Is it possible to be white and latino?
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
According to census reports, of the above races the largest number of Hispanic or Latinos are of the White race, the second largest number come from the Native American/American Indian race who are the indigenous people of the Americas. The inhabitants of Easter Island are Pacific Islanders and since the island belongs to Chile they are theoretically Hispanic or Latinos.
Because Hispanic roots are considered aligned with a European ancestry (Spain/Portugal), Hispanic/Latino ancestry is defined solely as an "ethnic "designation (similar to being Norse or Germanic). Therefore, a person of Hispanic descent is typically defined using both race and ethnicity as an identifier—i.e., Black-Hispanic, White-Hispanic, Asian-Hispanic, Amerindian-Hispanic or "other race" Hispanic.
List of Latinos in film
Actors such as Antonio Banderas, Alfred Molina, Charlie Sheen, Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez are often thought to be Latino but they actually have roots in Spain, but not Latin America, so they are not ethnically Latino.
Despite popular misconception, actresses from Spain, such as Maribel Verdu and Penélope Cruz, who do not have roots in Latin America would not be classified as Latina.
Latino
When and why the Latino identity came about is a more involved story. Essentially, politicians, the media, and marketers find it convenient to deal with the different U.S. Spanish-speaking people under one umbrella. However, many people with Spanish surnames contest the term "Latino". They claim it is misleading because no Latino or Hispanic nationality exists since no Latino state exists, so generalizing the term "Latino" slights the various national identities included under the umbrella.
Afro-Latin Americans
The term Afro-Latin American refers specifically to people of African ancestry and not to European ancestry, such as Sub-Alpine European white. The term is not widely used in Latin America outside academic circles. Normally Afro-Latin Americans are called black (Spanish: "negro"; Portuguese: "negro" or "preto"; French: "nègre" or "noir"). More commonly, when referring to cultural aspects of African origin within specific countries of Latin America, terms carry an Afro- prefix followed by the relevant nationality. Notable examples include Afro-Cuban, Afro-Brazilian, Afro-Haitian, Afro-Latino , and Afro-Latinx.
Los Angeles Pobladores
Some historians and people in general have emphasized a difference between "Spaniard" and a "Mexican" in terms of race. For example, "colonial Mexicans" are "persons of mixed blood." The implication is, of course, that Spaniards are persons of "unmixed blood" or racially "pure" types. This is a gross oversimplification and ignores the fact that "the population of the Iberian Peninsula was anything but ethnically homogeneous." As Magnus Mörner has observed, the seven centuries prior to the discovery of the New World in Spain "witnessed extraordinary acculturation and race mixture." Furthermore, at one time in the history of Mexico there were more African slaves held in Mexico than in the colonial United States north of the border. Moreover, "Mestizos" born in wedlock, at least during the sixteenth century, were accepted as "Criollos", that is, as 'American Spaniards'." In short, the definition of "Mexican" often confuses race with nationality in the modern period and with caste in the colonial period. In addition, by this definition of "Mexican," neither an Indian, nor a Criollo, nor a Black would be Mexican because they are, by social definition at least, of "unmixed blood."
Demography of the United States
The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) defines "Hispanic or Latino" as a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Dominican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race. People who identify with the terms “Hispanic” or “Latino” are those who classify themselves in one of the specific Hispanic or Latino categories listed on the decennial census questionnaire and various Census Bureau survey questionnaires – “Mexican, Mexican Am., Chicano” or ”Puerto Rican” or “Cuban” – as well as those who indicate that they are “another Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin.” People who identify their origin as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race.
Black Hispanic and Latino Americans
Those who claim that Black Hispanics are not sought to play Hispanic roles in the United States allege this unfairly leads the masses of viewers to an ignorance to the existence of darker skinned Hispanics. Further, some Black Hispanics who identify themselves as black but of also mixed race heritage once affirming their Hispanicity may be deprived of their status as Black people among African Americans, and categorized by society as non-Black in the American historical context.
Machismo
LGBTQ community is also a conflicting issue to the machismo culture. Puerto Rico is known for its strong Christian community along with having a smaller Jewish and Muslim community as well. Due to changing times and influence from America the LGBTQ has been a strong movement for equality, which in Puerto Rico has not always been accepted; and even harmed in the process due to difference. A new term to differentiate gender is Latinx, and Latine a variant used to pronounce easily throughout Latin America is a gender neutral form of addressing someone compared to the familiar male Latino or female Latina. Minorities are treated differently in Puerto Rico despite the blending of three races.
Puerto Ricans face racism amongst themselves in their community and at work solely based on their color of their skin. People with even the slightest pigment were not considered white, and segregation exist within the island; where minorities may live in different regions of the island with others of color.
Who Would Have Thought It?
Ruiz de Burton creates a sense of cultural whiteness that is not easily associated with color. Lola's metamorphosis and transition throughout the story reflects racial ambiguity and hybridity. We first encounter her as "the little black girl". However, "[g]oing from black to white, and seen as Indian and Spanish, Lola passes through various stages of racial identity- black, Indian, brown, 'spotted' white, and finally, 'pure' white. Lola's racial ambiguity thus draws on two competing codes: an Anglo American one that defines race as white or black, and a Spanish/Mexican caste system that recognizes multiple levels of hybrid racial identity."
Hispanic and Latino Americans
Unlike intermarriage with other racial groups, intermarriage with non-Hispanic Blacks varies by nationality of origin. Puerto Ricans and Dominicans have by far the highest rates of intermarriage with blacks, of all major Hispanic national groups. Cubans have the highest rate of intermarriage with non-Hispanic Whites, of all major Hispanic national groups, and are the most assimilated into White American culture. Mexican Americans, who are the majority of the US Hispanic population, are most likely to intermarry with Whites and Asians when marrying out.
Stereotypes of Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
Between the years 2001 and 2010, the Hispanic population increased significantly within the U.S., marking Hispanics as the largest minority in California. As the Hispanic population increased throughout the U.S., the news media began negatively framing Hispanics as criminals, illegal immigrants, dangerous and violent; thus further perpetuating prejudice, discrimination and stereotypes of Hispanics. 
The California Proposition 187 was a 1994 ballot initiative to establish a state-run citizenship screening system and prohibit illegal aliens from using non-emergency health care, public education, and other services in the State of California. This proposition began a spur of negative images and claims associated with Hispanics and Latinos in the U.S.
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census
The following definitions apply to the 2000 Census only.
The federal government of the United States has mandated that "in data collection and presentation, federal agencies are required to use a minimum of two ethnicities: "Hispanic or Latino" and "Not Hispanic or Latino". The Census Bureau defines "Hispanic or Latino" as "a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race." For discussion of the meaning and scope of the Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, see the Hispanic and Latino Americans and Racial and ethnic demographics of the United States articles.
White Hispanic and Latino Americans
In the 2010 United States Census, 50.5 million Americans (16.3% of the total population) listed themselves as ethnically Hispanic or Latino. Of those, 53.0% (26.7 million) self-identified as racially white. The remaining respondents listed their races as: some other race 36.7%, two or more races (multiracial) 6.0%, Black or African American 2.5%, American Indian and Alaska Native 1.4%, Asian 0.4%, and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander 0.1%.
Hispanic and Latino Americans
"Origin" can be viewed as the ancestry, nationality group, lineage, or country of birth of the person or the person's parents or ancestors before their arrival in the United States. People who identify as Spanish, Hispanic or Latino may be of any race. As one of the only two specifically designated categories of ethnicity in the United States (the other being "Not Hispanic or Latino"), Hispanics form a pan-ethnicity incorporating a diversity of inter-related cultural and linguistic heritages. Most Hispanic Americans are of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Salvadoran, Dominican, Guatemalan, or Colombian origin. The predominant origin of regional Hispanic populations varies widely in different locations across the country.
