What has Ted Cruz been like as far as dealing with the Latino Community in TX?

[radiolibre99]

I think the confusion lies in the fact that Latin American countries tend to have a caste system where the more European ancestry you have the more wealth and opportunites you might acquire in your own country. There is little need to immigrate. So the vast majority of Latinos that immigrate are of mixed race descent or black. The whites stay in their own country. They' are practically the people in power. When I visited Monterrey Mexico I was surprised to see the nice suburbs full of white people and it looked as though I was in Katy Texas or something.
So in the US, we just dub the migrant workers Hispanic because we don't want to go through the hassle of saying they're mixed race Amerindian/White, Afro-Latino, etc. Technically they're Native Americans.

[dollaztx]

Originally Posted by L210

Most Hispanics in Texas are of Mexican descent and mixed race even when they mark "white" on the Census form (usually due to confusion).

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

I think the confusion lies in the fact that Latin American countries tend to have a caste system where the more European ancestry you have the more wealth and opportunites you might acquire in your own country. There is little need to immigrate. So the vast majority of Latinos that immigrate are of mixed race descent or black. The whites stay in their own country. They' are practically the people in power. When I visited Monterrey Mexico I was surprised to see the nice suburbs full of white people and it looked as though I was in Katy Texas or something.
So in the US, we just dub the migrant workers Hispanic because we don't want to go through the hassle of saying they're mixed race Amerindian/White, Afro-Latino, etc. Technically they're Native Americans.

The biggest reason is that non-American Native Americans don't exist on the census. which is a big problem on the agencies part considering there could be millions. The majority are indeed half white so they just go with that. If they ever do fix this issue America would turn out more mixed than it actually is.

2010 Census:

What is this person’s race? Mark X one or more boxes.
White
Black, African Am., or Negro
American Indian or Alaska Native

Asian Indian
Chinese
Filipino
Other Asian
Japanese
Korean
Vietnamese
Native Hawaiian
Guamanian or Chamorro
Samoan
Other Pacific Islander

Some other race

[TXNGL]

"oh come on, maybe .025% of Latino's are white - 99.5% are dark skinned/dark hair/eyes - Latino's are as close to being a race as Asian's are Asian."

Thanks for the rep point, but wrong. Hispanic/Latino is not a race. I find it amusing that one would automatically assume I was speaking of them being white (caucasian). Or even mixed European and Amerindian. There are also black Hispanics. And Jewish Hispanics (that's not a race either, but rather a religion or even ethnic heritage). The large number of folks with dark skin, dark hair, dark eyes that I assume you are speaking about are Amerindian and or Mestizo. If your only experience with Latinos is with illegal immigrant populations I can see where the confusion comes in. Actually visit Latin American countries and you'll see how multi-racial and multi-cultural they are.

[TXNGL]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

I've noticed the US is the only country that confuses Hispanic as a race. When I visited Latin America I myself was surprised by the diversity and that they never referred to themselves as racially Hispanic. They would say their citizens were; white, black, mixed, or Amerindian/indigenous. There was no Hispanic or Latino race category. Ted Cruz would be a white Hispanic, as would Marco Rubio or Andy Garcia.

How do Americans not know the difference between say Sammy Sosa, George Lopez and Cameron Diaz (Cuban Father)? How do they think they're all the same race? That's like saying Anglos, people who speak English and have a culture derived from the UK are a race.

Yes! You mentioned Sammy Sosa. So many Dominican players, maybe some posters might get it when you bring up sports. :-) This predominantly Anglo American gets it, but then again my hubby is Hispanic. Just a couple of weeks ago a new friend said he didn't "look Hispanic". Too white, I guess. LOL! He has cousins who have lighter complexions, look completely European. He also has cousins with African ancestry. All of them, the lighter and the darker, are Hispanic/Latino.

[radiolibre99]

The majority of Latinos are of the mixed race Amerindian variety but not 99% like the person erroneously suggested. I think the figure is more like a little under half of Latin America is mixed race, like 48%, then 35% white, 15% Afro Latino, 1% Asian, 1% indigenous.

Then it depends if you count Haiti and Brazil too. They consider themselves Latino because their culture and language in derived from Latin Europe; France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, etc.

[L210]

There are different mixes in different countries. In Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic, most mixed race people are white and black (mulatto) with maybe a small amount of Native American. Some Central American countries also have a sizable admixture of Sub-Saharan African DNA. In Mexico and most of South America, you're more likely to see a white and Native American mix (mestizo) with maybe a small amount of African ancestry. Maybe to the surprise of some, most Mexicans have a small amount of African ancestry due to about a half a million slaves being brought there.

Anyone who thinks that Latino is a race has been misinformed. To simplify it for the person who left the weird rep comment for TXNGL (this person must be too insecure to post publicly), a race can be identified very accurately by a DNA test. There is no Latino/Hispanic category when you take a DNA test. A DNA test might be able to pick up Spanish or Iberian ancestry, with less accuracy though, but it cannot pick up Latino because it is not a genetically homogeneous group. Just in case that person also doesn't know this, Spanish is categorized under European/Caucasian. Native American and East Asian are usually put under one major category and broken down into sub-categories because it is hard to differentiate Native American DNA from East Asian DNA. There is a high error rate in trying to do so.

Eva Longoria, George Lopez, and Michelle Rodriguez all took DNA tests. They all are a mix of European, Sub-Saharan African, and Native American at different levels. Eva Longoria, even though she can tan pretty dark, is mostly white. She and George Lopez, who are both of Mexican descent, have very small amounts of African DNA. George Lopez has a lot more Native American DNA than Longoria, but still came out being a little over half European. East Asian DNA also showed up in his results, but that could be an error caused by the presence of Native American DNA. Michelle Rodriguez, who is Puerto Rican and Dominican, is mostly European, but also has a significant amount of African DNA. Native American ancestry was the smallest percentage for her.

[L210]

I also got a weird rep comment. It was probably from the same poorly-educated person. I'm going to report this person because this is an abuse of the rep system and against TOS. Everyone else should also report this person.

native white Texan here, I'm from Houston & went to Second Baptist with Ted Cruz - he was never seen as white, he was a Latino/minority kid on scholarship with a chip on his shoulder - he's not white lol!

Anyone who doesn't think that Ted Cruz is white just because he's Latino is poorly-educated on the subjects of race and ethnicity and genetics. Unfortunately, that is most of the U.S. There are many Cubans in Florida who have tested at having more than 90% European ancestry.

[TXNGL]

Originally Posted by L210

I also got a weird rep comment. It was probably from the same poorly-educated person. I'm going to report this person because this is an abuse of the rep system and against TOS. Everyone else should also report this person.



Anyone who doesn't think that Ted Cruz is white just because he's Latino is poorly-educated on the subjects of race and ethnicity and genetics. Unfortunately, that is most of the U.S. There are many Cubans in Florida who have tested at having more than 90% European ancestry.

Eh, just take the rep point. :-) It's funny when you get them from someone who vehemently disagrees with you.

[radiolibre99]

Guys like that guy who rep commented you do that on purpose. I'm sure they're not that dumb enough to know the differences but they like to be willfully ignorant.