What is my ethnicity?

Question

I have asked a question about Latinos and I got so many people offended, I really didn't mean to. But it's got me thinking about my ehnicity. Am I white or am I European?? Am I the same ethnicity as Americans? Am I western or am I the same ethnicity as say Russians because they have white skin too? I am really confused. I hear Latinos are anybody who speaks spanish, so does that mean I am the same ethnicity as everybody who speaks English? How does a language define what ethnicity I am? If the nearly all of South America speak spanish does that make them all one ethnicity?

If it's where your from then wouldn't that just be your nationality. How can all of south america be one ethnicity. Some people live here and they are not the same sthnicity as me, so I don't think it's a thing about where you live.

I'm not obsessed, it's just I was wondering about the one thing then I started thinking about another, lol. It makes a change about the war! lol

Right...here I go again! lol, is it wrong to call ourselves white or black. Do some people get offended by the word black? I did use negroid before and someone was offended and said they wanted to be called black, but then I have heared so many people say Black is offensive. What the hell do you say?? If the police were describing a suspect they would say caucasian or whatever, so what is wrong with saying negroid?

I usually call myself white or Welsh. So white is a race and welsh is my nationality, you can have black welsh people.....so I have no ethnicity, lol. Must be the only one in the world = )

So lemme get this right? My ethnicity is white? But Russians are white and I don't think they are the same ethnicity as me! lmao, I'm going round in circles here! I know that I have welsh surnames such as Griffiths, the Welsh are Celts, is that an ethnic group? Am I Celtic?

2 questions is not going on about it. I hate when things like this happen on these boards, I hate arguing with people. I am not against anything, I don't get why people use labels, I am bound to use a few in my question to understand where it all comes from. If you were to decribe someone, what would you say? I know you might say black but some people find that offensive. I know the n word is offensive but the other word is not, it is a scientific term. I was merely trying to find out what to call someone. I know I'm confused, but I am trying to rectify that! When you said you hated me, you must of been offended to use such a harsh word. Someone saying they hated me actually made me write another question! I would like to know why some people find the whole race and ethnicity subject so hard to discuss. I have no problem just calling myself white, but it is obviously more complex in other parts of the world.

Ms tee, look at your answer for 'is the myth about black men true' I think we can see how all the labelling comes about. How many stereotypical views could you cram in one answer!

Ok lets stop this! I did not mean to offend you what so ever, if I have I am truely sorry! Oh I can't even try to explain where I am coming from! it's just useless. Just put it this way, if I went to a black area and somebody called me white then I wouldn't find it a problem. It's the colour of your skin and used to describe someone's appearance, not the way they are or their personality. I don't get the whole Latino thing because that is a language thing, how can you be described as something simply because you speak Spanish?

What do you mean?!?! For christ sake. You are not leaving me alone! I am trying my hardest to say sorry to you and trying my hardest to explain why I said this! and you are still writing and writing really harsh things about me! Jesus, some people are more inocent than others and some people don't actually know that the word negro (which is what I thought was the proper word) was offensive. I have said sorry a million times and you still carry on like I'm calling everyone the N***** word. Jesus! Not everyone is out there to put people down and if they say things by mistake you should take it as just that! Not a racial attack from someone who is being racist on purpose. Chill out! Maybe in the flippin us people say negro as a disrespectful word, but trust me I NEVER thought it was.

Answer 1

You are confusing race and ethnicity. If you want to determine your race, you must first determine your ethnicity. Hispanics can be any race, and often are a mix of races (usually American Indian and white). Some hispanics are of the white race. Most white hispanics come from Spanish or Portuguese ethnicities, but some white hispanics come from other European ethnicities. Ask your relatives or trace your genealogy back in time to determine what ethnicities you came from. If the vast majority of your ancestors are from white European ethnicities, then you are white. If not, then you are something else.

p.s. Ethnicity is largely the nation and/or culture that you and your ancestors come from. This can be complicated in the Americas because your ancestors probably migrated to the Americas. For example, I live in the United States, so it could be said that my ethnicity is American. However, my ancestors migrated to America between 1630 and 1740 from England, Scotland, and Germany. So it could also be said that my ethnic background is English, Scottish, and German.

