Lynda Carter has forever written her name in Hollywood history thanks to her role as Princess Diana, also known as Wonder Woman and Diana Prince. She played the iconic superhero in a TV show that ran for four years (1975-1979), but her legacy lives on. She was born in 1951 in Phoenix, Arizona. Besides being a great person and an actress, she is also known for being a singer, songwriter, model, and beauty pageant titleholder. Having been born close to the border, it comes as no surprise that she has Latino heritage. 

Here are some of the reasons that make us say that she is the best Wonder Woman in history (sorry, Gal Gadot, absolutely no disrespect to you!). Reading her story one can’t stop but think of the words that Antiope told Diana in the Wonder Woman movie: “You are stronger than you believe. You have greater powers than you know.”

She is genuinely a good human being.

Just take this photo as an example. Here, she is all smiles with her successor, Israeli sensation Gal Gadot. She doesn’t seem to be too fussed about pasar la batuta and is like the aunt we all wish we had in wishing happy birthday to the new Mujer Maravilla. 

She is proud of her Mexican heritage.

Yes, that’s right. Her full name is Linda Jean Córdova Carter! Her dad has Irish-Scottish heritage, and her mom Juanita was the daughter of a Mexican family. 

She married the love of her life, a romantic role-model for us all.

Just a few human beings are lucky enough to find the love of their life. Lynda married talent agent Ron Samuels in 1977, but the marriage only lasted five years. She then met her everything: lawyer Robert A. Altman, who she married in 1984. After the wedding, she left Hollywood in 1985 and moved to Washington. The couple has two children: James and Jessica. 

She embodied women’s new role in society.

Lynda has always been a great supporter of women’s rights, and she takes every opportunity, such as International Women’s Day, to sat so. After all, she embodied an amazing female superhero in a day and age when women were trying to break free from the manacles of traditional gender roles. 

She is an ally of the LGBTQ+ community.

Carter often attends Pride Marches and has used her standing as a cultural icon in the United States to speak out against discrimination. She was the Grand Marshal for the 2011 Phoenix Pride Parade and the 2011 New York Pride Parades. She had the same role in the 2013 Capital Pride Parade in Washington. She has said: “Every gay reader understands the secret self that is full and wonderful and has longing and tenderness and a desire for connection to other people. I think that arguments against gay marriage are just ridiculous! Who cares? People want to get married for the same reason I wanted to get married. They want to do it in front of their friends and family.” 

She is super friendly with fans.

Even if she left Hollywood in 1985 to raise her family, Lynda Carter is currently a constant feature in fan conventions and Comic-Con events across the country. She is truly different from many of those arrogant celebrities who see fans as a necessary evil. Lynda, on the contrary, is happy to sign autographs and smile for the occasional fan selfie. We love you, Lynda! 

She has recovered from alcohol and drug addiction and helps others stay on the wagon.

Showbiz brings many pressures and temptations both to those who are looking for a breakthrough and for those who have established a career. Lynda is a recovering alcoholic who found the strength to quit due to her husband’s unmovable support. She stated in an interview: “After 18 years of recovery, I live every day with immense gratitude. I am forever thankful for my family and friends who stood by me and encouraged me… and for those who helped me heal.” This requires true superpowers and belief in oneself. Good for you, Lynda! She has been sober for 20 years and often speaks at events where she encourages others to find their inner strength and do the same. 

She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame since 2018.

It kind of sucks that a new version of Wonder Woman had to come out in the cinema for the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce to give Lynda Carter her much deserved Hollywood Walk of Fame star. It happened on April 3, 2018, and it was unveiled by Patty Jenkins, the director of the 2018 fantastic superhero feminist extravaganza Wonder Woman. 

Boys had Superman, girls had the much cooler Wonder Woman.

It must have sucked to be a girl in the pre-Wonder Woman era when it comes to role models. Boys had plenty to choose from, with the alien Superman being perhaps the most famous of them all. Wonder Woman was much, much cooler though: she belonged to an ancient tribe of Amazon warriors who lived in a matriarchy, and she passed as Diana Prince, a slightly geeky but also a sexy woman. Superman is a nerd in comparison, and don’t get us started on lame Clark Kent. 

She was a hipster before hipsters existed.

We mean, just look at how she wears those big frames and that cute choker scarf. Giving us Williamsburg vibes from the past! She was goofy and cute and amazing in her 1970s incarnation of Princess Diana. 

She was a body positivity queen.

