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There's a lot of talk about Latinos being considered white in the future of America because of assimilation or intermarriage, but since a substantial amount of Latinos are of Native(Mayan/Andean) or Triracial/Trigueno descent, would that mean that non-hispanic Native Americans/Metis and non-hispanic Biracials/Mulattos/Creoles will be considered "white" as well in the same process.
If not, wouldn't that be unfair to exclude mixed/full Native Americans and Biracial/Creole people from identifying as "white" while their Latino look-a-likes get to enjoy that benefit?
Latino/Hispanic is not a race; they are a cultural group made up of a number of ethnic groups (Mexican/Puerto Rican/Dominican/Guatemalan, etc) with predominantly Spanish or Portuguese influences, primarily language (Spanish/Portuguese) and religion (Roman Catholic). Latinos or Hispanics can be of any race or mixture of races, including but not limited to, white. Most Latinos that I know/have known identify either as Latinos/Hispanics or as their individual ethnicity rather than as any race. The US government has recognized this for at least the last two decades and requires that institutions like colleges and schools report race separately from Latino/Hispanic culture.
The US recognizes other groups as ethnic/cultural groups, too. These include Native Americans and Asians.
Moreover, there is no law in the US that classifies people as to race (at least any more), so people self-identify. Many mixed race people identify themselves by the race that they most closely resemble, but they don't have to do that. Other mixed race people identify with the race or cultural group that has most strongly influenced their lives. Most people who identify as Native Americans and Asians are predominantly of those ethnic heritages, but among Latinos/Hispanics, many identify as white because, well, they are because their DNA is overwhelmingly European.
I really don't think there is a lot to "debate" on this issue if one has a minimal understanding of genetics as well as how the US government determines "race" (ie, you are what you identify yourself as). Intermarriage among people of different races/cultures/ethnicities has long been common in many parts of the world. For a long time, interracial mixing wasn't often openly done in the US, but that's changed in the last half century. Too many Americans are still caught up in the bigoted ideas of previous generations and continue to worry about classifying other Americans as this race or that group. How about we just accept people as people? That doesn't mean that we have to lose our ethnic or cultural or racial heritages, but rather that we should value our own and accept others' as just as good as ours.
Not necessarily. Decades ago, when being identified as "black" was a much more serious limitation than it is today, many people who were 30-40-50% black or more and looked "white", "passed" by moving to northern or western cities and taking up new identities and lives, often claiming to be "Italian" or "Spanish" if that worked for them.
We should personally have once race. Its called the human race and anyone who is human is part of it. Why do we break ourselves down like this and segregate ourselves? That is what leads to discrimination, prejudice beliefs, and a lot of hate. I am an Arab, as an Arab I have to classify myself as white, unfortunately I never get the benefits of being considered "White", and I never get treated as white and I face lots of hate. Our society has many things messed up in it still. One major step in the right direction would be to break down the way we segregate ourselves.
France does not classify people----everybody is one race and that is it------ and yet they have problems.
Not necessarily. Decades ago, when being identified as "black" was a much more serious limitation than it is today, many people who were 30-40-50% black or more and looked "white", "passed" by moving to northern or western cities and taking up new identities and lives, often claiming to be "Italian" or "Spanish" if that worked for them.
Many white southern folks have some African DNA because the daughters or sons of master and slaves started to look white. After one generation it was 50% African, 25% after two, and 12.5% after three generations. At this point some moved to the white side of the fence and lived the rest of their lives like that.
Blacks were not allowed to played major league baseball until Jackie Robinson, however, Euro looking Latins played in the majors many years before Jackie Robinson.
Luque was already in the in the Big leagues in 1914.
Bithorn was with the Cubs well ahead of other so-called minorities.
Shortly afterwards another latin Luis Olmo was also in the big leagues.
In those days, a white person from Cuba was white.
Which is why Ricky and Lucy could star on TV on I Love Lucy. Their beds separated by a nightstand even though they were married for real was due to sexual not racial concerns.
Latinos will never become white. Many are mulattos who will never pass as white and even white latinos have a different culture from regular whites. White people are becoming a minority and it is very apparent. Within 35 years, this country will not even be majority white. It will be majority latino and black
I think it is important to define some concepts here, because it seems like everyone is throwing in the word "race" while implying different meanings.
Many people will deem as White just about anyone with lighter skin. However anthropologically speaking Someone's "race" isn't solely based on their skin color, but rather on the morphology of their skull. Many Asians have fairer skin than white Caucasians themselves, but they aren't considered as such (and themselves wouldn't want to) due to their different facial structure. The same goes for Hispanics. Many are mestizos and while some may have lighter skin, they also have noticeable Amerindian features such as dark coarse hair, black (not brown) eyes, prominent cheekbones and a larger body structure.
Making of race an entirely genetic concept is a fallacy. Humanity has been intermixing for so long it would be irrational to believe in race purity. Despite all looking different, us humans share a lot of the same genetic patrimony. The diversity in human looks can be explained in the fact that not all genes are necessarily expressed and made part of our physical appearance, also called phenotype.
Therefore "race" can only be acceptable as a composite concept, made of the combination of the phenotype and the ethnic group an individual belongs to.
While many people criticize race census as being racist, let's not forget that such polls have been made to gauge and fight racial discrimination.
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