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When it asks for race on any form, I always write in "human"
I don't check any box, but then the census workers show up trying to insist I need to answer it. They'll say that my part of the country can get more grant money or whatever if there are more of certain types.
I just tell them it's none of the government's business what someone's ethnicity is. Or if they really want, they can check off "other".
Between 1980 and 2000, the percentage of Hispanics choosing "White" has dropped for "Some Other Race". But in the 2010 Census, the percentage has risen over 50.
What prompted over 50% of Hispanics to choose the White category in the recent census?
A couple of reasons.
Before the race choices were white, black, hispanic, asian and a couple others. Ridiculous choices.
This census tried to be more policitically correct and accept that many hispanics view themselves as white. Actually in their own country, they view themselves as white even though most are mixed white-black or Indian-black. Many are new arrivals and haven't caught on to our notions of race.
In Mexico for example, you're a Mexican Indian if you live as an Indian -- speak an Indian language, dress in native traditional garb, live in an Indian region amongst the others. If you live in the city and wear jeans and shirts and ties, you're either a mestiso or white. In Mexico you should never look at someone dressed in jeans and a shirt and tejano hat and tell him he's an Indian, they won't know why you're saying that.
In hispanic countries, people don't go around calling themselves or viewing themselves as hispanics. They are just people of their country. They have their own definitions of racial categories or social class categories.
Many of the "hispanics" here are new arrivals and haven't learned the importance of viewing themselves as a non-white minority. They know they can't speak much English so the hispanic label makes sense, but they also see themselves as white by their own country's definitions of what white means.
I haven't read the thread but I'll go ahead an answer. Because being identified as 'white' has been synonymous with being identified with the dominate group and with the perks that go along with that. The Irish weren't considered 'white' for a while, then magically they were. Strange isn't it?
The Irish were always considered white just not the right types of whites, Anglo Saxon Protestants. Irish immigrants still were able to displace free black laborers in cities like New York before the Civil War and were never subjugated to the same degree of racial exclusion as Blacks afterwards.
This allowed them to integrate into the American middle class and beyond. The Kennedy family is an extreme example of the typical Irish immigrant experience in America. Immigrant works in working class trades, American born son works hard to make good and prove to the elite he belongs and the third generation is embraced as full fledged members of the American fabric so much so they reach the highest pinnacles of power.
The Irish were always considered white just not the right types of whites, Anglo Saxon Protestants. Irish immigrants still were able to displace free black laborers in cities like New York before the Civil War and were never subjugated to the same degree of racial exclusion as Blacks afterwards.
This allowed them to integrate into the American middle class and beyond. The Kennedy family is an extreme example of the typical Irish immigrant experience in America. Immigrant works in working class trades, American born son works hard to make good and prove to the elite he belongs and the third generation is embraced as full fledged members of the American fabric so much so they reach the highest pinnacles of power.
So you're saying it's easier to be seen as white, if you're already white?
Between 1980 and 2000, the percentage of Hispanics choosing "White" has dropped for "Some Other Race". But in the 2010 Census, the percentage has risen over 50.
What prompted over 50% of Hispanics to choose the White category in the recent census?
"I was like 'I'm a proud Mexican-American.' I swear I was an Aztec princess in a past life, and then I do the blood test and I'm 75 per cent Spaniard. It totally screwed me up," Longoria said.
She is pretty typical of the confusion that is the Hispanic classification and the problems with race.
She was also 4% black, and 21% Asian....meaning that she does have significant Native American blood.
I never checked off hispanic for my kids but the school has one down as a hispanic but it will provide him great advantages so why bother correcting that error?
My father is from Portugal, my mother is white American. We are definitely not stereotypically Portuguese in appearance. We have a last name that Hispanic people have as well, so we used to get telemarketers calling the house in Spanish and junk mail en espanol.
My brother is currently trying to be a fireman, and I told him to mark that he's Hispanic/Latino on any applications from hereon. Who is going to know any different? Especially with the last name? He could feign ignorance with the ambiguity in the law anyway, and there's no reason why, say, a Cuban guy should get preference over my brother. My father came over here when his family was trying to escape fascism and poor living conditions, just as the Cubans who fled here (often, monied, ruling class white Cubans in the beginning) were escaping Communism!
Many Hispanics, especially the conservative ones, identify themselves as "White" and are ashamed of their Hispanic roots. I've seen a few post on this forum. Ironically, a lot of them are very mestizo looking. I believe they are called "Uncle Juans"
Many Hispanics, especially the conservative ones, identify themselves as "White" and are ashamed of their Hispanic roots. I've seen a few post on this forum. Ironically, a lot of them are very mestizo looking. I believe they are called "Uncle Juans"
If they are "mestizo looking" and identified with their indian heritage over their white sides, what would they be called then?
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