Are Spaniards considered white by America?

[Quintos]

I notice the American media constantly potraying Spanairds as swarthy guitar playing latino characters. Ive live in Spain for 6 years and visit every few years and I have never actually seen it in Spain. So I ask these questions why is America so ignorant when it comes to the term "hispanic" and wether or not Spaniards are white and it seems fairly obvious to me that Spainiards me being one are white even though if most do not have blonde hair blue eyes is somewhat common though. Doesn't seem to be quite strange to consider Sicilians or other Italians as white but not Spaniards I know a post like this has probably been posted but im just curious to hear some opinions from people on this website.

[Human]

this is a good question.
many Spaniards are classified as Hispanic, a brand new race made up by the North Americans, which seems to describe mixed people in general.
even with a considerable degree of admixture among themselves (a large native american percentage and also afro american too) the North Americans label themselves white. Chuck Norris, Johnny Depp and Elvis Presley (i could quote a huge list as example), all the three with fairly recent non caucasoid ancestry (indian), are classified as white. On the other hand, Pablo Picasso and Antonio Banderas are classified as hispanic. As far as I know Spaniards are caucasoid people, white European.

visit the link below and see this North American classification with your own eyes:

www.nndb.com/people/902/000022836

[Josh]

Many Americans confuse Spaniards with Mexicans, making them think they are non-white. Many Americans don't know what Spaniards look like, so because they know that Spaniards speak Spanish, and so do Mexicans, they assume that Spaniards most likely look like Mexicans. This wouldn't happen if most Americans commonly saw images of what actual Spaniards look like. Then they'd realize that Spaniards are Europeans, and that they look like other Mediterraneans like Portuguese and Italians, and not Mestizo Mexicans.

[sinosuke]

Human said:

visit the link below and see this North American classification with your own eyes:

www.nndb.com/people/902/000022836

Interesting:

www.nndb.com/people/385/000045250/

www.nndb.com/people/642/000044510/

Is almunia white cause he is part jewish

[eufrenio]

Josh said:

Many Americans confuse Spaniards with Mexicans, making them think they are non-white. Many Americans don't know what Spaniards look like, so because they know that Spaniards speak Spanish, and so do Mexicans, they assume that Spaniards most likely look like Mexicans. This wouldn't happen if most Americans commonly saw images of what actual Spaniards look like. Then they'd realize that Spaniards are Europeans, and that they look like other Mediterraneans like Portuguese and Italians, and not Mestizo Mexicans.

That´s correct. Most Americans have never met a Spaniard in real life, because there have been very few Spanish inmigrants to the USA.
I remember sitting in a train with some Americans tourists in Madrid years ago. I was listening to their conversation. One of these Americans was saying "I have a hard time calling these people Spanish.. They´re all white!" Another replied: "That´s what they´re supposed to be!"

[visigodo]

I have never been confused for a Mexican, here in the U.S. Usually for the most part people think I’m something else, they would guess I'm French, German, Italian…basically anything but Spanish. Here’s what happens to me and my family here in the U.S. I always got this response growing up, but I guess I never really noticed until I was old enough to understand. In fact during high school years I often got this and even on a rare occasion to this day I seem to get this, people would say, “Oh your Spanish? You don’t look Spanish.” (My folks get this too: my dad has light brown hair green eyes, my mom has blond hair blue eyes and I have light brown hair, and blue eyes we are all fair skinned)

I would have to usually explain something like this, “Okay, so where do you think white people came from?” They would respond, “Uhh Europe.” “Okay” I would say, “And where is Spain?” It would take a while but people would usually finally get it. It all depends on the people you associate with. After college and grad school and my current job situation there is a different type of person I seem to run across, they are usually more traveled and a bit more educated so with them they know I’m European and looking at my last name they know I’m Spanish, some of them are even keen enough to know that I’m Catalan.

[murphee]

It is true that Americans are confused about Spaniards--on the East Coast, there are many Spanish-speaking Puerto Ricans and Cubans and in the West, the Mexicans. I don't think I've ever met a Spaniard in the United States.
Actor Antonio Banderas is the most well-known Spaniard here.

