Pesos & Pixels

are you hispanic or latino?

???? –  A question I began to wonder on my way to work as I overheard a mother tell her daughter that she was not acting like a proper “Hispanic” girl.  The term sounded strange to me.

I can recall countless times back in Florida when I would use the term Hispanic interchangeably with my friends.  I never wondered where it came from or whom made it up.  I heard it in school and so I just accepted it.  Funny how youth can you just accept without even asking.  My mind began to wonder.

My research has found that the term “Hispanic” was created back in the 80s by the Reagan Administration to categorize those of non white or black decent.  But did those given the term really want it?  Why did they make it up?  and why call it such a term?  Would a person from mexico be categorized under the same label as someone from Puerto Rico?  Are they really just the same?  Some would argue that the “dominant culture” imposed this label on Latinos as a way of erasing their indentiy and their past.  My hypothesis? – mission accomplished.

Through the years I have met many who have come to call themselves Americans even though it is quite apperant that they are Latino.  I have seen Latinos worked hard to change their indentity to fit the cultural norms.  I have even met some who would look down upon those of their same culture, act snobbish because they are from a different city, speak a different dialect, and even gone as far as to change their name to completely erase any strand of “Latino” in them.

I must admit there have been times were I would question my cultures’ actions, felt ashamed about my name, and through time focused on diminishing my accent.  But time has a funny way of changing things and, to be quite honest, I never felt like a “minority” when I lived in Florida.  As life has taken me to different places around the world I have come to realize that maybe I dont want to answer this question.  Maybe neither label defines whom I am.

I am a proud, educated, intelligent – LATINO man

So ask yourself the question – are you hispanic or latino?  You will find that the answer is not quite as simple as the question.

Posted

in

by

Jandro

Tags:

Comments

3 responses to “are you hispanic or latino?”

  1. His Royal Yumminess Avatar
    His Royal Yumminess

    people use terms interchangeably, when they really shouldn’t.

    i think people who call themselves puerto ricans when nobody in their family has been born on puerto rico for generations are funny.

    i think people who think ‘latino’ means anything else but ‘a person of latin american descent,’ i.e., from anywhere south of texas, are confused.

    people who ask me what my nationality is upset me. i know they mean which caribbean island i am from, but i still correct them. i have a U.S. passport. i am american. “no, pa, i meant, what are you, dominican, rican…” …oh, i say, innocently. because nationality has nothing to do with ethnicity.

    people who think they can be from anywhere in the caribbean, south america, or middle america without having any mestizo, indio, or african heritage… those people make me angry.

    people who wax lyrical about the life they used to live in the dominican republic irritate me as well. it’s just memory clouded by distance. if you loved living in a third world country so much, you’d move back, so that the same hurricane that kills 3 people in PR (where they have roads, for instance, and, um… electricity) can kill you and 300 other island peoples.

    the dominicans who like to think that the hatians have nothing to do with them… those are the ones that make me most angry of all. fuck you and your smiling, latent racism, you yammering ninny. three fourths of the dominican republic is as dark as any hatian, and it would have been a bigger percentage of the populace if trujillo hadn’t tried to whiten-up the populace by promoting the intermarriage of the races with special visa provisos for europeans.

    if one more dumbass person tells me he is ‘spanish,’ without lisping like king ferdinand, i will throw up.

    and no wonder you never felt like a minority in miami. the cubans run the joint.

    Reply
  2. Thomas Avatar
    Thomas

    Latino vs. Hispanic
    This is an interesting question. I do believe it is moslty about people adapting to the popular term at the time. In the 80s and 90s Hispanic was used more frequently, 2000s Latino. I understand the term Hispanic to be rooted in having ancenstry from any counrty that speaks primarily Spanish, from the Spanish term Hispano-hablante. The term Latino was more associated with Central and South America. Am I right?? I don’t know. Like the previous person has stated, although the language origins may be the same, there are many cultural differences amongst countries where Spanish is the most spoken language. That being said however, I believe unfortunately in the eyes of many non Hispanics…there is little difference seen. The potential upside to that is we can work together collectively, ie Hispanic Vote, economic power to work on education opportunities, promote healthcare etc. The sum is greater than the parts. Myself..If I had to pick a label, I would say I was American (parents were born in PR.) I’ve been there once, grew up on LI-NY. That doesn’t mean I don’t have what I call PR sensiblities.

    I also think that things will be very different in a few generations as with most immigrant groups, thngs get watered down through assimilation..Thankfully the last thing to go is the food.

    Reply
  3. Manuel Dias Avatar
    Manuel Dias

    que Delicia es el Cholado Pastuso lo Recomiendo!!

    Reply

Leave a Reply to His Royal Yumminess Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *