Hispanics are white

[Zuul]

Oh, Gawker. Up to your usual standards of journalistic integrity, I see.

We drew up the census in such a way that "Hispanic" people were almost forced to join the dark side—or should I say The White Side? High five, white devils! All of your casas are belong to us (the whites)! And let's be honest here: I'm sure it's nice to have a rich heritage in your own culture and everything, but being white does have its benefits around here.

Now, I know plenty of Latinos with African ancestry who identify as Black on top of being Latino, so suggesting that all Latinos are now "white" is absurd. As is suggesting that being "Hispanic" in and of itself should be treated like a racial identity.

The Mexican doctor I knew who moved to the Las Vegas area many years ago did not consider herself to be anything other than white and it wasn't because white people had pressured her to view herself that way. In Mexico, she wasn't a racial minority. She had no identity as a "Person of Color." She simply saw herself as a white Mexican immigrant and that seemed like a perfectly reasonable way for her to see herself. Was she a little browner than the average white person, due to some Native American and Mediterranean ancestry? Sure, but so? An Italian guy with an Ojibwa great-grandmother is still white. Why can't she be?

If being white is some monolithic identity that denies you access to your cultural heritage, somebody better go shut up all of the Irish and Italian Americans already.

[OneCentStamp]

WHITE

[OneCentStamp]

WHITE

[Zuul]

White America is proud to count Christina Milian among their numbers.

[OneCentStamp]

This thread feels like petty, yet delicious revenge on all the morons who point out that Charlize Theron is, technically speaking, African-American.

OF COLOR

[Zuul]

Beautiful, beautiful white woman:

[OneCentStamp]

INSANE IN THE MEMBRANE. ALSO WHITE.

[Zuul]

It is a little known fact that Will Smith's cousin on The Fresh Prince was played by a white actress:



The whole race thing in America has been a very strange journey in general. First, only WASPS were considered white. Then, the French snuck in. The Irish and Italians had to deal with a lot of racial hatred, but finally got the white stamp of approval. Jewish people managed to push their way in the door. Eastern Europeans came next. Then it was like, hey, let's lump the North Africans and Middle Easterners under "white" on the census while we're at it.

Will it one day just drop the pretense and have two options: "White" and "Whichever Ethnicity We Currently Dislike"?

[Orual]

You, I deal with some official State of California forms that list Latino/Not Latino as "Ethnicity", and then White/Black/Asian/etc. as "Race".

That always struck me as pretty weird, but I guess this sort of thing is the reason. People are so bizarre.

[Sarahfeena]

I deal with the opposite of this all the time. Even the pediatrician was like, "your children don't look Hispanic." Yes, well, they are. Hence the Spanish last name and all. And please explain to me now what Hispanic people look like again?

HISPANIC:



ALSO HISPANIC:



ALSO HISPANIC:

[Zuul]

Sarah, my cousin has had the same issue. She has two very tall, very blond, very blue eyed sons with a Spanish last name. Their heritage is absolutely something they should embrace and enjoy, but it's silly for anyone to argue with her about their heritage.

When my mom was working at a Spanish language birth clinic, most of her clients were first generation immigrants from Latin America. People of every race you could imagine were her clients. Black, white, Asian, Native American, mixed, etc. When it came time to fill in race on the birth certificates, she'd ask them what they wanted on there. Most of the mestizo Mexicans identified as white. It wasn't anybody else's place to argue how they should identify!

[Sarahfeena]

Yup, that's exactly right, Zuul. I think that when you tell a person they "aren't supposed" to identify a particular way, it robs them of their culture. And it's up to them to decide that that self-identification is.

[The Original An Gadaí]

The whole race thing in America has been a very strange journey in general. First, only WASPS were considered white. Then, the French snuck in. The Irish and Italians had to deal with a lot of racial hatred, but finally got the white stamp of approval. Jewish people managed to push their way in the door. Eastern Europeans came next. Then it was like, hey, let's lump the North Africans and Middle Easterners under "white" on the census while we're at it.

Will it one day just drop the pretense and have two options: "White" and "Whichever Ethnicity We Currently Dislike"?

How The Irish Became White.

[The Original An Gadaí]

What does Hispanic mean? Does it mean having some ancestry in a country in North, Central, or South America where Spanish is the primary language? Because of the history of migration to that part of the world, the only thing then that would bind all Hispanics would be presumably that they had a Spanish-speaking ancestor. Is that correct?
As y'all have noted, there are people all over the Hispanophone Americas with ancestry in every corner of the globe.

By the way are Spanish people who move to America considered Spanish-American or do they become Hispanic too?

Some more Hispanic people.