List of U.S. states by Hispanic and Latino population
As of 2012, Hispanics and Latinos make up about 17% of the total U.S. population. The state with the largest percentage of Hispanics and Latinos is New Mexico at 47%. The state with the largest Hispanic and Latino population overall is California with over 14 million Hispanics and Latinos.Cities and neighborhoods:
Latinos '08
One thing ["Latinos '08"] makes clear is that this subject is much more nuanced and complicated than many people imagine. For instance, most Latinos are registered Democrats, but they have shown a willingness to support moderate Republicans without surrendering their party affiliation. They come from different countries, advocate different agendas, and represent different generations, social status, education levels, and political philosophies. And yet they have also demonstrated they can come together as one community when they're under attack, as many Latinos claim is true with the immigration issue ... Director Philip Rodriguez has done a masterful job of drawing the complexities of Latino voters in ways that help us better understand America.
Hispanic and Latino American Muslims
The terms "Latino" and "Hispanic" denote an ethnicity, not a race. Many Latino Muslims live in various cities within the United States and have shown a growing presence in states like New York, Illinois, New Jersey and Florida. The Latino Muslim community is estimated to be between 40,000 and 200,000.
Los Angeles Pobladores
Like the original settlers of other parts of California and the American Southwest in general, the Pobladores reflected varied backgrounds: "Peninsular" (born in Spain), Criollo (born in the Americas of Spanish ancestry), Indian, Black, Mestizo (of mixed Spanish and Indian ancestry), Mulatto (of Spanish and African ancestry), and "Zambo" (of mixed Indian and African ancestry), among other combinations. Most of the colonists were of mixed racial backgrounds, and the process of "mestizaje" (racial mixing) continued in California, to include mixing with the various California Indian societies. Many Mestizos and Mulattos strove, sometimes successfully, to become identified as pure-blooded Spaniards, and many Indians and Black became Mestizos and Mulattos, because racial identity affected and reflected socio-economic mobility. At least seven of the 22 original, adult settlers managed to do this in the 1790 census of Los Angeles. In general, this meant that the descendents of the original settlers came to identify themselves as either Mestizo, or among the more socially prominent, as Spaniards.
Latinidad
"Latinidad" invokes pan-Latino/a solidarity among Latinos/as in ways that illuminate an understanding of identity, place, and belonging. 'We're all one heart here. There are no distinctions of race, of country, or culture'. This so-called Latinization of the U.S. has the potential to profoundly reshape the parameters of democracy, citizenship, and national identity. Culture involves a dynamic interplay between flow and pause. In this sense, flows and pauses, and the dynamic tension between these two polarities, can be seen to be at the heart of "latinidad" as a form of cultural coherence. Manifestations of "latinidad" are evidenced at numerous scales, from the very local scale of the individual and his or her immediate zone of inhabitance—a block, a neighborhood, a street—to nations and world regions that are hemispheric in scale. It is place-specific: both shaped, and is shaped by, the context in which it emerges. "Latinidad" has important ramifications for national, transnational, hemispheric, and even global, modalities of belonging. According to Price (2007) this flexible coalescence of identity around a variously imagined Latinidad provides fertile conceptual and empirical terrain for understanding how culture coalesces at the scale of quotidian human encounters.
I'm No Latino
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Judicial aspects of race in the United States
Although much of the scholarship on studies of whiteness argues that Southern and Eastern Europeans were treated as nonwhite by earlier immigrants, there is also a substantial body of scholarship countering this narrative, most notably "White on Arrival: Italians, Race, Color, and Power in Chicago, 1890-1945" by historian Thomas Guglielmo. He and others contend that Italians were in fact considered white and were able to reap the immediate benefits that status conferred, such as a right to citizenship, despite the fact that they were somewhat discriminated against for their nationality. He specifically attempts to differentiate between “color” and “race”, claiming that while Italians were racially Italian, when considered in a more binary manner they were still white in color. This undeniable classification as phenotypically white allowed them, along with other Southern and European immigrants to obtain all the benefits that being white conferred. Historian and anthropologist Patrick Wolfe makes a similar argument, saying that the experience of the European immigrant is simply incomparable to that of a black American, making the evidence of their whiteness indisputable.
Latin Americans
The specific ethnic and/or racial composition varies from country to country: many have a predominance of European-Amerindian, or Mestizo, population; in others, Amerindians are a majority; some are mostly inhabited by people of European ancestry; and others are primarily Mulatto. Various Black, Asian, and Zambo (mixed Black and Amerindian) minorities are also identified in most countries. White Latin Americans are the largest single group. Together with the people of part-European ancestry they combine for approximately 80% of the population, or even more.
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census
Race and ethnicity are considered separate and distinct identities, with Hispanic or Latino origin asked as a separate question. Thus, in addition to their race or races, all respondents are categorized by membership in one of two ethnic categories, which are "Hispanic or Latino" and "Not Hispanic or Latino". However, the practice of separating "race" and "ethnicity" as different categories has been criticized both by the American Anthropological Association and members of US Commission on Civil Rights.
League of United Latin American Citizens
Though the two civil rights groups may have possessed some institutional similarities, LULAC tried to establish distance from the African American civil rights struggle. As LULAC believed that blacks were more oppressed than Latinos; its members thought that joining forces would not strengthen its own struggle for equality. LULAC asserted that many Hispanics properly fell into the "white" category of the dichotomous black-white construction of race. In 1936 the league "engaged in a series of lobbying activities as soon as it [the USCB] perceived that Mexican Americans would be categorized as part of a group of dark-skinned minorities." They lobbied to demonstrate that Hispanic, Latino and Mexican American were not racial classifications, but cultural groups who were racially diverse, sharing a common Ethno-linguistic ancestry.
White Americans
In the contemporary United States, essentially anyone of European descent is considered White. However, many of the non-European ethnic groups classified as White by the U.S. Census, such as Arab Americans, Jewish Americans, and Hispanics or Latinos may not identify as, and may not be perceived to be, White.
Stereotypes of Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
Stereotypical representation of Hispanic and Latino characters are typically negatively presented and attack the entire ethnic group's morality, work ethic, intelligence, or dignity. Even in non-fiction media, such as news outlets, Hispanics are usually reported on in crime, immigration, or drug related stories than accomplishments. These stereotypes can also differ between men and women. Hispanic or Latino men are more likely to be stereotyped as unintelligent, comedic, aggressive, sexual, and unprofessional, earning them titles as "Latin lovers," buffoons, or criminals. This often results in these individuals being characterized as working less respectable careers, being involved in crimes (often drug related), or being uneducated immigrants. Hispanic/Latino characters are more likely than non-Hispanic white characters to possess lower status occupations, such as domestic workers, or be involved in drug related crimes. Hispanic and Latina women, similarly, are typically portrayed as lazy, verbally aggressive, and lacking work ethic. These stereotypes are furthered in pseudo-autobiographical characters like George Lopez, who lacks higher education and is written around humor, and Sofia Vergara, who is portrayed as an immigrant woman marrying a rich man, and is often mocked for her loud and aggressive voice.
List of Latinos in film
Opportunities for Latino/Hispanic Americans (i.e. those people who are or have family ancestry from Mexico, Spain, or other Latin American [Spanish and Portuguese speaking] countries) in the film industry, often mirrors the opportunities, and challenges, facing people of other racial or ethnic identities who work in the industry, behind or in front of the film camera. Historically, actors or actresses of Latino/Hispanic ancestry often found work within certain stereotypical roles, which often reflected broader social attitudes and cultural biases.
