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Probably true. It most likely also matters to Black nationalists/Afro centrists who dont respect mixed race Hispanics (especially mulattos) identifying with "the man".
FYI I'm neither, just asking a simple question. I'm a Black American married to a Puerto Rican, he proudly identifies all his roots.
I've never understood the cognitive dissonance some Americans have with not realizing some Hispanics such as Andy Garcia or Ricky Martin are white but they have no problem with some Italians of Sicilian descent being white such as Paulie D from the Jersey Shore or comedian Nick DiPaolo or even Michael Imperioli from the Sopranos, who kind of looks Middle Eastern to me.
When Everybody Loves Raymond first came out I thought Ray was Mexican.
Over half of the Hispanic/Latino population in the United States, self identifies as "white" when asked about race on government forms ex US census. However 60-70% are mixed race.
For example:
52% of Mexican Americans self identify as "white", but only 10% of Mexico itself identifies as white. It said that the ancestry of the average Mexican (both in Mexico and the US) is 56% Native American, 42% European, 1% African, 1% Asian. The average Mexican is mestizo, tho in the eastern US most tend be straight up Native American. Similarly Salvadoran Americans and Guatemalan Americans (and most others with origins in northern Central America) tend to be mostly mestizo.
Caribbean Hispanics
53% of Stateside Puerto Ricans self identify as white (comparatively 75% of Puerto Rico itself identifies as such, but has a lot to do with historical laws Puerto Rico, one of which is basically the exact opposite of the US one drop rule, which probably reflects the modern view of race on the island). Despite this, many Puerto Rican families been in the US for decades, and still many americanized mulatto Puerto Ricans identify as white surprisingly, even some who grow up in "the hood". Despite a majority identifying as white, only 25% are actually fully white racially. The ancestry of the average Puerto Rican is about 61% white European/North African, 24% black West African, and 15% Native American. The average Puerto Rican is a "white leaning mulatto/tri-racial", tho they can range from an olive complected white person to a brown skinned black person.
85% of Cuban Americans identify as white, tho this is entirely different from most other Hispanic groups, for a large period of time the majority people leaving Cuba during Castro were white, as they had the wealth and permission to do so. However Cuba, like DR and PR, is dominated by mulattos, despite not being reflected that in its emigrant community.
29% of Dominican Americans self identify as white, compared to 6-16% (depending on source) of Dominican Republic itself. The ancestry of the average Dominican (both in DR and US) is 53% white European, 39% black African, and 8% Native American. Dominicans tend to be mulatto, but also range from black to white.
Smaller groups originating from southern Central America and northern South America (like Panama and Colombia) tend to be diverse with white, blacks, native americans, and multiracials. Andean countries like Peru, tend to be mostly Native American. Only Argentina is mostly white.
The vast majority of "non-hispanic white americans" are 90% white genetically, very few Hispanics reflect that, 95% of US Hispanic have Large amounts of African and/or Native American DNA in their blood. So why do mixed race Hispanics in the United States identify as white, when most of American society dont consider them (a racially mulatto/mestizo ethnically hispanic person) white? If you were raised amongst whites that's cool, but doesn't mean you have to self identify as such. And contrary to any Hispanic belief, identifying as white on forms will Not help you in the long run. Most of US society (white Americans and black americans ) view mulatto Puerto ricans and Dominicans as black (due to the one drop rule) or mixed. Most of US society views mestizo mexicans as Native American or mixed. Not only racially, but socioeconomically Hispanics are far more in line with working class blacks and immigrant asians, then whites, they face the same social problems. US society doesn't see them as white in any way.
So why do most US Hispanics (most of whom are mixed) self identify as white (especially on government forms), when the rest of the country thinks otherwise?
Why doesn't the US have the term "moreno" used throughout Spanish and Portuguese speaking Latin America?
Spanish speaking Latin America is similar to Portuguese speaking Brazil in that both tend to rely of visual looks for racial classifications. As opposed to "blood quantum" in the United States.
So, in Brazil (according to some Brazilians as well as expat Americans living in Brazil) this man would be considered white.
People in the United States tend to think their perception and cultural constructs are the only right ways and objective truths.
But Reverend Wright in that video would also be considered moreno in Mexico and Brazil. Really, most countries throughout Latin America that use the "moreno" term (which only excludes very fair white peoples with blond hair and very dark skinned black people).
White people that are brunettes, white people that have "olive" skin hues, and black people that are darker brown like American actor Denzel Washington are all collectively lumped under the term "moreno." Many of your Arabs and East and Southeast Asians (South Asians too unless they are extremely dark as some are) are also tossed under the umbrella label of "moreno."
Self identifying as white when your not, will not change ya community's or ya family's socioeconomic problems or how society views you. Nor will it change ya genetics.
I don't think it matters. If you look white, you will be treated as white. If you look black, you will be treated as black. If you look brown, you will be treated as brown. If you look Asian, you will be treated as Asian. All the Cubans I known all look white. My friend's mom is Cuban and she married a black. He is white, but his sister is black. People treat him as white regardless of his ancestral origins.
In my opinion, if a person looks white, then he or she is white. If a person looks black, then he or she is black. Ect...
No, they are mostly of white ancestry, but they are NOT full white. And they would probably get different treatment from the government, police, society if that other 25% is black.
In America, race isn't JUST about genetics, its also about socioeconomics.
So people with blonde hair, white skin, red hair or blue and green eyes can't identify as White because they are 25% some other 'race?'
If the Zoe Saldana's, George Lopez's, Selena Gomez's, and Sammy Sosa's of the Latin world call themselves "white" why does it matter to anyone else?
Are you guys gonna start "one drop" ruling Hispanics now too?
No one has to "one drop" anyone. Census categories are meaningless except when forming policy on how to treat races differently. That's the government's business.
If Selena Gomez is ethnically non-Hispanic, then she's non-Hispanic white. If she's ethnically Hispanic, then she's Hispanic white. However, no one would argue that these categories are equivalent groups in terms of identity. Calling yourself Hispanic, White, Black, or anything else doesn't mean that you "are" that thing as it is perceived by a different ethnic group with the same designation in their identity. You are either one of them, as your closest social affinity, or you are not.
Zoe Saldana and Sammy Sosa are Afro Latino, Selena Gomez is white and George Lopez is mixed-mestizo.
That's how they'd be seen in Latin America. I don't get why this confuses Anglo Americans so much. LOL
That's the thing tho, most Dominicans and Puerto Ricans look like Zoe Saldana but still identify as white. Most Mexicans and Central Americans look like George Lopez but still identify as wife.
Zoe Saldana probably doesn't identify as afro latina, and would be seen as white in Puerto Rico. Sammy Sosa definitely doesn't identify as afro latino,he even did a michael jackson move and changed his skin complexion.
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