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Well they ask the question all the time Pammy. Half the women I chatted with asked me that directly "Do I look white to you?"
I've never asked anyone if I look white or not. When I applied for a Metricula at the Mexican Embassy in 1988, the official told ME I was white. I truly didn't understand what the official was asking. It made no sense to me. It wasn't until later that the caste system & how recently it was still used on birth certificates was explained did I understand. I'm part native, Cuban, French, & Spanish. Although now I am just American.
To me most Mexicans are mixed... part Spanish, part Aztec or Mayan or whatever is native to Mexico. I don't see them as none of the latter, but just as Mexicans.
Most Mexicans are brown. The Spanish ones might be olive though, lol... like Italians.
I don't think that 18 percent of Mexicans are of European descent, not on the wildest dreams.
Why not? There are some states in Mexico that are primary indigenous while others have a more mixed populations of white, mestizo and indigenous people. Perhaps you have visited states that have primarily people of indigenous descent which makes you believe that 99% of Mexicans are Indian; I know some Americans believe that to be the case. In fact, I have encountered this problem with non-Hispanic people who thought I was either Jewish or some type of middle easterner (sometimes I'm asked if I'm Syrian), which makes me assume that they believe the stereotype that all Mexicans are brown. You can see from my profile photo that I'm clearly mestizo, yet for some reason a lot of non-Hispanics don't think I'm of Mexican descent when they first met me.
Last edited by Canaan-84; 09-09-2012 at 08:00 PM..
Did you not learn about the Spanish colonization of Mexico? Most Mexicans today have spanish ancestry on different levels. Thats why you see white skined or light skined Mexicans. On my personal level i have Aztec descent and Spanish descent. About 55% Aztec and 45% spanish.
Mexico is like every other nation in the Americas. It originally had Native Americans, then Europeans came to settle after 1492 and brought African slaves in the colonial period. After independence, more Europeans immigrated, along with Asians and Middle Easterners.
The only difference between American nations is the percentages of each group's contribution vary widely. But there are Native Mexicans and mixed-Native Mexicans, White and Black Mexicans, and even Asian Mexicans.
Why not? There are some states in Mexico that are primary indigenous while others have a more mixed populations of white, mestizo and indigenous people. Perhaps you have visited states that have primarily people of indigenous descent which makes you believe that 99% of Mexicans are Indian; I know some Americans believe that to be the case. In fact, I have encountered this problem with non-Hispanic people who thought I was either Jewish or some type of middle easterner (sometimes I'm asked if I'm Syrian), which makes me assume that they believe the stereotype that all Mexicans are brown. You can see from my profile photo that I'm clearly mestizo, yet for some reason a lot of non-Hispanics don't think I'm of Mexican descent when they first met me.
I think this conception is far more due to the fact that people from specific areas and backgrounds in Mexico tend to go to specific parts of the United States.
New York City and the east coast of the U.S. tend to get immigrants from southern Mexico who are very indigenous looking. When I traveled to New York and Boston with a mostly Mexican/Mexican American group, we were taken for everything but Mexican...Italian, Greek, Middle Eastern, Armenian...in short we did not look like migrant workers. (I am actually of Jewish/Syrian origin on one side, but speak Spanish, which really confused people).
In places like San Antonio or San Diego, people tend to understand that Mexicans are more diverse; there I am much more likely to be assumed to be Mexican, simply because pretty much anyone who is not either very nordic or very black can be there.
I was always curious what racial category most Mexicans belong to? Are they considered white? Mixed?
Mexico is a pretty diverse country, it attracted immigrants from all over back in the day- and there are still a lot of folks there with pre-Columbian roots there too.
Some Mexicans are certainly considered white, like Carlos Slim and Canelo, others no.
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