “This Little Light of Mine” haven’t been lost in the transgressions of time.
I’m saying if you choose Christianity, don’t allow a wolf in sheep’s clothing to move you to vote against your own interests. Don’t perpetuate colonization by enforcing your religious beliefs on others. It’s our freedom in America (for who knows how long) to choose our religion. If you don’t wish to convert to a religion outside of your own, don’t impose yours on others.
Am I saying replace the Bible with Grimoires? No.
I’m saying stop demonizing the unknown. Divisiveness has led us to where we are today. Instead, see that all religions share intersectionalities. All religions, including your own, were designed to help humans navigate the ups and downs of life from birth until our deaths.
Like Smoke and Stack, that ancestral magic or “brujería” has kept our lineages alive and safe for centuries. If we don’t feel called to practice it, the least we can do is not demean it.
Preacher boy lives a long life honoring his magic by playing the blues. That which makes him free. His life was so complete that when offered the gift of “everlasting life” he was able to turn it down. Despite how good it felt to become a vampire, Mary and Stack came back to Sammy for a dose of “the real.”
Sammy’s playing in the end transports them to the last time they were free. The Juke. A space built by their people, for their people, to continue the traditions of their people.
Latinos, when will we allow ourselves to be free?
Resources Cited:
- OkayAfrica – Wunmi Mosaku Interview
- Of Love and Other Demons – OverDrive
- Understanding the Mexican Casta System
- Watch: Post-Credits Scene with Sammy’s Blues x This Little Light of Mine
- ReligionNews – Latino Faith and Voting
- PBS – Why More Latinos Voted for Trump
- Carnegie Hall – Understanding Ragtime
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