[Zuul]

What does Hispanic mean? Does it mean having some ancestry in a country in North, Central, or South America where Spanish is the primary language? Because of the history of migration to that part of the world, the only thing then that would bind all Hispanics would be presumably that they had a Spanish-speaking ancestor. Is that correct?
As y'all have noted, there are people all over the Hispanophone Americas with ancestry in every corner of the globe.

By the way are Spanish people who move to America considered Spanish-American or do they become Hispanic too?

It can mean coming from an American country where Spanish or Portuguese is spoken, though a lot of USians think it only refers to people of mixed race. Out west, I'd been taught that Hispanic was used for culture but shouldn't generally be applied to people and Latino was the preferred term. Then again, Latin should include the French Canadians and Italian Americans, so...

Some Spanish people consider themselves Hispanic/Latino, some don't. Then there are people like Jessica Alba, who has Mexican ancestry but she doesn't consider herself Hispanic. Which is perfectly fair, since her mother is of French and Danish ancestry and she grew up in the US speaking English. It's her identity. We can't start inflicting a "one drop" linguistic rule, can we?

Alba is my last name and I'm proud of that. But that's it. My grandparents were born in California, the same as my parents, and though I may be proud of my last name, I'm American. Throughout my whole life, I've never felt connected to one particular race or heritage, nor did I feel accepted by any. If you break it down, I'm less Latina than Cameron Diaz, whose father is Cuban. But people don't call her Latina because she's blonde.

Oh, excuse me. A "one drop" linguistic rule on people who are properly brown.

[The Original An Gadaí]

I didn't know it also referred to people of Brazilian origin, what about French speaking Carribbean people? Are they considered hispanic too?

[Zuul]

As far as I know it's only those from Spanish speaking islands. Which, again, makes "Latin American" as a term only for people from Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries in the new world kind...misleading.

[Sarahfeena]

What does Hispanic mean? Does it mean having some ancestry in a country in North, Central, or South America where Spanish is the primary language? Because of the history of migration to that part of the world, the only thing then that would bind all Hispanics would be presumably that they had a Spanish-speaking ancestor. Is that correct?
As y'all have noted, there are people all over the Hispanophone Americas with ancestry in every corner of the globe.

By the way are Spanish people who move to America considered Spanish-American or do they become Hispanic too?

It can mean coming from an American country where Spanish or Portuguese is spoken, though a lot of USians think it only refers to people of mixed race. Out west, I'd been taught that Hispanic was used for culture but shouldn't generally be applied to people and Latino was the preferred term. Then again, Latin should include the French Canadians and Italian Americans, so...

Some Spanish people consider themselves Hispanic/Latino, some don't. Then there are people like Jessica Alba, who has Mexican ancestry but she doesn't consider herself Hispanic. Which is perfectly fair, since her mother is of French and Danish ancestry and she grew up in the US speaking English. It's her identity. We can't start inflicting a "one drop" linguistic rule, can we?

Alba is my last name and I'm proud of that. But that's it. My grandparents were born in California, the same as my parents, and though I may be proud of my last name, I'm American. Throughout my whole life, I've never felt connected to one particular race or heritage, nor did I feel accepted by any. If you break it down, I'm less Latina than Cameron Diaz, whose father is Cuban. But people don't call her Latina because she's blonde.

Oh, excuse me. A "one drop" linguistic rule on people who are properly brown.

Yeah, I think it's really more about how close you are to the culture. I mean, by the time my kids are grown and have kids, they very well may not feel very Hispanic. After all, they are only 1/4 Hispanic, and their kids may be only 1/8. We tend to think of ourselves as Hispanic because my husband's father is the only one of our parents who was an immigrant and was bilingual and brought another culture into the family. My grandkids will probably consider it a quirk of heritage, as I do about my maiden name being German. I'm of German ancestry, but I can't lay any claim to the German culture at all. Other than liking beer, but I get that from my Irish side, as well.

What Jessica Alba said about Cameron Diaz is what irritates me, though. Skin color is not the determining factor as to how Hispanic you are.

[Zuul]

Right, Sarah. I'm about half Dutch, but I feel no connection to Dutch culture largely because it was my great-grandparents who came over and their kids fully assimilated. On the other hand, there might be people who have one Puerto Rican grandmother and three German American grandparents and feel a really strong connection to Puerto Rican culture. Whatever race someone might be doesn't preclude them from feeling (or not feeling) a connection to that heritage.

And yes, the fact that people look down on Jessica Alba for not seeing herself as a Latina (she doesn't speak Spanish and her grandparents are from California) and wouldn't see Cameron Diaz's father being Cuban as significant to her is irritating.