Hispanophone
The majority of people in Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile are largely of European descent; not only of Spanish Europeans, but Italian, Portuguese, German, Polish, Irish, British, etc. In countries like Mexico, there was a process of miscegenation, which resulted in many people having both indigenous and European origins. Many white Mexicans, though labeled "Hispanic" by the U.S. definition because of their assimilated culture and country of birth, trace their ancestries to European countries other than Spain, and some to non-European countries (see next paragraph). Nevertheless, in most cases, they have some Spanish ancestry, as the waves of European immigrants to these countries tended to quickly assimilate, intermarrying with the country's local population. (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).") Initially colonial Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile had predominately mestizo population, but because of a massive European migration (mostly Spaniards and Italians, with Germans, British, Polish, etc.) in the 19th century, and the repeated intermarriage with white Europeans and Middle Easterners, like white Mexicans, they also have some Spanish blood, wherein the mestizo population became a so-called castizo population; with more European settlers arriving in the early 20th century, the population of Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile has overwhelmingly become white and European (some Middle Eastern) in race, culture and tradition. Like mentioned above, the Hispanics of Caucasian race, including white Mexicans, white Argentines, and white Uruguayans, who are perceived by U.S. mass media as well as general U.S. popular culture as Hispanic usually possess stereotypical Mediterranean appearance
Homophobia in ethnic minority communities
Homophobia in the Latino community is prevalent within the United States. As ethnic minorities and sexual minorities, queer Latinos may navigate contradictory identities which Gloria Anzaldúa calls "mestiza consciousness". "Borderland" spaces, composed strictly of queer Latinos, allow them to express their sexuality without consequences. One such space was magazine "Esto no tiene nombre"'s community for Latina lesbians.
Affirmative action in the United States
According to a study by Dr. Paul Brest, Hispanics or "Latinos" include immigrants who are descendants of immigrants from the countries comprising Central and South America. In 1991, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Cuban Americans made up 80% of the Latino population in the United States. Latinos are disadvantaged compared to White Americans and are more likely to live in poverty. They are the least well educated major ethnic group and suffered a 3% drop in high school completion rate while African Americans experienced a 12% increase between 1975–1990. In 1990, they constituted 9% of the population, but only received 3.1% of the bachelors's degrees awarded. At times when it is favorable to lawmakers, Latinos were considered "white" by the Jim Crow laws during the Reconstruction. In other cases, according to Paul Brest, Latinos have been classified as an inferior race and a threat to white purity. Latinos have encountered considerable discrimination in areas such as employment, housing, and education. Brest finds that stereotypes continue to be largely negative and many perceive Latinos as "lazy, unproductive, and on the dole." Furthermore, native-born Latino-Americans and recent immigrants are seen as identical since outsiders tend not to differentiate between Latino groups.
Richard Blanco
When asked in a May 7, 2012 interview with "La Bloga" whether he considered himself a Cuban writer or simply a writer, Blanco responded: "I am a writer who happens to be Cuban, but I reserve the right to write about anything I want, not just my cultural identity. Aesthetically and politically, I don't exclusively align myself with any one particular group—Latino, Cuban, gay, or 'white'—but I embrace them all. Good writing is good writing. I like what I like."
Hispanic and Latino Americans
Hispanic Americans and Latino Americans ( or "", ) are people in the United States who are descendants of people from countries of Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula. The United States has the largest population of Latinos and Hispanics outside of Latin America. More generally, it includes all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino, whether of full or partial ancestry. For the 2010 United States Census, people counted as "Hispanic" or "Latino" were those who identified as one of the specific Hispanic or Latino categories listed on the census questionnaire ("Mexican", "Puerto Rican" or "Cuban") as well as those who indicated that they were "other Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino." The national origins classified as Hispanic or Latino by the United States Census Bureau are the following: Argentine, Cuban, Colombian, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Mexican, Costa Rican, Guatemalan, Honduran, Nicaraguan, Panamanian, Salvadoran, Bolivian, Spanish, Chilean, Ecuadorian, Paraguayan, Peruvian, Uruguayan, and Venezuelan. Other U.S. government agencies have slightly different definitions of the term, including Brazilians and other Portuguese-speaking groups. The Census Bureau uses the terms Hispanic and Latino interchangeably.
Hispanic–Latino naming dispute
The Hispanic–Latino naming dispute is an ongoing disagreement over the use of the ethnonyms "Hispanic" and "Latino" to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States of America who are of Latin American or Spanish origin—that is, Latino or Hispanic Americans. The usage of both terms has changed to adapt to a wide range of geographical and historical influences. The term "Hispanic" was used first; later, some Hispanics in the western United States came to prefer the term "Latino". The Census does not classify persons of Portuguese or Brazilian descent as Hispanic, as those are Portuguese-speaking populations. According to a 2011 study by the Pew Research Center, the majority (51%) of Hispanic and Latino Americans prefer to identify with their families' country of origin, while only 24% prefer the terms "Hispanic" or "Latino".
White people
Still today the relationship between some ethnic groups and whiteness remains complex. In particular, some Jewish and Arab individuals both self-identify and are considered as part of the White American racial category, but others with the same ancestry feel they are not white nor are they perceived as white by American society. The United States Census Bureau plans to add a new category to classify Middle Eastern and North African peoples in the U.S. Census 2020. According to Frank Sweet "various sources agree that, on average, people with 12 percent or less admixture appear White to the average American and those with up to 25 percent look ambiguous (with a Mediterranean skin tone)". According to scientists those with the Mediterranean skin tone are considered white but not in the traditional sense; this is why many American's do not perceive most Jews and Arabs as white; which is commonly a Type V pigmentation on the Fitzpatrick scale frequent among populations from the Middle East, parts of the Mediterranean, and parts of Africa. It ranges from olive to tan, Middle Eastern skin tones.
Definitions of whiteness in the United States
In the 2000 U.S census, around half of all persons of Mexican or Mexican American origin in the U.S. checked "white" to register their race (in addition to stating their Mexican national origin). Mexican Americans are the largest white Hispanic group in the United States.
Hyperdescent
Hyperdescent is the rule in the rest of Latin America as well. The mestizo populations of Latin America usually consider themselves to be of European culture rather than American Indian. This is also apparent in the United States, where the practice of hypodescent is the rule among the non-Hispanic population contrasting with hyperdescent among Hispanics. Nearly half of U.S. Hispanics called themselves "white" in the 2000 Census, along with 80% of the population of Puerto Rico. Non-Hispanics, on the other hand, if they are of mixed race, will usually call themselves white only if they are a small fraction (1/8 or 1/16) American Indian, but otherwise will claim being of mixed race or even of the minority race. In the 2000 Census, of 35,305,818 Hispanics, only 407,073 (or just over 1%) called themselves American Indian, and only 2,224,082 (just over 6%) claimed to be of mixed race, even though these Hispanic groups (such as Mexicans) are majority mestizo in their home countries.
White Latin Americans
Composing from 33% to 36% of the population , according to some sources, White Latin Americans constitute the largest racial-ethnic group in the region. "White" is the self-identification of many Latin Americans in some national censuses. According to a survey conducted by "Cohesión Social" in Latin America, conducted on a sample of 10,000 people from seven countries of the region, 34% of those interviewed identified themselves as white.
