Question about white hispanics

[fabbrice]

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[buddyrydell]

The reason that many Latin Americans check off white on the census is because many Latinos consider themselves white even if they're not exactly entirely European. While most Latinos have some European heritage, most have an equal amount of usually either African or Amerindian heritage (depending on the Latin American country). I believe much of it has to do with the fact that some of them are somewhat ashamed of their nonwhite ancestry, something that's been carried over from the colonial days. The whiter you were, the better off you were, and sadly, the mentality has continued up to the present.

As for white Latinos and people who are 1/16 or so Amerindian receiving scholarships, I personally feel that it's ludicrous. Many of these people look "whiter" than me but because of a technicality they're able to reap minority benefits. These are some of the people who are getting a ride over other equally-talented applicants, some of whom IMO could also be given minority grants and scholarships due to lack of representation. Take the Ivy League for example. The most underrepresented ethnicities are "white ethnics," in other words Catholic/Orthodox Euro-Americans such as Italians, Irish, Poles, Greeks, and others. However, someone who is 15/16 Anglo-Saxon and 1/16 Amerindian can ride minority status , whereas someone like myself, who is 5/8 Italian and very little Anglo-Saxon, would never be entitled to such treatment. I'd also wager that such a person would know very little about his/her (miniscule amount of) Amerindian heritage. Likewise, a blond blue-eyed Argentinean of German descent could potentially reap benefits by checking off "Hispanic." Sorry but that's ridiculous.

I'm not arguing for serious affirmative action for ethnic whites, but I certainly think some changes could be made, especially in the Ivy League, as they are the whites who end up paying for affirmative action practices most often, not WASPs. It's great that opportunities for ACTUAL minorities of color have opened up, but I believe that an actual definition of what constitutes a minority is desperately needed.

[vela]

Anja said:

What do you mean?
...

The comment wasn't meant as a criticism to you, sorry for the misunderstanding, but rather as a generic criticism to those who just abuse the system and take advantage of programs designed for genuinely underprivileged individuals that need some help leveling the playing field, so to speak.

[mike2]

I agree 100%, Buddy.

I do have real Native American ancestry because of my Cherokee great grandmother, but I would never exploit that connection. Ever. It's just plain wrong. I don't deserve any such special treatment. All that does is propagate the cycle of racism. We should be striving for equality, not reparations.

[NunzioGuido]

Yeah its funny that somebody like Nick Turturro would not qualify for affirmative action because he's 100% European descendent but somebody like Frankie Muniz would qualify just because he's half Puerto Rican even though he's "whiter" than Nick.

[Crimson Guard]

Frankie's ethnic heritage is 1/4 Italian, 1/4 Irish (his mother) and 1/ 2 Puerto Rican (his father's heritage).

yeah,That kid is WHITE!

[buddyrydell]

NunzioGuido said:

Yeah its funny that somebody like Nick Turturro would not qualify for affirmative action because he's 100% European descendent but somebody like Frankie Muniz would qualify just because he's half Puerto Rican even though he's "whiter" than Nick.

I agree, it's quite absurd. Frankie Muniz's father is surely a white Puerto Rican of Spanish descent. Speaking of Nick Turturro, he's an interesting-looking guy for an Italian isn't he? I admit I thought he looked rather like a Puerto Rican or a North African when I first saw him.

[Anja]

Oh, no, I'm sorry for misunderstanding you Vela, I saw it as going the other way. ;D

I also have a friend that's half Puerto Rican that's whiter than me...and her P.R. dad is pretty frikkin white too....and I know more Spanish than her...isn't it ironic...don't you think. I don't think she'll ever try to take advantage of the minority thing though.

However, I find it interesting that as of late she's begun to mark "Hispanic" on standardized tests and such. Some Hispanics fear their heritage, while some that aren't even full Hispanic embrace it. I guess because it's something cool, and different. But like I said, she looks very white, so she doesn't have to deal with the non-white thing many other Hispanics deal with.

[NuSapiens]

People have widely different notions about what looking "very white" is. The question is: in which context, compared to what, and with which agenda?

[buddyrydell]

Anja said:

Oh, no, I'm sorry for misunderstanding you Vela, I saw it as going the other way. ;D

I also have a friend that's half Puerto Rican that's whiter than me...and her P.R. dad is pretty frikkin white too....and I know more Spanish than her...isn't it ironic...don't you think. I don't think she'll ever try to take advantage of the minority thing though.

However, I find it interesting that as of late she's begun to mark "Hispanic" on standardized tests and such. Some Hispanics fear their heritage, while some that aren't even full Hispanic embrace it. I guess because it's something cool, and different. But like I said, she looks very white, so she doesn't have to deal with the non-white thing many other Hispanics deal with.

What's funny though is that I bet if she told some people she was Hispanic, they'd respond with something like," Oh, you're not white ;D ."

[mike2]

I believe the Hispanic race myth has its roots in a terminological problem. Before the great Mexican immigration into the U.S., Spanish-descended people like Desi Arnaz were considered as Caucasian as any Italian or Greek. But when the droves of colored Mexicans got here, they needed a name for the mestizos. Since it never occured to them to just call the mixed Mexicans "mestizos," along came the brown Hispanic race that sprang up out of the ground one day and started speaking Spanish.

[vela]

Mike said:

I believe the Hispanic race myth has its roots in a terminological problem. Before the great Mexican immigration into the U.S., Spanish-descended people like Desi Arnaz were considered as Caucasian as any Italian or Greek. But when the droves of colored Mexicans got here, they needed a name for the mestizos. Since it never occured to them to just call the mixed Mexicans "mestizos," along came the brown Hispanic race that sprang up out of the ground one day and started speaking Spanish.

Yes, and they never anticipated that so many people would take offense by the use of that term.

Now it's too late!

[Toasty]

Buddyrydell said:

What's funny though is that I bet if she told some people she was Hispanic, they'd respond with something like," Oh, you're not white ;D ."

Or even better: "I thought you were white".

[asdf]

NunzioGuido said:

Is it true that outside of Miami its very rare to actually see a white hispanic.In New York most hispanics are mulatos and blacks from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico and in the Southwest most hispanics are indios and mestizos from Mexico and Central America so that leaves only Miami with a considerable number of white spanish speakers mainly from Cuba.So if the overhwhelming majority of white hispanics in America are concentrated mainly in just one city than why do almost half of Hispanics identify themselves as white in the census when last time I checked half of the hispanic population in the United States are not concentrated in just Miami alone.I take it there are alot of Cheech Marin look alikes in the Southwest identifying themselves as "white" thats got to be the only explanation for it.

Yes, well, it's mostly Mexican mestizos that identify themselves as white. The census in Fresno, like 66 percent of 'hispanics' identify as white, when really 99.5 percent of the 'hispanics' are nonwhite.

note: Whites from Latin America and Spain tend to more than any other 'hispanics' acculturate and not identify as 'hispanic'.

[Toasty]

Seizure said:

Yes, well, it's mostly Mexican mestizos that identify themselves as white. The census in Fresno, like 66 percent of 'hispanics' identify as white, when really 99.5 percent of the 'hispanics' are nonwhite.

note: Whites from Latin America and Spain tend to more than any other 'hispanics' acculturate and not identify as 'hispanic'.

You mean they assimilate better to US culture?

If so, I agree.