[mike2]

Confusion of Spaniards with mestizos would have never happened had the United States not decided to invent the fictional Hispanic race for anybody who speaks Spanish.

[Anja]

Mike said:

Confusion of Spaniards with mestizos would have never happened had the United States not decided to invent the fictional Hispanic race for anybody who speaks Spanish.

i never thought of spaniards as hispanic, although in the dictionary, it says as one of the definitions that hispanics are spanish-speakers. i usually think of hispanics as a group that are more mestizo...but it is a very broad term that is not clearly defined.

[visigodo]

Mike, I think that perhaps you misunderstand the classification system the U.S. census conducts. When the U.S. started receiving waves of immigrants from Latin America be they from Mexico, Ecuador, Argentina…etc. They noticed that they could not categorize all these people into one group. This is because just like in the U.S. there are blacks, Amerindians, Asian, Mestizos, and whites in Latin America. So, the term Hispanic was taken because all of these people shared one common thing, which is that they all spoke Spanish. (Although by definition Hispanic means people of the original inhabitants of Spain or Hispania.)

Anyway, after that box is marked there is a 2nd box, which then asks for race, usually in that box it asks you to mark all appropriate category pertaining to you.

Like so:

White
Black
Asian
Native American

So a Mestizo for example should circle both White and Native American. An Argentine would check the Latino/Hispanic (Language) box and then circle White. The U.S. census has already made these adjustments, rightly so.

Think of it this way. If a black U.S.A American ever came to Spain or Europe or Even in Latin America and needed to fill out a census document for example. I think he should check the North American or U.S.A category, but just because he comes from the U.S.A does not mean he is white, he would therefore then need to go on and be more specific about his race, and at that point he would clearly need to specify that he was Black. On the race category just as the U.S. Census does.

As far as being confused with a Mestizo, I have never had that problem. In fact I have never met a Spaniard that has been confused for a Mestizo. What Americans are usually surprised about is/ or confused about is that they believe that the racial composition of Spain is like that of the Americas.

[mike2]

Okay, I totally agree with you, Visigodo.

Still, doesn't it get you riled up when you hear people say "Are you white, black, or Hispanic?" What's a Spaniard supposed to do when he gets asked a question like that?

So, even though you're absolutely right about the history and intent of the word, the problem nonetheless began when Hispanic became a racial category rather than a linguistic/cultural/national origin one like the census folk well intended it to be. I'm not going to blame the U.S. government for propagating a Hispanic race myth, but I do think the typical American layman is just generally too out of touch with the rest of the world to know the difference between a Caucasian Spaniard or Argentine and a mixed-race Mexican to even consider that there might be a difference.

Hey, check out this website real quick and tell me what you think: www.naacl.com/

[visigodo]

Actually, people are most surprised when I say I’m Spanish. Then they say things like “But you’re all white!” “How can you be? Are you mixed, you have blue eyes?” It doesn’t really bother me, I just tell them I’m from Europe, then they understand. I’m a little older now, (Late 20’s) and usually people I meet be they co-workers, or friends usually know what a Spaniard is.

Which reminds me…I met a Mexican in Guadalajara Mexico a few years back the guy had blond hair blue eyes, (you would be surprised at the number of white people in this city, cute white girls too) and one of the first things I asked him was if he was a Spaniard, he was quick to respond and seemed a bit offended and responded, “Not all Mexicans are Indians”. hahahahah LOL ;D

Naacl? LOL Ha, ha, great…good for them! I think some White Latin Americans are fed up with being lumped into the same category as a Mestizo. Never heard of them, but from what I briefly read I think they are a conservative group trying to get rid of affirmative action. I think affirmative action is a joke, and should be done away with it only polarizes Americans.

[Human]

white mexicans are not imigrating to the us.
the ones who imigrate are the poor, the indians and mestizo ones.

i guess so...

[murphee]

I find the confusion that many Americans have about Spaniards somewhat baffling because my American public school education included the history of Spanish exploration of the New World. As a child, I clearly viewed Spaniards as Southern Europeans.

[Evan1211]

Even in the racially dumb rural PA, most people consider Spaniards white. There are the exceptions though. Some hillbillies think anyone from outside of the USA is not white, even though they are probably 1/4 Amerindian. ;D