In this day and age when the fashion and entertainment industry promotes unhealthy ideals when it comes to body type, it is a good idea to remember Lynda Carter and how sure she was of her womanly body. Bodies come in all shapes and sizes, and Lynda Carter just was comfortable in hers. Frame this kickass quote: “My only interest in women’s clothes is what’s underneath them.” 

And now she wears her wrinkles with grace and pride.

There are few things more empowering than a woman who fills at ease in her body. Carter is 67 and looks stunning: she wears those wrinkles as signs of her wisdom and maturity, as a testament of the many obstacles she has faced in her life, such as recovering from addiction. 

She was a beauty queen and for good reason: brains and looks, she has it all.

Before becoming a Hollywood celeb, Lynda first captured the country’s imagination as a beauty queen. Carter won a local Arizona beauty contest in 1972, and then went on to win the title of Miss World USA in that same year. 

She has an awesome explanation of why Wonder Woman is an ageless symbol of girl power.

She says that contrary to other female superheroes, Wonder Woman actually understands female identity. Of other superheroes, she said: “they’re not showcasing any of the tremendous dichotomies that women possess in term of softness and toughness, sweetness and grit, inner and outer strength.” And yes, our dear Princess Diana shows all of these qualities!

READ: Wonder Woman Isn’t The Only Latina Superhero To Be On Display At The Smithsonian In Washington

Before Trump was president, many opponents of the man swore that electing a person with a history of racist behavior would encourage closeted bigots to be more vocal with their hate. This claim has proved to be true basically time and time again in the years since he was elected on nearly a weekly basis. Attacks on Muslim and Latinx people have been sanctioned by government policies but we have also seen disturbingly bigoted behavior from average citizens. Hate crimes have skyrocketed since 2016 and viral videos of racist attacks and abuse are commonplace on the internet.

The latest act of xenophobia comes from Trump’s July Twitter tantrum against Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and her fellow freshmen congresswomen. In it, the president insisted that those who don’t like how America currently works should just leave. It’s a command most Black and brown people have heard at least once in their lives and it again invites undercover racists to be bold enough to let their hatred for minorities show. 

One of the latest examples of the freedom racists feel is a video coming out of Abington, Pennsylvania that shows a white woman accosting a Puerto Rican woman at a grocery store. 

On June 30th, 2019, Johanny Santana was standing in line at the grocery store when a child came into the line to ask his grandfather a question. The child and grandfather spoke Spanish to each other and this caused a white woman who was also in line to cuss at the boy. Hearing this, Santana started recording with her phone to capture any further encounters. The boy left and came back, only to have another woman object. This is when Santana stepped in and changed the focus to her. 

In a video posted to Facebook, Santana asks the other woman if she had a problem with the individuals speaking Spanish after the white woman loudly complains, “Any century now.” The White woman then told Santana, “Can you stop talking to me? You’re a p*ta.” After Santana told the woman not to say that word, she responded again, repeating, “You’re a p*ta.”

It’s then that the altercation turned overtly racist. 

The woman launched into a bigoted diatribe aimed at Santana. In the video, she can be heard saying: 

“You shouldn’t be in this country. I hope Trump deports you. I was born here, you don’t belong here, go back to your own country. You don’t belong here, you came here illegally. You should be deported.” 

The unidentified white woman then accused Santana of using “drug money” to buy her groceries. In the video, she is seen flashing cash at the Boricua and telling her that her money was legal, unlike what Santana was using. 

In the video, Santana can be heard retaliating with her own insults.

In response to her own words, Santana told NBC News that she felt ashamed and powerless.

“I regret it because I didn’t want to tell her that. I felt powerless because I didn’t speak English well enough to be able to properly respond to her.”  

The community that Santana lives in only has a population of 55,310 according to the 2010 Census. Of that population, almost 80% is white and only 3% of residents are Latinx. According to the Pew Research Center, Puerto Ricans are the second-largest Latinx group in the United States. Since Puerto Rico is a United States territory, citizens of the island — including Santana — are also US citizens. Still, even if they weren’t, this attack would remain grossly racist. 

Twitter reacted with outrage in response to yet another recorded attack on people of color by racists. 

Twitter users were quick to share the video thousands of times online. Many pointed out how ridiculous the woman was and how quick she was to jump into racists insults — as if she had them queued up and ready to rip. Others called on the social media site to do its thing and expose the woman pictured in the video. She is still unidentified as of now but one thing remains clear: There are far more people who feel this way in our nation than most are willing to admit. Until racists are exposed and called out in every community, racism will continue to be an ugly part of American life. 

Watch the video below!

READ: Two Women In Montana Were Approached By A Border Patrol Agent While At A Gas Station For Speaking Spanish