Mixed-blood
"Mestizo" is the contemporary term of choice for Hispanic individuals (whether US-born or immigrant) of a similar mixed ancestry (Indigenous and European), but based on different groups. Many Hispanic-Americans who have identified as "white" are of Spanish descent, having had ancestors in the southwestern United States for several generations prior to annexation of that region into the United States. However, identification on the US Census has historically been limited by its terminology, and the option to only select one "race" in the past. Others have classified themselves as mestizo, particularly those who also identify as Chicano. Hispanics of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent are most numerous on the East Coast, especially in Florida, New York and New England.
Definitions of whiteness in the United States
U.S. nativists in the late 1920s and 1930s (mostly due to the socially xenophobic and economic climate of the Great Depression) tried to put a halt to Mexican immigration by having Mexicans (and Mexican Americans) declared non-white, by virtue of their Indian heritage. After 70 years of being in the United States and having been bestowed white status by the U.S. government this was the first time the United States began to show true racist attitudes towards Mexicans in America something that usually came quickly to people of other races. They based their strategy on a 1924 law that barred entry to immigrants who were ineligible for citizenship, and at that point, only blacks and whites, and not Asians or Native Americans, could naturalize and become U.S. citizens. The test case came in December 1935, when a Buffalo, N.Y., judge rejected Jalisco native Timoteo Andrade's application for citizenship on the grounds that he was a "Mexican Indian." Had it not been for the intervention of the Mexican and American governments, who forced a second hearing, this precedent could very well have made many Mexicans, the majority of whom are mestizo, ineligible for citizenship. When mixed race Mexicans were allowed to retain their white status in American society they were unperturbed with the fact that the United States still continued its discriminatory practices towards Mexicans of full Indigenous heritage.
White Latin Americans
In many parts of Latin America being white is more a matter of socio-economic status than specific phenotypic traits, and it is often said that in Latin America "money whitens" Within Latin America there are variations in how racial boundaries have been defined. In Argentina, for example, the notion of mixture has been downplayed. Alternately, in countries like Mexico and Brazil mixture has been emphasized as fundamental for nation-building, resulting in a large group of bi-racial "mestizos", in Mexico, or tri-racial "pardos", in Brazil, who are considered neither fully white nor fully non-white.
Mestizos in the United States
It is difficult to know the exact number of Latino Americans self-identifying as Mestizo, in part because "Mestizo" is not an official racial category in the Census. According to the 2010 United States Census, 36.7% of the 52 million Hispanic/Latino Americans identify as "some other race", and most of the remainder consider themselves white. Further complicating matters is the fact that many federal agencies such as the CDC or CIA do not even recognize the "some other race" category, including this population in the white category.
White Latin Americans
For these reasons the distinction between "white" and "mixed", and between "mixed" and "black" and "indigenous", is largely subjective and situational, meaning that any attempt to classify by discrete racial categories is fraught with problems.
Latino theatre in the United States
Latinos have often found it difficult to get cast in roles that have not been specifically written to be played by a Latino. Many casting directors have begun to use the term "color blind" casting, however this has caused much controversy in itself as if a show is cast improperly with certain races in certain roles, it can come across to the audiences as well as the theatre community as wrong and/or racist. What is much preferred now by actors is a statement that suggests that there will be no discrimination in the casting process. Even still, there have even been times when films, TV shows, and plays have been written for Latino actors, and yet they have ended up being played by non-Latino actors. An example of this is TheaterWorks' production of "The Motherf**ker With the Hat."
Latino
Though often used interchangeably in American English, "Hispanic" and "Latino" are not identical terms, and in certain contexts the choice between them can be significant. "Hispanic", from the Latin word for "Spain," has the broader reference, potentially encompassing all Spanish-speaking peoples in both hemispheres and emphasizing the common denominator of language among communities that sometimes have little else in common. "Latino"—which in Spanish means "Latin" but which as an English word is probably a shortening of the Spanish word "latinoamericano"—refers more exclusively to persons or communities of Latin American origin. Of the two, only "Hispanic" can be used in referring to Spain and its history and culture; a native of Spain residing in the United States is a "Hispanic", not a "Latino", and one cannot substitute "Latino" in the phrase "the Hispanic influence on native Mexican cultures" without garbling the meaning. In practice, however, this distinction is of little significance when referring to residents of the United States, most of whom are of Latin American origin and can theoretically be called by either word.
The "AP Stylebook" also distinguishes between the terms Hispanic and Latino. The Stylebook limits the term "Hispanic" to persons "from – or whose ancestors were from – a Spanish-speaking land or culture". It provides a more expansive definition, however, of the term "Latino". The Stylebook definition of Latino includes not only persons of Spanish-speaking ancestry, but also more generally includes persons "from – or whose ancestors were from – . . . Latin America". The Stylebook specifically lists "Brazilian" as an example of a group which can be considered Latino.
Rodolfo Acuña
During a lecture titled "Is Antonio Banderas Latino?" at Swarthmore College, his studies of the race, age, history and class of the Chicano identity were compared and contrasted to the definition of the alleged Latino identity of U.S.A. His question "should a Spaniard get affirmative action for Latinos without the life experience?"—where life experience meant that one needed to suffer discrimination—was answered no. This has been a recurring theme in his work: that civil rights entitlements are not automatic, but reserved for those who have historically experienced racial and class discrimination. No matter what people may think of Banderas as a person, he is European and not part of a class that has historically suffered discrimination. In 2002, Acuña opposed the nomination of Miguel Estrada, a Honduran immigrant whose father owned a plantation in Honduras, to the Washington, D.C., Circuit Court.
Los Alamos, New Mexico
Los Alamos is demographically unique compared to its surrounding counties and the state as a whole. Over 35% of the population of surrounding counties (Rio Arriba, Santa Fe, and Sandoval) and the state of New Mexico are Hispanic or Latino, while only about 15% of Los Alamosans are Hispanic or Latino. The white and especially the Asian populations of Los Alamos are significantly higher than the rest of New Mexico.The geography of Los Alamos lends itself to several sports and recreational activities. Skiing is possible on 10,440 ft. Pajarito Mountain between November and April. Snowshoeing is possible at Valles Caldera National Preserve and other locations weather permitting.
Race and ethnicity in the United States
Until the 2000 census, Latinos were required to identify as one race, and none was Latino. Partly as a result of the confusion generated by the distinction, 32.9% (U.S. census records) of Latino respondents in the 2000 census ignored the specified racial categories and checked "some other race". (Mays "et al." 2003 claim a figure of 42%)
Educational inequality
Latinos and American Indians experienced similar educational repression in the past, which effects are evident now. Latinos have been systematically shut out of educational opportunities at all levels. Evidence suggests that Latinos have experienced this educational repression in the United States has far back as 1848. Despite the fact that it is illegal to not accept students based on their race, religion, or ethnicity, in the Southwest of the United States Latinos were often segregated through the deliberate practice of school and public officials. This form of segregation is referred to as de facto segregation. American Indians experienced the enforcement of missionary schools that emphasized the assimilation into white culture and society. Even after "successful" assimilation, those American Indians experienced discrimination in white society and often a rejection by their tribe. It created a group that could not truly benefit even if they gained an equal education.
Definitions of whiteness in the United States
On the 2000 Census form, race and ethnicity are distinct questions. A respondent who checks the "Hispanic or Latino" ethnicity box must also check one or more of the five official race categories. Of the over 35 million Hispanics or Latinos in the 2000 Census, a plurality of 48.6% identified as "white," 48.2% identified as "Other" (most of whom are presumed of mixed races such as mestizo or mulatto), and the remaining 3.2% identified as "black" and other races.
