Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
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?
I don't know who makes these racial categories, but they were morons. Why are arabs and middle easterners and north africans considered white? Why is there no separate category for indians vs east asians, but inuits get their own class... The whole system is beyond stupid.
Realistically, they should break down your race/ethnicity by your native (pre westernization/colonialization) language family. So native americans would be like 4 or 5 different classes, Na Dene, Mississippian, Inuit... Mexicans and aztec/maya people would be in an olmetic category, whites would either be in Germanic, Romance, Slavic... under the indo european class.
This would be more complicated, but much, much, much more descriptive and actually accurate.
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?
Race is an arbitrary thing. Many Latinos are white; they are of European, primarily Spanish or Portuguese decent. Those people are white. Some are of Native American decent; they are Native American. Some are a mix; they're Native American, I guess. Why? Who cares (well, actually it's an old slave thing; when slave masters would rape their slaves, the child would still be considered black so that the child could be justified as being born a slave; it's called the 'one drop rule.')
Irish used to be a race. Now, they don't ask that. Hispanic and Latino are both basically made up. There are few reasons to group everyone south of Texas into the same ethnic group.
"Latino" isn't a race, it's an ethnic group. The difference is that a race is defined by distinct physiological (physical) features while an ethnic group is defined by cultural attributes or geographic location. A member of an ethnic group can be of any race.
A Latino is simply someone who was born in or whose family is from Latin America. They can range from black (descendent from African slaves) to white (descendent from European colonists) to Native American to anything in between. Interracial marriages were much more common in Latin America than in the USA after American Independence which is why a significant percentage have a light-brown skin tone (not white, not black).
And for what it's worth, the USA has a long history of "elevating" different groups to "white" status. As each large immigrant block migrated here they were at first considered "sub par" before eventually being grated full white status. The swarthy-skinned Italians and Greeks are the best examples of this. It's kind of ridiculous, but it happened.
As Latino population grows and become less linked to recent immigration, Latino will become such an amorphous grouping of people as to be almost meaningless. How much will Jeb Bush's grandchildren have in common with a recently arrived immigrant from Guatemala? At a broader level, I think we are seeing a social transformation where the "dominant group" in our society will be defined less by race and more by class and culture. Not saying we will become a racial nirvana. We still have big racial problems (particularly concerning Africa-Americans). But, the idea of sharp racial lines is/will become a lot blurrier.
I don't know that Latinos and Asians will ever become "white" for formal demographic purposes. A closer analogy is Jewish or Catholics vs Protestants. Jews or Catholics haven't formally become Protestants, but the religions have integrated into our society to the point that Catholic or Jewish bigotry isn't really a big issue anymore. Anti-Latino bigotry fades as people have more exposure and Hispanics assimilate into the general society.
In the more cosmopolitan "Gateway" cities and much of the west, there are big socio-economic and cultural gaps between higher-skilled native born whites and lower skilled, largely foreign born Hispanics. These socioeconomic and cultural gaps often drive political differences, but as a general matter social relations are pretty good.
White-Latino tensions are generally concentrated among working class whites in homogenous communities with little recent immigration. Economically, the white working class has been struggling with deindustrialization and many make just enough to not qualify for many social welfare program. They see the influx of poorer Latinos into their communities and feel they are going to get stuck paying more in social welfare and have to deal with all the negative effects of poverty. This is compounded by the cultural dystopia many feel at the sight of a relatively isolated group speaking a foreign language that they can't understand.
Over time, IMO the white working class angst against Latinos will fade as Latinos become more native-born. They will gradually become socially integrated into society (speak English, have more cross ethnic-social connections). Latino immigrants tend to be very low skilled, but the 2nd generation generally rises to a level (on average) equivalent to white working class. As exposure rises and these economic and cultural gaps close, I think a lot of the negative tensions will as well.
I don't know that this will make Hispanics white per say. But, your social environment will matter more to your life experiences than your physical appearance or where your ancestors came from.
Where do you end this? Like the Third Reich? Only pure Aryan, blue eyed blondes? Even Hitler himself did not fit that description and had Jewish bloodline. You will not find that in America with the intermingling of races. What is wrong with that?
When I think Latino, or Hispanic, I think; Spain, Mexico, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Brazil, places where spanish is spoken, I'll stick to that, as people are trying to reinvent people. If they are supposed to be white, they sure aren't treated like it. Leave what people are, alone, I don't want to go back to being ¾ of a human again, or whatever.
There are white, black, red and brown people. Those are the races. There's also lot of mixing going on.
Humans are not the only species in which categories with distinct boundaries exist. Dogs and horses, for example have distinct breeds which are analogous to races. Irish Setters, German Shepherds, etc. are all recognizable by distinctive physical features and behavioral traits. If you want a dog good for so-and-so you get this kind. If you want one for this-and-that you get that kind. And then there're mongrels which are often the nicest dogs of all.
But categories like latino or European are an overlay of culture on the substrate of race. Culture might have roots in race or racial identity but it's as different from it as a is a plant from the soil in which it grows.
When I think Latino, or Hispanic, I think; Spain, Mexico, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Brazil, places where spanish is spoken, I'll stick to that, as people are trying to reinvent people. If they are supposed to be white, they sure aren't treated like it. Leave what people are, alone, I don't want to go back to being ¾ of a human again, or whatever.
A Latino is simply a person from Latin America. Latin America is defined as that portion of the Americas where Romance (Latin or Rome-based) languages are spoken. This includes Spanish, Portuguese, and French, and is determined by whichever European country settled a specific area after a massive plague wiped out 90%+ of the native population. As mentioned, the official language of Brazil is Portuguese.
Hispanics are a sub-set of Latinos who speak Spanish. Hispanic can also refer to anything related to Spain, but typical in the USA it refers to someone from a Spanish-speaking country in Latin America. The debate was about Latinos.
Again, a Latino can have any skin tone from pure white to very dark brown (black) depending on his specific ancestry, and can have any type of facial bone structure. Many Latin American countries didn't have the legal and moral prohibition against interracial marriages like that found in most of the USA so much more interracial mixing occurred. This is why when people think of a Latino they typically think of someone with a mix of black/white/native features, and this imaginary person almost always has a light brown or Café au lait skin tone.
A white-skinned Latino with European bone structure and straight hair is, by definition, "white". Even if they natively speak Spanish or Portuguese. Where along the skin-tone scale a person stops being "white" and becomes something else is debatable, but it has more to do with bone structure, face shape, and hair texture than with actual skin tone. I know plenty of "white" people with dark skin, and plenty of "black" people with light skin.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
