How long is someone "Hispanic"? (Dallas, Dublin: school districts, living)

[Trainwreck20]

Yes, according to the US Census (at least as far as I can tell). Hispanic has nothing to do with culture (or assimilation). An individuals choice to use that term to identify themself will probably decrease significantly over time, but technically still applies. I guess the closest parallel would be 'native american'. Someone who can trace their ancestory back to native americans will always be 'of native american descent', but many indian tribes put a lower limit on the percent that qualifies you for 'membership' (maybe 1/64th?). Of course, this again is just a legal cutoff, but is 2^6th, or 6 generations of completely 'non-native american' ancestory. The parallel falls a little short, because hispanic applies to an already intermixed genetic group that essentially includes the original spanish immigrants and the native residents of latin america.

Btw, my 'are you serious' comment was not directed at you .

[crystalblue]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

Yes, according to the US Census (at least as far as I can tell).

Btw, my 'are you serious' comment was not directed at you .

no biggie

the reason i asked is you see these projections where these "Hispanics" are growing so fast they are going to take over the country.

but, if they are assimilating, I dont see why people are so panicked

and as long as we can absorb the siesta tradition, Im cool!

[Trainwreck20]

Sorry, I editted in a bit more after you replied . If I have kids with someone that is 'hispanic', then my kids will be hispanic. That is one mechanism that is resulting in the increase in hispanic residents and often overlooked. Cultural assimilation is really more of a cultural merging, and I think that is what panics some people.

Anyway, this is getting off any Texas-specific topics .

[crystalblue]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

Yes, according to the US Census (at least as far as I can tell). Hispanic has nothing to do with culture (or assimilation). An individuals choice to use that term to identify themself will probably decrease significantly over time, but technically still applies. I guess the closest parallel would be 'native american'. Someone who can trace their ancestory back to native americans will always be 'of native american descent', but many indian tribes put a lower limit on the percent that qualifies you for 'membership' (maybe 1/64th?). Of course, this again is just a legal cutoff, but is 2^6th, or 6 generations of completely 'non-native american' ancestory. The parallel falls a little short, because hispanic applies to an already intermixed genetic group that essentially includes the original spanish immigrants and the native residents of latin america.

Btw, my 'are you serious' comment was not directed at you .

hmmm, but im 1/8 indian, and I dont consider myself indian at all...

and i put this topic here just cause there are so many hispanics in texas, figured it have a better chance of getting some answers.

[Trainwreck20]

But you are of 'native american descent', regardless of what you consider yourself, just the same as someone who was 1/8 latin american would be 'hispanic' or of hispanic descent . I suppose a native american and a hispanic having kids would have either a native american hispanic or a hispanic native american .

[crystalblue]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

But you are of 'native american descent', regardless of what you consider yourself, just the same as someone who was 1/8 latin american would be 'hispanic' or of hispanic descent . I suppose a native american and a hispanic having kids would have either a native american hispanic or a hispanic native american .

I guess

but, I've never checked off native american on any forms...

[tstone]

I'm 25% Spanish (from Spain like Antonio Banderas), 72% other S/W European (UK/Irish/Italian/French), and ~3% Native American. I don't speak Spanish, have fair skin with a small amount of tanning capability, brown hair & eyes that glow lighter in the sun. I have always been classified as white without question. It sounds like maybe this was in error. How many government grants have I missed out on??

[crystalblue]

I dont know if your actually spanish if you can declare "hispanic"!

wouldnt that be a hoot!

[Trainwreck20]

Actually, based on the US Gov't definition used for the census, you are not hispanic, Tstone. You were prior to the official definition in the 1970's, apparently . Of course, you might be able to be considered native american. I worked with a guy that was NA and based on the fraction of his heritage that was from some specific tribe in AK, he got paid out (quarterly) from the casino profits. He was pretty durn near 100% NA, and he got somewhere around $3,000 one quarter. He actually had a little ID card that had his ancestoral percents on it (what percent from what tribe). He is the one that told me that you needed to be 1/64th from his tribe to get any payout, so I don't know how uniform or official that is. 3% is about 1/33rd, so that is more then 1/64th......

[tstone]

Well nuts to that. I'm 1/32nd from what I understand. None of my family has ID cards. Tracing through the tree we understand this could've been an affair.