If you live in the Americas and want to determine your race then you must first find out what your ancestor's ethnic background is. In other words, you must find out where your ancestors migrated from (unless, of course, they are American Indian).

p.p.s. Race is a classification system to describe human diversity. There is a lot of debate about how to classify the races, or whether races actually exist. To keep it simple, we will assume that there are four races: caucasoid (aka white), negroid (aka black), mongoloid (aka asian), and American Indian. Welsh, Russian, and all other European ethnicities are a part of the Caucasoid Race (aka the white race). Even the "black Welsh" are white because they are not black like negroid blacks. The "black Welsh" are called black because they are Caucasoids with dark features such as dark hair and dark colored eyes. Also, it is technically correct to call blacks negroids, but many blacks find that offensive, so you probably should just call them blacks.

Answer 2

Race is defined as a subspecies that interbreeds.
For example, all monkeys are a species. Macaques will only mate with same subspecies, as will Capuchin monkeys.

Now if we extrapolate to humanity, where we are inter-fertile, we can equate race to biological ethnicity.
So if a black person is born in London, their nationality is British but they are not English as English are Caucasians. Their race remains African- iof both parents were full-blooded negros.

The PC crowd have tried to confuse a simple concept into an idealogical construct where there is no such terms as race or ethnicity as these are class structures, whereby cerain races deem themselves superior to others and we result in a class society based on race, rather than merit.

If you are of Spanish descent, but your family has been successively born in Wales, with no interbreeding with the indigenous Welsh, then you remain Spanish- though you may be super-fluent in Welsh and sing a mean chorale.
That means you are a Welsh lady of Spanish extraction.

If you are indeed Spanish, Spaniards are classified as Caucasians & Europeans- though of a different subset to the Teuton, Nordic and Celtic Caucasians indigenous to the UK.

Answer 3

Ethnicity is frequently meaningless. Most especially so in a place like the UK where there are nationality, religious and racial mixtures if you even go back to grandparents. Birth or passport nationality is a universally acceptable ethnicity even if people argue about what it means. There is no objective definition: on the UK census form British people of complex backgrounds often fill in "Other." In the UK there is no generally accepted content for the term Latino: in the US the term "Hispanic" has been invented for social engineering and monitoring purposes but outside a specific context is also meaningless.

Answer 4

If you want to find out what ethnic group you belong to start with race. What race do you belong to. A lot of people here in the United States are of the caucasian race. If you're Caucasian, then what specifically are you, are you German, Irish, Italian, Polish, Swedish, Greek? Just think in these terms. Forget about languages for now. That's just going to confuse you even more. BTW Americans are of many different ethnicities. as far as anybody who speaks english, anglophone anybody?

If your Welsh that's your ethinic group right there, BTW the Irish and the Scottish are your closely related cousins. And your race is the Caucasian, European race, All clear?

Answer 5

Your cultural background defines your ethnicity along with the race that you are classified as- some more obvious than others. The language you speak comes from the culture you are raised in- if you are born in the US of Spanish descent- culturally you are Spanish if you choose to embrace that or you can just be plain old American if you choose o ignore your traditions and just speak English. All humans will identify with a group (ethnicity) because we are social animals. You can choose your group by identify with the culture (language) you were raised in or have other define it for you

Answer 6

Do you recommend Nationality or Ethnicity - Nationality may be chinese language yet Ethnicity is Asian, Black, community American, White, Pacific Islander. Ethnicity isn't comparable to Nationality

Answer 7

Yes you have certainly got your self tied up in a few knots here haven't you? You appear to have turned this into a running debate, why try to justify your ethnicity? It's not in the least bit important, except to some really narrow minded folk who will eventually learn that we are all one people, we all had parents and family we all bleed when we are hurt, all our blood is red (except for a very few English who think their blood is blue)!!
I am Scottish, not all Scots think as I do of course but I have Scottish friends who are of many different races, they don't care and I don't care, why should you?

Answer 8

Heh, I am with you! The whole ethnicity thing is a quagmire!

Arabs live in Asia but resent being referred to as Asian; they see themselves as Arabs. I have no problem with that. I always say I married an Arab not an Asian.

All my Asian friends here refer to me as a Whitey. I am British and extremely white skinned.

For my money you should stick to calling yourself a Celt. It has a wonderful ring to it.

In reality with the world population constantly in flux and moving country at a the drop of a plane ticket, ethnicity becomes simply a media issue.

Answer 9

Yes you are. Since your ancestors hailed from Wales before they came to Latin America I would call you Welsh. A person's ethnicity does not dissappear after their family moves from one place to another. Blood is blood and it will always stay regardless of Geography.

Answer 10

Why are you so obsessed with it? Where are your parents from?? I'm not sure that "american" is an ethnic group. It is a nationality. If your parents are from america and you have blonde, blue eyes, or fair skin, you are a white american. If you are NOT from America(your parents I mean) then you are just white. Or European(if your parents are from Europe)