White Americans
The characterization of Middle Eastern and North African Americans as white has been a matter of controversy. In the early 20th century, peoples of Arab descent were sometimes denied entry into the United States because they were characterized as nonwhite. In 1944, the law changed, and Middle Eastern and North African peoples were granted white status. The U.S. Census is currently revisiting the issue, and considering creating a separate racial category for Middle Eastern and North African Americans in the 2020 Census. 
In cases where individuals do not self-identify, the U.S. census parameters for race give each national origin a racial value.
Hispanic and Latino Americans
Preference of use between the terms among Hispanics and Latinos in the United States often depends on where users of the respective terms reside. Those in the Eastern United States tend to prefer the term "Hispanic," whereas those in the West tend to prefer "Latino". Both terms refer to ethnicity, as a person of Latino or Hispanic origin can be of any race.
Latin American migration to the United Kingdom
Latin Americans residing in the UK often call themselves the "Invisibles", as a reflection of the lack of representation they have in the communities and the fact that there is no formal ethnic minority status for Latin Americans. Latin Americans tend to be seen as white by the population, even though many of them are considered mestizo in their countries of origin. They often claim that a lack of official recognition as an ethnic minority makes it hard for the community to integrate.
Race and ethnicity in Latin America
Sometimes, particularly outside of Mexico, the word "mestizo" is used with the meaning of a person with mixed indigenous and European blood. This usage does not conform to the Mexican social reality where, like in Brazil, a person of mostly indigenous genetic heritage would be considered Mestizo either by rejecting his indigenous culture or by not speaking an indigenous language, and a person with a very low percentage of indigenous genetic heritage would be considered fully indigenous either by speaking an indigenous language or by identifying with a particular indigenous cultural heritage. Additionally the categories carry additional meanings having to do with social class so that the term indigena or the more pejorative "indio" (Indian) is connected with ideas of low social class, poverty, rural background, superstition, being dominated by traditional values as opposed to reason. Commonly, instead of the term Mestizo, which also has a somewhat pejorative usage, the term "gente de razón" ("people of reason") is used and contrasted with "gente de costumbre" ("people of tradition"), cementing the status of indigeneity being connected to superstition and backwardness. For example, it has been observed that upwards social mobility is generally correlated with "whitening", if persons with indigenous biological and cultural roots rise to positions of power and prestige they tend to be viewed as more "white" than if they belonged to a lower social class.
White Latin Americans
According to the official Venezuelan census, although "white" literally involves external issues such as light skin, shape and color of hair and eyes, among others, the term "white" has been used in different ways in different historical periods and places, and so its precise definition is somewhat confusing. For this reason, "White Venezuelan" is used to describe the Venezuelan citizen of European origin.
White Hispanic and Latino Americans
Hispanics and Latinos who are native-born and those who are immigrant identify as White in nearly identical percentages: 53.9 and 53.7, respectively, per figures from 2007. The overall Hispanic or Latino ratio was 53.8%.
Definitions of whiteness in the United States
Cuban Americans and Puerto Ricans exemplify this complex ethnic status. The Cuban exiles and the Puerto Rican who migrated, entered the United States before 1959 tended to be of European ancestry (most particularly Spanish ancestry) and therefore widely considered white. Their appearance let them be more accepted by an American culture that openly attacked Afro-Cubans and Afro-Puerto Ricans, and other races. In some cases, this white racial status "allowed them to feel superior over other racial and ethnic groups and to make claims to rights and privileges..."
Xou da Xuxa
A third rationale for the show's failure to take hold in North America is that Xuxa contradicted established perceptions in the US about Latin American women and beauty, because she is a light-skinned, blonde and blue-eyed Brazilian woman. This fact of Xuxa's make-up, the rationale explains, presented a challenge toward "Xou" breaking into the US market. The common construct of Latin American ethnicity in the US runs counter to the concept of the existence of light-skinned, blonde and blue-eyed people being Latin American. While this construct represents a stereo-type, it is offered as a reason for why other Latinas who fit the stereo-type, such as Carmen Miranda, Rosie Perez or Jennifer Lopez have gained stardom in the US, while Xuxa did not. In essence, this line of reasoning argues that Xuxa was "too blonde" to be widely accepted in North America as a Latin American star.
Race and ethnicity in the United States
The majority of people currently living in the United States are White and European Americans. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa." Like all official U.S. racial categories, "White" has a "not Hispanic or Latino" and a "Hispanic or Latino" component, the latter consisting mostly of White Mexican Americans and White Cuban Americans.
Afro-Latin Americans
Many Afro-Latino immigrants have arrived, in waves, over decades, to the United States, especially from the Caribbean, Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Central America and to a lesser extent from Mexico too. In the state of California, the dominant population consisted of people of color but as the years progressed the percentage has declined severely or at least the way Californian residents claim to identify themselves has shifted towards a White population. A Pew Research Center survey of Latino adults shows that one-quarter of all U.S. Latinos self-identify as Afro-Latino, Afro-Caribbean or of African descent with roots in Latin America. This is the first time a nationally representative survey in the U.S. has asked the Latino population directly whether they considered themselves Afro-Latino.
Christina Milian
I’m Cuban but [people] didn’t get it because I was also brown-skinned... Latinos come in all colors, all shades... You should see my mom and her brothers and sisters... We just vary in color, shapes and sizes. But we’re still Latinos — that doesn’t change a damn thing.
White Latin Americans
Ethnically, culturally, and socially, Paraguay has one of the most homogeneous populations in South America. Because of José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia's 1814 policy that no white Spaniards and Europeans could intermarry among themselves (they could only marry blacks, mulattoes, mestizos or the native Guaraní), a measure taken to avoid a white majority occurring in Paraguay (De Francia believed that all men were equal as well), it was within little more than one generation that most of the population were of mixed racial origin.
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census
President Franklin D. Roosevelt promoted a "good neighbor" policy that sought better relations with Mexico. In 1935, a federal judge ruled that three Mexican immigrants were ineligible for citizenship because they were not white, as required by federal law. Mexico protested, and Roosevelt decided to circumvent the decision and make sure the federal government treated Hispanics as white. The State Department, the Census Bureau, the Labor Department, and other government agencies therefore made sure to uniformly classify people of Mexican descent as white. This policy encouraged the League of United Latin American Citizens in its quest to minimize discrimination by asserting their whiteness.
White Latin Americans
The exact percentage of the white Paraguayan population is not known because the Paraguayan census does not include racial or ethnic identification, save for the indigenous population, which was 1.7% of the country's total in the 2002 census. Other sources estimate the sizes of other groups, the mestizo population being estimated at 95% by the CIA World Factbook, with all other groups totaling 5%. Thus, whites and the remaining groups (Asians, Afro-Paraguayans, others) make up approximately 3.3% of the total population. According to Lizcano, in 2005 a fifth of population or 20% are white and 75% approximately is mestizo. Such a reading is complicated, because, as elsewhere in Latin America, "white" and "mestizo" are not mutually exclusive (people may identify as both).
Maid in Manhattan
Lopez's casting in the film sparked some debate. "Variety" commented that "[m]aking the maid a Latina is certainly realistic but never quite avoids the suggestion that upward mobility is best achieved through marriage into Anglo society". "Fade to Black and White: Interracial Images in Popular Culture" (2009) author Erica Chito Childs noted aspects of the film to expose the objective sides of a biracial relationship using the "symbolic roles of maid and politician". Writer Betty Kaklamanidou praised Lopez's casting in the film which "proved that a Latin actress can move away from stereotypical supporting roles and effectively become the center of a romantic narrative". In 2007, actress Jessica Alba said: "Jennifer Lopez is a huge star but in Hollywood they still always want her to play the maid".
