Spanish People in WNC

[GatorDog]

Thanks for the link Cofga. Very interesting. So it's an ethnicity issue not a race. I've never filled out any forms where I have chosen "Hispanic" as my race. Way back when I was at the Great University of Florida I was told that I could get some freebees if I said I was Latino or Hispanic. Couldn't do it. My father would not have approved.

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by GatorDog

Thanks for the link Cofga. Very interesting. So it's an ethnicity issue not a race. I've never filled out any forms where I have chosen "Hispanic" as my race. Way back when I was at the Great University of Florida I was told that I could get some freebees if I said I was Latino or Hispanic. Couldn't do it. My father would not have approved.

LOL - GatorDog - I read your posts and just had to comment. My family, too, was/is from the Asturias in northern Spain. We always detested the term "hispanic" and all being lumped together. My father was a very proud man, and proud of his heritage, as were all of my relatives. And like you, are very fair, and green or blue eyes (mine came out brown, however - lol).

And way back when I worked at USF, was encouraged to put myself down as a "minority" because there were several jobs available JUST for them - guess what - I was told by one of them hiring that I wasn't dark enough! I didn't look the part!!! Un-freaking-believable!

Originally Posted by nose1

I wanted to know how many hispanics are in wnc and if there is racism in wnc

Yes, I encountered some from some of the natives who did not realize I was Spanish when they starting dissing the "hispanics." I usually try to warn people before they go too far that I am Spanish (since I apprently don't look it) and embarrass themselves. However, I will say I did not encounter anymore racism there than I do anywhere else. Asheville itself is pretty accepting for the most part I think. Maybe in the more rural parts and outskirts is where one might encounter more racism.


OK, now back to your regularly scheduled program.....

[RogueMom]

Well, I am going to give an honest post. I moved here in 1997. For the first few years that I lived here, the population seemed to stay much as it has always been, mostly white and black, with the white population being in the slight majority.

I saw and heard news stories that reported that the larger cities of North Carolina, Raleigh and Charlotte, were seeing a large influx of legal/illegal immigrants from Spanish speaking countries, mostly from Mexico. Here on the the outskirts of Charlotte, I didn't see much evidence of that at that time.

Whilethere has been some tightening of the requirements for receiving a state drivers license, it's still pretty lax, and that is one of the key drivers of the attraction to North Carolina. For awhile, the housing construction business was booming, and that was another driving factor. There have been numerous contractors and businesses here that have gotten into hot water for hiring illegal/undocumented workers.

Starting in about 2000, and continuing on today, I have seen an extremely large population increase in our small-town area of Spanish speaking people. Whether they are from Mexico or other Spanish speaking countries, and whether they are here legally or not, I can only speculate, but they are continuing to move here en masse.

I am not in the mountian region of Asheville, where the housing gets a lot more expensive, but am in a lower cost area of the foothills region. This may be one reason we are seeing more immigration than the resort areas.

[sapphos]

Originally Posted by Cofga

You need to get out more to some other restaurants, there are tons of good places that have very ethnic food from all around the world here--heck we just had a Nepalese restaurant open recently and there's a soul food place (Chameleon) on Merrimon run by a real black family no less.

Hey Cogfa, what is the name of the Nepalese restaurant? We're moving to Asheville this coming week and will be looking for a variety of restaurants.

I found this post because I was searching for Spanish speaking which seems like the only way to search the Asheville threads. We're moving from Miami but husband is French and I am from Connecticut originally. We've both traveled and lived all over the place both domestically and internationally and are "mutts" like a lot of people having French Canadian, German, Basque, English heritage. Our daughter was born in Argentina during a year abroad so she is Argentine by birth but not by blood.

I would definitely like to know about what other international communities exist in Asheville. it seems there is a mix and already through our landlord I've found an Argentine family that just moved from Colorado, an American tango dancer who knows several Argentine people, a restaurant that some people thought was Mexican or South American but is actually Central American Salvadoran, French restaurant, etc.

I know it's probably hit or miss but it doesn't help me much to search "hispanic" "latino" or "spanish" because as some other posters have mentioned that is just a lump term, sort of like saying I'm American doesn't take into account the fact that Americans can be Italian, Irish, Jewish, etc. and gee what is American anyway - I'd say technically it's the native Americans that were here before Europeans "settled" the country.

So anyone out there from other countries want to weigh in? We speak French, English and Spanish and want to make sure out daughter is comfortable and knows that people come from all walks of life, socioeconomic, ethnic, sexual, etc choices but diversity is a biggie for us

[Cofga]

Kathmandu Cafe at 90 Patton Ave. Haven't been yet but it gets good reviews.