Definitions of whiteness in the United States
The media and some Hispanic community leaders in the United States refer to Hispanics as a separate group from all others, as well as "whites" and the "white majority". This may be because "white" is often used as shorthand for "non-Hispanic white". Thus, the non-Hispanic population and some Hispanic community leaders refer to white Hispanics as non-Hispanic whites and white Hispanic actors/actresses in media are mostly given non-Hispanic roles while, in turn, are given the most roles in the U.S. Hispanic mass media that the white Hispanics are overrepresented and admired in the U.S. Hispanic mass media and social perceptions. Multiracial Latinos have limited media appearance; critics have accused the U.S. Hispanic media of overlooking the brown-skinned indigenous and multiracial Hispanic and black Hispanic populations by over-representation of blond and blue/green-eyed white Hispanic and Latino Americans (who resemble Scandinavians and other Northern Europeans), and also light-skinned mulatto and mestizo Hispanic and Latino Americans (often deemed as white persons in U.S. Hispanic and Latino populations if achieving the middle class or higher social status), especially some of the actors on the telenovelas.
The official racial status of Mexican Americans has varied throughout American history. From 1850 to 1920, the U.S. Census form did not distinguish between whites and Mexican Americans. In 1930, the U.S. Census form asked for "color or race," and census enumerators were instructed to write "W" for white and "Mex" for Mexican. In 1940 and 1950, the census reverted its decision and made Mexicans be classified as white again and thus the instructions were to "Report "white" (W) for Mexicans unless they were definitely of full Indigenous Indian or other non-white races (such as Black or Asian)."
During periods in U.S. history when racial intermarriage wasn't legally acknowledged, and when Mexicans and Mexican-Americans were uniformly allotted white status, they were legally allowed to intermarry with what today are termed "non-Hispanic whites", unlike Blacks and Asians. They were allowed to acquire U.S. citizenship upon arrival; served in all-white units during World War II; could vote and hold elected office in places such as Texas, especially San Antonio; ran the state politics and constituted most of the elite of New Mexico since colonial times; and went to segregated white schools in Central Texas and Los Angeles. Additionally, Asians were barred from marrying Mexican Americans because Mexicans were legally white.
Hispanic and Latino Americans
Hispanic and Latinos are racially diverse, although different "races" are usually the majority of each Hispanic group. For example, of Hispanic Americans deriving from northern Mexico, most are White or biracial having White/Native American Ancestry, while of those deriving from southern Mexican ancestry, the majority are Native American or of Native American and European Ancestry. In Guatemala, Native American and bi-racial people of Native American and European descent make the majority, while in El Salvador, whites and Bi-racial people of Native American/European descent are the majority. In the Dominican Republic the population are largely made up of people with inter-mixed ancestries, in which there are even levels of African and European ancestry, with smaller numbers of Whites and Blacks as well.
In Puerto Rico, people with European ancestry are the majority. There are also populations of predominantly of African descent as well as populations of American Indian descent as well as those with intermixed ancestries. Cubans are mostly of White Latin American ancestry, however there are also populations of Blacks and multi-racials as well. The race and culture of each Hispanic/Latino country and their United States diaspora differs by history and geography. Mexicans represent the bulk of the US Hispanic/Latino population, and most Mexican Americans that migrate to the United States are of Native American and White descent, which causes many non-Hispanics to equate being Hispanic with being of mestizo or Native American ancestry. Official sources report the racial makeup of these Hispanic subgroups as follows, Argentina, Uruguay, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Chile, having the highest percentage of Hispanics self-identifying as white in their respective countries. As a result of their racial diversity, Hispanics form an ethnicity sharing a language (Spanish/ Portuguese) and cultural heritage, rather than a race. The phenomenon of biracial people who are predominantly of European descent identifying as white is not limited to Hispanics or Spanish speakers but is also common among English speakers as well: researchers found that most White Americans with less than 28 percent African-American ancestry say they are White; above that threshold, people tended to describe themselves as African-American.
As of 2014, one third, or 17.9 million, of the Hispanic population was younger than 18 and a quarter, 14.6 million were Millennials. This makes them more than half of the Hispanic population within the United States.