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So my mother told me a story that happened to her today. While she was shopping for food at a local grocery a store a Caucasian man approached her. She said he seemed hesitant at first but then went on to ask the question he had in mind. He asked her if she was from Spain and right away she said no. The man said "What? You either have to be Spanish or Portuguese." Then he said "Your not Mexican right?" and my mom proudly said yes. Seems to me this issue with immigration has blurred a lot of Americans minds about what immigrants look like. Just how the media has blurred who and what terrorists look like. We imagine a terrorist to be someone with a turban whom has dark skin. I wonder if these will be an issue in the future, what do you think?
I get this question all the time, like they are trying to make it sound bad...lol. I am half White/half Mexican, it is pretty obvious I am not 100% White. When I answer yes, it does draw quite an amazed response, especially in the work place usually something like "oh wow" lol.
I think after 911 many Americans have blurred the lines, public trust is low, patriotism high throw in bad economy and now illegals are under fire.
So what do illegals and terrorists look like? They must be brown and dress in the proper identified attire right? I don't know how we as a society can be proud of this ignorance.
I get this question all the time, like they are trying to make it sound bad...lol. I am half White/half Mexican, it is pretty obvious I am not 100% White. When I answer yes, it does draw quite an amazed response, especially in the work place usually something like "oh wow" lol.
I think after 911 many Americans have blurred the lines, public trust is low, patriotism high throw in bad economy and now illegals are under fire.
So what do illegals and terrorists look like? They must be brown and dress in the proper identified attire right? I don't know how we as a society can be proud of this ignorance.
Here is a "theory" of mine, Mach50. It MAY explain some ignorance, which is out there, for sure. (I'm not sure many people are "proud' of ignorance, but it IS out there).
Here in the SW, Mexicans have been around for a LONG time. And GENERALLY, along both coasts, people have been familiar with immigration also.since 'day 1'.
But there ARE sections of the US...particularly in the South and parts of the midwest...where many people have no familiarity with ANYONE who's 'different"....or at least, did NOT have, up until very recent decades. Just a very short time ago, there were many counties in the South where 95% of the entire population was American born..some places even higher. Not only were there virtually no Mexicans there, there were very few Catholics, very few Jews, and very few immigrants..AT ALL....and there hadn't been, for generations. Large areas had only two 'ethnicities'...blacks, and a VERY narrow 'mixture' of whites...CERTAIN whites. And let's just say these two groups didn't always see "eye to eye"...
This area had a rather 'rocky' history of accepting other people's 'differences'. Slavery, segregation, and the almost complete 'removal' of the natives took place in an area that saw almost no "new' influx of 'new blood', up until recent decades.
NOW, these folks are suddenly being introduced to the realities of immigration....and, in a notoriously 'bible-belt' area, much of THIS new immigration is not only 'non-white', it's also heavily illegal (!). To say this may take some 'getting used to" is fair, I think. This isn't a fact to be 'proud' of, but I'm not sure it's all that surprising. This has NOT been an area noted for being open to 'new ideas', and the 'clash' we're seeing is perhaps understandable, if put in context...
I get this question all the time, like they are trying to make it sound bad...lol. I am half White/half Mexican, it is pretty obvious I am not 100% White. When I answer yes, it does draw quite an amazed response, especially in the work place usually something like "oh wow" lol.
I think after 911 many Americans have blurred the lines, public trust is low, patriotism high throw in bad economy and now illegals are under fire.
So what do illegals and terrorists look like? They must be brown and dress in the proper identified attire right? I don't know how we as a society can be proud of this ignorance.
For the record; you are stereotyping 'Mexicans' as well------not all of them are Indian or Mestizo.
My step sister; whose mother's family was from Ireland (blue eyed blonde) and her father who is of Italian lineage--------she gets mistaken for Puerto Rican, etc all the time.
And this woman is 100% 'Anglo' despite her dark skin.
For the record; you are stereotyping 'Mexicans' as well------not all of them are Indian or Mestizo.
My step sister; whose mother's family was from Ireland (blue eyed blonde) and her father who is of Italian lineage--------she gets mistaken for Puerto Rican, etc all the time.
And this woman is 100% 'Anglo' despite her dark skin.
And not all Latino's are MEXICAN. When people here the word LATINO they think, oh - the Mexicans.
Mexicans are mostly of Mestizo and Indian background. Mexicans of European descent account for less of 5% of the population. Move South to Argentina, it's the reverse. 90% of the population is of European descent and the rest Mestizos. Move up to Bolivar and the vast majority of the folks are Indian.
Fly over to the Caribbean (Puerto Rico and Cuba) and the are no Indians left. So you have white, black and mulattos (bi-racial : Black/white)
Go to the Dominican Republic, the majority of the folks are black, with some lighter skin blacks that one can call Mulatto. Less than 5% of the population is white.
We also forget that in Cuba, Peru and Brazil, there is a large Asian community as well.
So Latin America is made of countries with different backgrounds and different histories. The only thing we have in common is Spain. We speak a form of spanish, but Mexicans speak nothing like Cubans. And Cubans speak nothing like Chileans.
Latin America is a VERY DIVERSE area of the world. Just like the US is diverse.
And not all Latino's are MEXICAN. When people here the word LATINO they think, oh - the Mexicans.
Mexicans are mostly of Mestizo and Indian background. Mexicans of European descent account for less of 5% of the population. Move South to Argentina, it's the reverse. 90% of the population is of European descent and the rest Mestizos. Move up to Bolivar and the vast majority of the folks are Indian.
Fly over to the Caribbean (Puerto Rico and Cuba) and the are no Indians left. So you have white, black and mulattos (bi-racial : Black/white)
Go to the Dominican Republic, the majority of the folks are black, with some lighter skin blacks that one can call Mulatto. Less than 5% of the population is white.
We also forget that in Cuba, Peru and Brazil, there is a large Asian community as well.
So Latin America is made of countries with different backgrounds and different histories. The only thing we have in common is Spain. We speak a form of spanish, but Mexicans speak nothing like Cubans. And Cubans speak nothing like Chileans.
Latin America is a VERY DIVERSE area of the world. Just like the US is diverse.
Thanks for pointing this out. Until this moment, ALL of us thought that ALL Latinos were Mexicans..and I guess we never even THOUGHT of South America..(unless you mean Louisiana).....
And not all Latino's are MEXICAN. When people here the word LATINO they think, oh - the Mexicans.
Mexicans are mostly of Mestizo and Indian background. Mexicans of European descent account for less of 5% of the population. Move South to Argentina, it's the reverse. 90% of the population is of European descent and the rest Mestizos. Move up to Bolivar and the vast majority of the folks are Indian.
Fly over to the Caribbean (Puerto Rico and Cuba) and the are no Indians left. So you have white, black and mulattos (bi-racial : Black/white)
Go to the Dominican Republic, the majority of the folks are black, with some lighter skin blacks that one can call Mulatto. Less than 5% of the population is white.
We also forget that in Cuba, Peru and Brazil, there is a large Asian community as well.
So Latin America is made of countries with different backgrounds and different histories. The only thing we have in common is Spain. We speak a form of spanish, but Mexicans speak nothing like Cubans. And Cubans speak nothing like Chileans.
Latin America is a VERY DIVERSE area of the world. Just like the US is diverse.
Actually, the White-Indian ratio is pretty similar. Whites (non-American) make up anywhere from 9%-17% of the population. And so do the Indigenous peoples. Even though at one point there were more Blacks than Spanish people, the African phenotype was lost in translation with all the Mestizo mixing. If you go to the coastal regions of Mexico you notice more Afro-Mexicans.
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