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Who invented the census? I assume it is quite an old ritual and nobody has simply dared to remove those questions from the forms yet.
The taking of a census is mandated by the constitution. However, instead of getting simpler, the forms and classifications have gotten longer and longer!
Really though, the census is self explanatory. It CLEARLY distinguishes between race and ethnicity. "Hispanic/Latino" is designated under the "ethnicity" part. A person can choose "mixed" if they identify as a mixed race Latino. They can also choose white, black, Asian, WHATEVER, and STILL Be a "hispanic" under the census.
And really, politically, what people identify with is just as, if not more, important, than what they actually are by the mathematics of genetics.
Yet the media over here perpetuates "Hispanic as a race" fallacy. "Hispanics set to overtake blacks as most numerous minority..." "Minority growth fueled by Hispanic births..."
Minority of what? Not being descended from people who came DIRECTLY from Europe or Africa or Asia? A minority group with the common denominator being their countries of origin were once owned by Spain? Sometimes I feel like people just use it as shorthand for "Mexican" and forget that the vast majority of Latin America and the "hispanic" world (outside of the United States) is NOT Mexican!
Most journalists are simply not smart enough to understand the difference, and Americans are by and large not travelled enough to understand!
The taking of a census is mandated by the constitution. However, instead of getting simpler, the forms and classifications have gotten longer and longer!
Really though, the census is self explanatory. It CLEARLY distinguishes between race and ethnicity. "Hispanic/Latino" is designated under the "ethnicity" part. A person can choose "mixed" if they identify as a mixed race Latino. They can also choose white, black, Asian, WHATEVER, and STILL Be a "hispanic" under the census.
And really, politically, what people identify with is just as, if not more, important, than what they actually are by the mathematics of genetics.
Yet the media over here perpetuates "Hispanic as a race" fallacy. "Hispanics set to overtake blacks as most numerous minority..." "Minority growth fueled by Hispanic births..."
Minority of what? Not being descended from people who came DIRECTLY from Europe or Africa or Asia? A minority group with the common denominator being their countries of origin were once owned by Spain? Sometimes I feel like people just use it as shorthand for "Mexican" and forget that the vast majority of Latin America and the "hispanic" world (outside of the United States) is NOT Mexican!
Most journalists are simply not smart enough to understand the difference, and Americans are by and large not travelled enough to understand!
Yes, that's funny since Hispanics may be black themselves
Yes, that's funny since Hispanics may be black themselves
Exactly!
Granted, over 50% of "Hispanics" in America are Mexican, and the vast majority of those that find there way here via illegal immigration, etc. tend to be mestizo (or very often, pure indigenous), but nobody should read anything into the "Hispanic" or "Latino" label in and of itself.
It's like saying you know what race I am or what I look like because I'm American! Quick! Tell me what I look like knowing I'm American!
Same thing with "Latino" or "Hispanic"... if I tell you I'm of Hispanic descent, describe what you think I look like!
Interestingly, even in a place like Japan, which has the reputation of being a bit racist by nature, any ethnic reference is dropped as soon as an immigrant becomes a Japanese citizen. So an immigrant from Uganda becomes a 100% Japanese in every way, including ethnicity.
Japan does not issue passports to immigrants. They will issue permanent residency, which is not a passport, or a visa, depending on the circumstances. If a child is born where one parent holds the Japanese passport that child will be issued a passport.
Japan doesn't give away passports the way the US does.
Granted, over 50% of "Hispanics" in America are Mexican, and the vast majority of those that find there way here via illegal immigration, etc. tend to be mestizo (or very often, pure indigenous), but nobody should read anything into the "Hispanic" or "Latino" label in and of itself.
It's like saying you know what race I am or what I look like because I'm American! Quick! Tell me what I look like knowing I'm American!
Same thing with "Latino" or "Hispanic"... if I tell you I'm of Hispanic descent, describe what you think I look like!
Japan does not issue passports to immigrants. They will issue permanent residency, which is not a passport, or a visa, depending on the circumstances. If a child is born where one parent holds the Japanese passport that child will be issued a passport.
Japan doesn't give away passports the way the US does.
I was talking about naturalization, even though that probably is not as frequent in Japan as it is in the West.
The USA is the only place i've been that has a seperate category for Latinos/Hispanics. It's amazing how many Americans think it's a race, even Mexican Americans. It's all that political Brown Pride B.S. the Mexican political community preaches. Once upon a time Mexicans were considered simply White, until the more indigenous population started to immigrate. Now bigoted hicks want them all out (and all Latin Americans get lumped in due to the overwhelming numbers of Mex). All that does is self isolate and prevent assimilation of all Latin Americans. I am an American who's parents were born in Puerto Rico (still America, to my knowledge never a country) with Spanish ancestry. I am not "brown" either, i'm no tanner then any Southern European I know nor are my facial features different. I hate that terminology.
Latino/Hispanic/Brown, NOT A RACE.
No it's not a race, it's an socio-ethnic category.
But there's no such thing as race either. Categories of white, black, etc are only used by the government to categorize people and are NOT valid scientific categories of human beings. Anthropologists do NOT categorize humans by race. The government should have stopped using racial categories long ago, because it gives racists validation to continue racism.
What's so damaging about being called brown?
You think there's a stigma with Latinos being called brown?
The operative word is illegal. You can be illegal from any nation on the planet, and people would still want them out.
More likely that a lot of Latinos don't like themselves being separated from White and being put in the same group as people who are brown and short.
Latinos who could pass as Black generally do not complain about them being put in a different category from Black, yet a lot of those who are white seem to be passionate about proclaiming/defending their whiteness. They longingly look back to the days not so lang ago (up to the 1980s) when Latinos in general were automatically considered White.
Unless they're black from the Dominican Republic. Then black is the last group on earth they want to be associated with.
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