Mulatto
In keeping with Spanish practice, for most of its colonial period, Puerto Rico had laws such as the "Regla del Sacar" or "Gracias al Sacar." A person with African ancestry could be considered legally white if he could prove that at least one person per generation in the last four generations had been legally white. People of black ancestry with known white lineage were classified as white, in contrast to the "one-drop rule" put into law in the early 20th century in the United States. In colonial and antebellum times in certain locations, persons of three-quarters or more white ancestry were considered legally white. If born to slave mothers, however, this status did not overrule their being considered slaves, like Sally Hemings, who was three-quarters white, and her children by Thomas Jefferson, who were seven-eighths white, and all born into slavery.
Afro-Puerto Ricans
Critics of discrimination say that a majority of Puerto Ricans are racially mixed, but that they do not feel the need to identify as such. They argue that Puerto Ricans tend to assume that they are of Black African, American Indian, and European ancestry and only identify themselves as "mixed" only if they have parents who appear to be of distinctly different "races". Puerto Rico underwent a "whitening" process while under U.S. rule. There was a dramatic change in the numbers of people who were classified as "black" and "white" Puerto Ricans in the 1920 census, as compared to that in 1910. The numbers classified as "Black" declined sharply from one census to another (within 10 years' time). Historians suggest that more Puerto Ricans classified others as white because it was advantageous to do so at that time. In those years, census takers were generally the ones to enter the racial classification. Due to the power of Southern white Democrats, the US Census dropped the category of mulatto or mixed race in the 1930 census, enforcing the artificial binary classification of black and white. Census respondents were not allowed to choose their own classifications until the late 20th and early 21st centuries. It may have been that it was popularly thought it would be easier to advance economically and socially with the US if one were "white".
White Latin Americans
Unlike in the United States where ancestry may be used exclusively to define race, by the 1970s, Latin American scholars came to agree that race in Latin America could not be understood as the "genetic composition of individuals" but instead must be "based upon a combination of cultural, social, and somatic considerations". In Latin America, a person's ancestry may not be decisive in racial classification. For example, full-blooded siblings can often be classified as belonging to different races (Harris 1964).
Kingvale, California
As of the 2010 U.S. Census, 143 people resided in the CDP with 2 living on the Placer County side and 141 residing on the Nevada County side. Breaking the Hispanic and Latino population out, the racial makeup of the Placer County side of the CDP was 2 (100%) White. None of the population was Hispanic or Latino. The racial makeup of the Nevada County side was 138 (97.9%) White, 1 (0.7%) African American, 1 (0.7%) Pacific Islander, and 3 (2.1%) were of two or more races. 6 persons (4.3%) were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
Afro-Latin Americans
An interesting anecdote to consider was that during this whole period, Puerto Rico had laws like the "Regla del Sacar" or "Gracias al Sacar" by which a person of African ancestry could be considered legally white so long as they could prove that at least one person per generation in the last four generations had also been legally white descent. Therefore, people of African ancestry with known European lineage were classified as "whites", the opposite of the "one-drop rule" in the United States.
Race and ethnicity in censuses
President Franklin D. Roosevelt promoted a "good neighbor" policy that sought better relations with Mexico. In 1935, a federal judge ruled that three Mexican immigrants were ineligible for citizenship because they were not white, as required by federal law. Mexico protested, and Roosevelt decided to circumvent the decision and make sure the federal government treated Hispanics as white. The State Department, the Census Bureau, the Labor Department, and other government agencies therefore made sure to uniformly classify people of Mexican descent as white. This policy encouraged the League of United Latin American Citizens in its quest to minimize discrimination by asserting their whiteness.
White Latin Americans
White Latin Americans, or European Latin Americans, are Latin Americans who are considered white, typically due to European, or in some cases Levantine, descent. Latin American countries have often encouraged miscegenation, and even a small amount of European ancestry could entail significant upwards social mobility.
Demographics of Hispanic and Latino Americans
Over half of the Hispanic and Latino American population self-identifies as White. The largest number of White Hispanics come from within the Mexican community, the highest percentage of White Hispanics among major Hispanic groups comes from the Cuban American community, also high percentages of White Hispanics from Hispanic groups come from within the Colombian and also Spanish communities. The largest number of Black Hispanics come from within the Puerto Rican community, while the highest percentage of Black Hispanics among major Hispanic groups come from the Dominican community. Significant numbers of Black Hispanics can also be found among the Central American communities.
Definitions of whiteness in the United States
By 2010, the number of Hispanics identifying as white has increased by a wide margin since the year 2000 on the 2010 Census form, of the over 50 million people who identified as Hispanic and Latino Americans a majority 53% identified as "white", 36.7% identified as "Other" (most of whom are presumed of mixed races such as mestizo or mulatto), 6% identified as "Two or more races", 2.5% identified as "Black", 1.4% identified as "American Indian and Alaska Native", and the remaining 0.5% identified as other races.
Plaza México (Lynwood, California)
Plaza México can be used to understand transnational cultural connections between different generations of immigrants. It provides an outlet for Latinos to make a space for themselves and future generations. The community created through Plaza Mexico allows Latinos to feel a sense of belonging and create supportive structures. The plaza “offers a unique location from which to conceptualise and discuss the dynamics of cross-border cultural activities and cross-border imaginaries in a metropolitan area with an expansive Latino/a population” (Gomez-Barris and Irazabal 341). Within a busy metropolitan area such as L.A., Latinos are able to feel "at home" through the overall sensory experience provided in Plaza Mexico. Place-making can be defined as "ties produced through an(other) reimagined and recreated homeland." Plaza Mexico can be seen as a recreated homeland, and through this recreation, political, social, and economic identities are made visible. Through Plaza Mexico, Latinos also "belong across multiple border," meaning the cultural practices grant Latinos the ability to still be a part of communities in Latin American countries. For example, one of the bigger celebrations held at Plaza Mexico is el dia de La Virgen de Guadalupe (December 12). This religious celebration brings together Latinos from all origins and “illustrates how immigrants bring their traditions with them from their homeland”.
White Latin Americans
Brazil is one of the few countries in Latin America that includes racial categories in its censuses: "Branco" (White), "Negro" (Black), "Pardo" (Multiracial), "Amarelo" (Yellow) and "Indígena" (Amerindian), with categorization being by self-identification. Taking into account the data provided by the last National Household Survey, conducted in 2010, Brazil would possess the most numerous white population in Latin America, given that a 47.7% – 91 million people – of Brazilians self-declared as "Brancos". Comparing this survey with previous censuses, a slow but constant decrease in the percentage of self-identified white Brazilians can be seen: in the 2000 Census it was 53.7%, in the 2006 Household Survey it was 49.9%, and in the last, 2008, survey it decreased to the current 48.4%. Some analysts believe that this decrease is evidence that more Brazilians have come to appreciate their mixed ancestry, re-classifying themselves as "Pardos". Furthermore, some demographers estimate that a 9% of the self-declared white Brazilians have a certain degree of African and Amerindian ancestry, which, if the "one-drop rule" were applied, would classify them as "Pardos".
White Hispanic and Latino Americans
As of 2010, 50.5 million or 16.3% of Americans identified as Hispanic or Latino. Of those, 26.7 million, or 53%, also self-identified as white.
