Are Europeans ( or European-descended Americans or others) all "white"??

Question

For instance, the particular ethnicities I'm thinking of are mostly the Latin Europeans such as Spaniards, Portuguese, and Italians, and then also the other southern Mediterranean Europeans such as Greeks for example. Do you think they're all "white" , per se ? Particularly interested to hear the opinions of "non-white" people on this issue as well.

Also, why are the Latin Europeans, from where the whole Latin culture and the Latin languages, etc, came into central and south America, why are they not (usually) called "Latins" today anymore in America? In reality, though, they ARE of a Latin culture and speak Latin (based) languages just like all the people we call "Latinos" in America today (there are even a lot of certain cultural similarities between Spaniards, Italians, Portuguese, and central and south Americans for example).

Answer 1

Look, purely scientifically speaking there are truly only three "races" within the larger human race : Caucasoid, Mongoloid (these make up "East Asian" as we call it today), and ******* (these are "sub-saharan black African"). Thus, if you're not from East or southeast Asia, and you're not an African or African-American , then you are, theoretically at least, a "Caucasian". Or a "Caucasoid" human being. This goes to such things as basic facial features, skull shapes, and so on. Caucasoid even applies to people such as Indians and Pakistanis, at least in most cases, regardless of skin tone. Definitely Caucasoid applies to Arabs and other "Semites". The word Semite for example is just a linguistic definition, nothing more, like "Hispanic". It doesn't mean they are a different "race" besides Caucasoid. In the case of American Hispanics they are a different ethnicity because of their mixed (and still strong) native American "blood" and their Latin European influence(s). But they are still technically Caucasoid, or "Caucasian" , by strict scientific standards.

So, are Italians, etc, Caucasians? Sure. Are they "white" in the popular American sense of the word? It's debatable, I guess; it's been debated about them since they started coming to America in fact. It depends on the individual I suppose. Alot of them think that they are "white", at least. And some of them sense or feel that they're something besides. Same with Greeks. Americans tend to view "white" however as indicating being of northern or northwestern European heritage, English, German, Scandinavian, etc. Being tall, pale skinned, with (natural) blonde, or maybe red, hair, and blue eyes. The rest of what "white" is , again at least here in the US, is basically purely socially-constructed, as someone else here said above. So , again, it would depend on the individual I suppose. Some point out that Italians, particularly from south of Rome, likely have some degree of "African" in them, and likely they do if you go back far enough. Ignorant guys I know will say things like, this is why they'll date black girls, and why they wear running suits and do-rags and listen to rap. But that's how things are at least here in the US; as somebody else here said, we're obsessed with the "black / white" issue.

By "Latin culture" I think the original question asker meant to point to just that ; cultural similarities . Obviously Latin itself is a dead language. But people can and are definitely still called "Latins", again at least here in the US, and when they are we usually mean it in a primarily cultural sense. Usually it has to do with certain probably again stereotypical things in many cases, such as , maybe for instance, devout Roman Catholicism, such as religious medals, etc, large close-knit families, maybe loud voices, hot tempers, maybe quick to get physically aggressive sometimes, passionate "lovers". And also of course being speakers of a language that is directly derived from old Latin, which Italian is quite close to linguistically. Theoretically, Italians therefore, regardless of their hair or eye color or skin tone, might well have even more right to the designation "latino" than do the Mexicans , and so on, since the Mexicans , islanders, some South Americans, so on, are actually "mixed" people still clearly showing (in many cases) their native American ancestry along with their Latin European influence(s). They would probably be better described as "Hispanic native Americans". While Latin European-descended peoples, such as Italians or French or Portuguese for example, would probably best be described as "Non-Hispanic Latins", I mean if we really wanted to get technical about everything. Also, for that matter, Italian and French are called sometimes the "Latin / Romance" languages. So then, we'd have to describe the speakers of them as "Latin Romantics"?? lol. And think of all the "choice" boxes we'd have whenever we filled out anything that asked for "race/ ethnicity", as much as I dislike those anyway. Peace.

Answer 2

I'm a white American, and to be honest I kind of think of Italians, Greeks, etc, as being sort of somewhere in between white and "other" let's say. They're not black, obviously, and today we classify Mexicans , central and south Americans as Hispanics usually (but yeah usually Latino sometimes too, so , I dont' know i guess you could theretically call an Italian or Portuguese or what ever a Latino too maybe). My dad told me before that in the 50's and 60's they used to call Italians Latins here in America, and yeah probably due to cultural things more so than much else, like Italian actors such as Marcello Mastroanni and Rudolph Valentino - they were called "Latin lovers" in their day. Today they tend to call "Latinos" mostly referring to Mexicans or other central or south Americans though. So I don't know. It's all a sociatal construct in my opinion and America is a race and ethnicity crazed society, it's something we always think about and obcess with. At least I think it is.

Answer 3

I gather your American here. For a start Latin is old roman language. The expression here in Europe is we don't refer to each other here as latin ok! I think you need to rewrite your question again. Latin and Spanish are two different languages

Answer 4

This is my opinion:

White is an attitude, a way of being raised, not a distinction. For example, a "white" person can attend an all black school and love the culture and the women, and I'll consider him my "brother." I'll tell him he's black; I have one and he says the "n" word sometimes and everyone doesn't even care..

But then, they are the preppy, private school Republican/Christian based kids who are white. A European is a European. The only person I'd call white is an American.

Answer 5

Either someone is "white" or they're not. White usually translates as either Anglo, in which case they (your European Latinos) aren't white, or European, in which case they are. Unless they're mixed. In which case they're mixed. Latinized Indians have their own ethnic and racial identities since they are mixed.
When people say white they usually mean Caucasian. Best to switch to ancestries rather than paint colors, since the whole concept of white has become open for discussion to people who aren't and therefore think it's a concept rather than an ethnicity.
Ancestries...European, European American, etc.

Answer 6

ALL Europeans are also called caucasians (white) end of story.

and yes.. latin people can be white ..
i'm a white brazilian or i can call myself a white latin .. .. .. i'm latin but not hispanic.. my country does not speak Spanish.. so we're not hispanic .. we speak Portuguese.

Answer 7

well latin people are quite dark, so i guess they are white in a way, but some italians are quite dark. I do not see as it matters though. They are not white as blonde hair and blue eyes swedish and German people. I have blonde hair and blue eyes and i think they are quite dark.

Answer 8

Spain,italy and france all were conquered by negroes.