why do people assume latinos are brown? there are lots of latinos that are considered white by the U.S. census

Question

b/c they are white, latino just means you were born in a spanish speaking country, it has nothing to do with race , yet people are soo ignorant they assume mexicans for ex. are short and dark, if you google alexis bledel, who plays rory on gilmore girls , you'll know i'm right, she's latina, or hispanic , whatever the term you may use for spanish speaking people is and she is a very pale, blue eyed tall girl, with chestnut hair-btw she is mexican and argentinan and she didnt know how to speak english until she went to kindergarten b/c she only knew spanish,

you know it is possible for there to be white hispanics, what do you consider people from spain? they are white and a lot of their descendants went to latin america..if i know this much ..why are people soo ignorant?

Answer 1

Plenty of ignorant people in this world. My cousin has blue eyes, blond hair, and is Mexican/American...and therefore, Hispanic. This came as a surprise tof two young men making rude comments about her in Spanish when she was working with me stateside one year.

The U.S.Census doesn't actually label Latino's/Hispanics as being any race, and does not, itself, assign individuals to any racial category at all.

The Census tracks "race" and "ethnicity" as two separate entries. Respondent's get to choose which race and ethnicity they identify with, the census taker only marks their response.

Sample races are White, Black, American Indian, Asian, Pacific Islander, "Other", Two or More Races, (and there may be a couple of others, but those are the fields I generally use in presentations). (see SF3 data set, table P6 race)

The only ethnicity options I can recall are "Hispanic/Latino" or "Non-Hispanic/Latino".

The race and ethnicity are then cross referenced to produce a table that say "White, Non- Hispanic Origin" "White, Hispanic" "Black Non-Hispanic", "Black Hispanic" etc.
(see SF3 data set, table P7 Race by Hispanic origin)

Generally, in newspapers & other articles, when "Hispanic" or "Latino" is treated as a "racial" group, the non-hispanic parts of the table are not labeled correctly. The "White", "Black", "Asian" and other categories should always be clearly marked as "non-Hispanic" portions of those populations so that it is clear that Hispanic/Latino members of those racial group are not being double counted.

I get to explain this to local public officials, residents, and reporters on a fairly regular basis. It's kind of fun.

Answer 2

Yes, I know it. But in the case of the US census you shouldn't take it too seriously. I mean, 50% of the latinos in the US are white? LMAO. Probably not more than 20%. Usually only the ones in Florida may be white, the ones in the southwest are overwhelmingly non-white.

According to the Mexican census 10% of Mexicans are white. According to the US census 50% of Mexicans Americans are white!!!

To the answer above me I ask him to research the meaning of the word latino. If there someone in Latin America should be called "latino", they should be the whites. Because white Latin Americans usually comes from Latin Europe.

Answer 3

Latino is a type of people that is not limited to only speaking Spanish. That's Hispanic.

There are some "Latino" people who shouldn't be considered Latino because they're not, like the White people that live in Chile and Argentina. They're not Latino and therefore should not be classified as such. People from Mexico, Latin America, and South America can be Latino as well. They're mostly mestizo, which I think most people and the government would consider Latino.

Answer 4

why do you want to classify them as white- why can't they just be Latinos-do you consider the darker Latinos black or Afro- Latinos- they would still be Latino since they originated from Spanish speaking countries- but for those in Central and South America- they are a combination of French, Spanish, Portuguese, and various countries n Africa as a result of the transatlantic slave trade.. the French and Spanish and a small number of Portuguese explorer claimed the land in South and Central America and integrated with each other--why do you want to differentiate them-really?

Answer 5

Latino doesn't mean you were born in a Spanish speaking country. It means you are of Latin descent, meaning your ancestors can be traced throughout the history of a Latin country.

Just because the US Census Bureau allows people who are partially Latino to call themselves Latino doesn't make them truly Latino.

Answer 6

Any educated person will know that Latinos are a mixture of African, Indian, and European cultures. Latinos can be light, medium, or darker tone just like African-Americans. Interesting question...however, are "white" Hispanics considered and accepted as "white" by whites in the US??? I think we all know that answer!!!

Answer 7

The country does not have anything to do with the color of skin. There are white natives from countries throughout the world.mostly born of whites who have colonized those countries. In my birth country, there are many mestizos born of American and European descent. In fact both my paternal and maternal great-grandfathers were Spaniards. We spoke Castillano.

Answer 8

It isn't ignorance. The majority are of Indian descent, and only some are of a less brown color skinned, influenced by the Spanish descent in their geneology. No big deal.

Answer 9

I know I find this very annoying! And if someone is brown people automatically assume they are Mexican! They could be Panamanian or from Honduras for all you know. I'm full Mexican and have naturally pale skin. My great grandfather had blond hair blue eyes!

Answer 10

Believing all Hispanics are brown is like saying that all black people have large lips.. not true.......or All Jews have large noses... not true.

It's all just stereotypes. Simple as that!