Hispanic and Latino Americans
A later definition of Latino is as a condensed form of the term ""Latino-Americano"", the Spanish word for Latin-American, or someone who comes from Latin America. Under this definition a Mexican American or Puerto Rican, for example, is both a Hispanic and a Latino. A Brazilian American is also a Latino by this definition, which includes those of Portuguese-speaking origin from Latin America. However, an immigrant from Spain would be classified as European or White by American standards but not Latino by this definition.
While the U.S. Census Bureau's definition of "Hispanic" is limited to Spanish-speaking Latin America, other government agencies have slightly different definitions of the term. The US Department of Transportation defines "Hispanic" as "persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Central or South American, or other Spanish or Portuguese culture or origin, regardless of race." This definition has been adopted by the Small Business Administration as well as by many federal, state, and municipal agencies. Unlike the Census Bureau's definition, this clearly includes people with origins in Portuguese-speaking countries.
Who Are We? The Challenges to America's National Identity
As the 2013 "Washington Post" article by Dylan Matthews challenged Huntington's points, arguing that Latino immigrants have been adapting to English just as quickly as Asian and European immigrants have as of 2000, that proficiency in English and support for English as the official language of the United States among Latino Americans increased over generational status, and that Hispanic Americans are no less religious or hard-working than white Americans are.
Latinidad
Latinidad is a Spanish-language term that refers to the various attributes shared by Latin American people and their descendants without reducing those similarities to any single essential trait. It was first adopted within US Latino studies by the sociologist Felix Padilla in his 1985 study of Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in Chicago, and has since been used by a wide range of scholars as a way to speak of Latino/a communities and cultural practices outside a strictly Latin American context. As a social construct, "latinidad" references "a particular geopolitical experience but it also contains within it the complexities and contradictions of immigration, (post)(neo)colonialism, race, color, legal status, class, nation, language and the politics of location." As a theoretical concept "latinidad" is a useful way to discuss amalgamations of Latin American cultures and communities outside of any singular national frame. "Latinidad" also names the result of forging a shared cultural identity out of disparate elements in order to wield political and social power through pan-Latino/a solidarity. Rather than be defined as any singular phenomenon, understandings of "Latinidad" are contingent on place-specific social relations.
Latin American Canadians
Latin Americans comprise a heterogeneous variation of ancestral and racial origins that span from South and North America to Europe, Africa, and Asia. Therefore, a Latin American can be of any race, but the most frequent races found in the region are Mestizos, Whites, Indigenous Americans, Blacks, and Asians
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.
Hispanic
While originally the term referred primarily to the Hispanos of New Mexico within the United States, today, organizations in the country use the term as a broad catchall to refer to persons with a historical and cultural relationship with Spain, such as Equatorial Guinea and Philippines which are- regardless of race and ethnicity. The U.S. Census Bureau defines the ethnonym "Hispanic or Latino" to refer to "a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race" and states that Hispanics or Latinos can be of any race, any ancestry, any ethnicity. Generically, this limits the definition of Hispanic or Latino to people from the Caribbean, Central and South America, or other Hispanic (Spanish) culture or origin, regardless of race. Latino can refer to males or females, while Latina refers to only females.
Afro-Latin Americans
These critics maintain that a majority of Puerto Ricans are ethnically mixed, but do not feel the need to identify as such. They argue, furthermore, that Puerto Ricans tend to assume that they are of African, Native American, and European ancestry and only identify themselves as "mixed" if parents visibly "appear" to be of some other ethnicity. It should also be noted that Puerto Rico underwent a "whitening" process while under U.S. rule. The census-takers at the turn of the 20th Century recorded a huge disparity in the number of "black" and "white" Puerto Ricans (both, erroneous skin classifications) between the 1910 and 1920 censuses. The term "black" suddenly began to disappear from one census to another (within 10 years' time), possibly due to redefinition. It also appears that the "black" element within the culture was simply disappearing possibly due to the popular idea that in the U.S. one could only advance economically and socially if one were to pass for "white".
Casta
A Spanish term meaning "native born and raised", "criollo" historically was applied to both white and black non-indigenous persons born in America, in addition to animals and products. Because of the lack of white people in the Spanish colonies, during the first generations after the conquest, legitimately-born biological criollos were simply considered "españoles criollos" (see, Hyperdescent). In today's historiography, the term "criollo" means only the white people Born in America, who had unmixed Spanish or European ancestry both matrilineal and patrilineal. In the reality of the period, as noted, many criollos ended up interbreeding with the financially successful mestizos and castizos, who physically appeared white, but had some native ancestry. The knowledge of mixed ancestry was usually disregarded for families that had maintained a certain status and they were accepted as criollos.
Hispanic–Latino naming dispute
The U.S. government has defined "Hispanic or Latino" persons as being "persons who trace their origin [to] ... Central and South America, and other Spanish cultures". The Census Bureau's 2010 census provides a definition of the terms "Latino" and "Hispanic": "Hispanic or Latino" refers to a person of Mexican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race. It allows respondents to self-define whether they were Latino or Hispanic and then identify their specific country or place of origin. On its website, the Census Bureau defines "Hispanic" or "Latino" persons as being "persons who trace their origin [to] ... Spanish-speaking Central and South America countries, and other Spanish cultures".
Mexican Americans
Legally, Mexican Americans could vote and hold elected office, however, it was not until the creation of organizations such as the League of United Latin America Citizens and the G.I. Forum that Mexican Americans began to achieve political influence. Edward Roybal's election to the Los Angeles City Council in 1949 and then to Congress in 1962 also represented this rising Mexican American political power. In the late 1960s the founding of the Crusade for Justice in Denver in and the land grant movement in New Mexico in 1967 set the bases for what would become the Chicano (Mexican American) nationalism. The 1968 Los Angeles school walkouts expressed Mexican American demands to end segregation, increase graduation rates, and reinstate a teacher fired for supporting student organizing. A notable event in the Chicano movement was the 1972 Convention of La Raza Unida (United People) Party, which organized with the goal of creating a third party that would give Chicanos political power in the U.S.
In the past, Mexicans were legally considered "White" because either they were considered to be of full Spanish heritage, or because of early treaty obligations to Spaniards and Mexicans that conferred citizenship status to Mexican peoples at a time when whiteness was a prerequisite for US citizenship. Although Mexican Americans were legally classified as "White" in terms of official federal policy, many organizations, businesses, and homeowners associations and local legal systems had official policies to exclude Mexican Americans. Throughout the southwest discrimination in wages were institutionalized in "white wages" versus lower "Mexican wages" for the same job classifications. For Mexican Americans, opportunities for employment were largely limited to guest worker programs. The bracero program, which began in 1942 and officially ended in 1964, allowed them temporary entry into the U.S. as migrant workers in farms throughout California and the Southwest.
Race and ethnicity in Latin America
Blanqueamiento, or whitening, is a social, political, and economic practice used to "improve" the race (mejorar la raza) towards whiteness. The term blanqueamiento is rooted in Latin America and is used more or less synonymous with racial whitening. However, blanqueamiento can be considered in both the symbolic and biological sense Symbolically, blanqueamiento represents an ideology that emerged from legacies of European colonialism, described by Anibal Quijano's theory of coloniality of power, which caters to white dominance in social hierarchies Biologically, blanqueamiento is the process of whitening by marrying a lighter skinned individual in order to produce lighter-skinned offspring.
White Brazilians
For example, Brazilian writer, Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, was a mulatto. However, once he gained fame and prestige, people started to accept him as a white man, and on his death certificate he was classified as a "white man". Better educated and wealthier Brazilians usually see themselves as whites (a strict association between wealth and whiteness). A study showed that when mixed-race Brazilians get wealthier they start to be perceived as whites by others, who usually avoid associating a wealthy person with a non-white racial category. But only mixed-race people can "become white" when they get richer, while typically black people will always be perceived as blacks, no matter how rich they get.
