Quote:
Originally Posted by malamute
Hispanic isnt a race, its a particular culture and foreign language, so black and white include American and English speaking, hispanic means black, white, and mixed Spanish speaking and culturally from Latin America.
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Hispanic can mean anything and everything. It is a term that tries to encompass way more than makes sense. Even the US government has found itself unable to properly define what the term denotes. Thus, they have resorted to saying that a person is hispanic if he or she self-identifies as such. In other words, you are hispanic if you say you are:
Hispanic or Latino Origin
"
Hispanics or Latinos are those people who classified themselves in one of the specific Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino categories listed on the Census 2010 questionnaire -"Mexican," "Puerto Rican", or "Cuban"-as well as those who indicate that they are "another Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin." People who do not identify with one of the specific origins listed on the questionnaire but indicate that they are "another Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin" are those whose origins are from Spain, the Spanish-speaking countries of Central or South America, or the Dominican Republic. The terms "Hispanic," "Latino," and "Spanish" are used interchangeably.
Origin can be viewed as the heritage, nationality group, lineage, or country of birth of the person or the person's parents or ancestors before their arrival in the United States.
People who identify their origin as Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino may be of any race. Thus, the percent Hispanic should not be added to percentages for racial categories."
So, that's people who identify themselves as
- Mexican
- Puerto Rican
- Cuban
- from Spain
- from Spanish-speaking countries of Central or South America, or the Dominican Republic.
- of any other Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish "origin," that is, anyone
- whose heritage is self-identified as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish
- whose family is tied, somehow to Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin
- who was born in a Latin/Hispanic/Spanish country before moving to the US.
- whose parents were born in a Latin/Hispanic/Spanish country before moving to the US.
- whose grandparents were born in a Latin/Hispanic/Spanish country before moving to the US.
It does NOT matter what race any of these people are.
I suppose that just about includes everybody who has even the most remote tie to Latin America or Spain - as long as they themselves identify as "Hispanic," for whatever reason...
In other words, the term is absolutely meaningless.
Language also seems to have absolutely nothing to do with it. A friend of mine came here from Mexico as a child. Both his parents are Mexican but are also US citizens. My friend is a US citizen who identifies as Hispanic, which, according to the US Census Bureau is correct. You'd also never think of his as anything other than "Hispanic." He most certainly is not tall, blond, and fair-skinned. His Spanish is worse than mine. He's not alone.
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(First car I owned was bought on Whittier Boo-lee-vaard. I think we had taquitos at Tastee Freeze to celebrate, lol.)