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census
Use of the word "ethnicity" for Hispanics only is considerably more restricted than its conventional meaning, which covers other distinctions, some of which are covered by the "race" and "ancestry" questions. The distinct questions accommodate the possibility of Hispanic and Latino Americans' also declaring various racial identities (see also White Hispanic and Latino Americans, Asian Latinos, and Black Hispanic and Latino Americans).
Mexican Americans
While of racial segregation and discrimination against both Mexican American and African American minorities were subject to segregation and racial discrimination, they were treated differently. There were legal racial demarcations between whites and blacks in a state like Texas, whereas the line between whites and Mexican Americans was not legally defined. Mexican Americans could attend white schools and colleges (which were racially segregated against blacks), mix socially with whites and, marry whites. These choices were prohibited to African Americans under state laws. Racial segregation operated separately from economic class and was rarely as rigid for Mexican Americans as it was for African Americans. For instance, even when some African Americans in Texas enjoyed higher economic status than Mexican Americans (or whites) in an area, they were still segregated by law.
White people
A three-part racial schema in color terms was used in seventeenth-century Latin America under Spanish rule. Irene Silverblatt traces "race thinking" in South America to the social categories of colonialism and state formation: "White, black, and brown are abridged, abstracted versions of colonizer, slave, and colonized." By the mid-seventeenth century, the novel term "español" ("Spaniard") was being equated in written documents with "blanco", or "white". In Spain's American colonies, African, Native American ("indios"), Jewish, or morisco ancestry formally excluded individuals from the "purity of blood" ("limpieza de sangre") requirements for holding any public office under the Royal Pragmatic of 1501. Similar restrictions applied in the military, some religious orders, colleges, and universities, leading to a nearly all-white priesthood and professional stratum. Blacks and "indios" were subject to tribute obligations and forbidden to bear arms, and black and "indio" women were forbidden to wear jewels, silk, or precious metals in early colonial Mexico and Peru. Those "pardos" (people with dark skin) and "mulattos" (people of mixed African and European ancestry) with resources largely sought to evade these restrictions by passing as white. A brief royal offer to buy the privileges of whiteness for a substantial sum of money attracted fifteen applicants before pressure from white elites ended the practice.
White Colombians
White Colombians are the Colombian descendants of European (overwhelmingly Spanish) and Middle Eastern (primarily Lebanese and Syrian) people, who self identify as such. According to the 2005 Census 85% of Colombians do not identify with any ethnic group, thus being either White or Mestizo, which are not categorized separately. It is nevetherless estimated that 37% of the Colombian population can be categorized as white, forming the second largest racial group after mestizos (at 49%). Genetic research with over 60,000 blood tests and 25 variables, determined that the average Colombian (of all races) has an admixture of 70% European, 20% native Amerindian and 10% African ancestry, with these proportions varying widely among regions and ethnicities.
Steve Sailer
Rodolfo Acuña, a Chicano studies professor, regards Sailer's statements on this subject as providing "a pretext and a negative justification for discriminating against US Latinos in the context of US history". Acuña claimed that listing Latinos as non-white gives Sailer and others "the opportunity to divide Latinos into races, thus weakening the group by setting up a scenario where lighter-skinned Mexicans are accepted as Latinos or Hispanics and darker-skinned Latinos are relegated to an underclass". Sailer considers Hispanic a non-racial characterization.
Latino
Neither "Hispanic" nor "Latino" refers to a race, as a person of Latino/Hispanic ethnicity can be of any race. Like non-Latinos, a Latino can be of any race or combination of races: White American / Caucasian, Black / African American, Asian American, Native American / Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander American, or two or more ethnicities. While Brazilian Americans are not included with Hispanics and Latinos in the government's census population reports, any Brazilian American can report as being Hispanic or Latino since Hispanic or Latino origin is, like race or ethnicity, a matter of self-identification.
It's OK to be white
It's okay to be white or It's OK to be white (IOTBW) is a slogan based on a poster campaign organized on the American imageboard 4chan in 2017, as a "proof of concept" that a "harmless message" would cause a media backlash. Posters and stickers containing the sentence "It's okay to be white" have been placed in streets in the United States as well as on campuses in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom. The slogan has been spread by Fox News host Tucker Carlson, and racist groups including neo-Nazis and white supremacists.
Arizona SB 1070
However, there are ongoing arguments in legal journal articles that racial profiling does exist and threatens human security, particularly community security of the Mexicans living in the United States. India Williams argues that the Border Patrol is very likely to stop anyone if a suspect resembles "Mexican appearance" and states that such generalization of unchangeable physical features threatens the culture and the heritage of the ethnic group. Andrea Nill argues that it is only a small portion of Mexicans and Latinos that are illegal immigrants, but there is a demonization and illogical discrimination of Latino community by giving less respect, rights, and freedoms, whereas white American citizens will never have to worry about being stopped by the police due to their skin color.
Mestizos in the United States
Mestizos are overrepresented in the U.S. mass media and in general American social perceptions, as "Hispanic" and "Latino" are often mistakenly given racial values, usually non-white and mixed race, such as mestizo or mulatto, in spite of the racial diversity of Hispanic and Latino Americans, while they are overlooked in the U.S. Hispanic mass media and in general U.S. Hispanic social perceptions; critics have accused the U.S. Hispanic mass media of overlooking the mestizo and other multiracial Hispanic populations, the Latin-American Indigenous peoples and the black Hispanic populations by over-representation of blond and blue/green-eyed white Hispanic and Latino Americans, and also light-skinned mulatto and mestizo Hispanic and Latino Americans.
Race (human categorization)
The term "Hispanic" as an ethnonym emerged in the 20th century with the rise of migration of laborers from the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America to the United States. Today, the word "Latino" is often used as a synonym for "Hispanic". The definitions of both terms are non-race specific, and include people who consider themselves to be of distinct races (Black, White, Amerindian, Asian, and mixed groups). However, there is a common misconception in the US that Hispanic/Latino is a race or sometimes even that national origins such as Mexican, Cuban, Colombian, Salvadoran, etc. are races. In contrast to "Latino" or "Hispanic", "Anglo" refers to non-Hispanic White Americans or non-Hispanic European Americans, most of whom speak the English language but are not necessarily of English descent.
White Americans
In U.S. census documents, the designation "White" overlaps, as do all other official racial categories, with the term "Hispanic or Latino", which was introduced in the 1980 census as a category of ethnicity, separate and independent of race. Hispanic and Latino Americans as a whole make up a racially diverse group and as a whole are the largest minority in the country.
Latino
The U.S. government's Office of Management and Budget has defined "Hispanic or Latino" people as being those who "trace their origin or descent to Mexico, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central, and South America (other than Guyana, French Guiana, and Suriname), and other Spanish cultures". The United States Census uses the ethnonym "Hispanic or Latino" to refer to "a person of Dominican, Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race". The Census Bureau also explains that "[o]rigin can be viewed as the heritage, nationality group, lineage, or country of birth of the person or the person’s ancestors before their arrival in the United States. People who identify their origin as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish may be of any race." Hence the U.S. Census and the OMB are using the terms differently. The U.S. Census and the OMB use the terms interchangeably, where both terms are synonyms. According to a study by the Pew Research Center, the majority (51%) of Hispanic and Latino Americans prefer to identify with their families' country of origin, while only 24% prefer the term "Hispanic" or "Latino".