When is a "Hispanic" not "White"
The following is a pet peeve of mine. Living in the US, whenever I hear people talk about those of Hispanic heritage, they are spoken of as "non-white" And Anglos always refer to themselves as white.
There is much fallacy in this.
Spaniards are like other Southern Europeans. They are Caucasian just like their French and Italian Brothers and sisters. In Andalucia you may find some a little darker due to the Arab-Muslim influence of hundreds of years ago.
When these white Spaniards set out to conquer the New World, they did not bring their women with them so they took the native "indigenas" as their mates.
In Mexico and Guatemala, and the rest of Central America, most of the folks you meet will either be full blooded Indians or a blend of both Indian and white---with varying percentages---some being mostly Indian and some being mostly white.
Many Norteamericanos are surprised to find people in Mexico who are really white. This is due to later immigrations of Spaniards and other Europeans to the country, among whom are many of Irish descent. However the majority of Mexicans do have some Indian blood. You will find, however many black people, some second or third generation who consider themselves Mexican.
Mexican is a nationality--not a race. Same with Guatamalan, Costa Rican and so on. There is a veritable rainbow of colors in these countries just as in the US. When you get to Argentina, for example, you won't find many people of Indian background. After WW II there was a mass immigration from Germany and Italy to that country. Even the present Pope (from Argentina) is of Italian ancestry. On the other hand, in Ecuador the Indian people and culture are dominant. There are some whites around but very few. Most are full-blooded Indian while some are a blend of both races.
Many times when meeting someone new after telling them my name and speaking in Spanish to them, they'll say--"But you're white!! I guess it's because there aren't very many Spaniards or Argentinians or white Cubans in California. In New York, there are many Spaniards and many light-skinned Puerto Ricans. I have some great Puerto Rican friends who are lighter than I and have blond hair.
Just remember that "Hispanic" refers to a language group of people of various colors who all have Spanish as their first language and "Anglo" is also a language group of people of various colors who all have English as their first language.
5 Answers
When I was in college I had a number of Hispanic friends, and one was particularly intellectual so we would discuss things like this. He knew his ancestry to be 1/16 Irish, 2/16 Native American, and 13/16 Spanish. He got very upset when I told him he was white, and definitely at least as white as my blonde haired blue eyed stepfather (who is half Polish, 1/8 Native American, and the remainder probably British and French). It did not match his political views, and desire to not be included in with Gringos.
Then of course I would discuss with him exactly where are the borders of who is what race. It is easy to take widely separated populations and characterize them as being different. Much harder to say exactly what race people are across a gradation, without creating more and more races to take care of each group.
There is more genetic diversity within Africa than there is between any group that is not from within Africa. Are we really going to say that a Khoisan and a West African Bantu are the same race, and then subdivide non-Africans.
Ethnicity makes sense to me on a scientific basis, the existence of a few definable races never has.
What race are Samoyedic peoples, Dravidians, or Berbers?
Well noted Dani . But because of our global living I doubt this idea holds water.
In England I noticed recently that I was hard pressed to find what I believed
were white anglo saxon English , they were few and far between.
And here in OZ we are not really "white" , and I have never heard our
new Australian settlers from Mexico, Colombia, Chilly, Peru, Argentina
or any of the countries of middle and south America being referred to as black
it just does not happen .
There were a group of Australians that set up a colony in"Paraguay"
Their descendants are still living there*, they are definitely not white.
The New Australians of South America
Nearly 120 years ago an idealistic bunch of Australians set sail for South America to build their utopia.
Australian Colonist circa 1893
As an example I will take my Mexican grandmothers attitude (she taught everyone equally in a one room school house in Oklahoma). People are people & respect brings knowledge beneficial to all, i.e. skin color is physiology, NOT a danger.
In america, it is super common to differentiate Hispanic as a separate race. Most Hispanics in America consist of Mexican migrants who are mostly a mix of native American and white European (mestizo). They, however, do not see themselves as white or Amerindios. They themselves embrace their latin heritage as a separate race, and so do most people. Even on applications, U.S. census polls, crime stats, etc, Hispanic is a racial identity. Mexican has become a race of its own, so much to the point where talking bad about Mexico or Mexican people in general is considered "racist". Just look at our U.S. presidential election and the ever so controversial nominee, Donald Trump. In south America, I've witnessed an even greater racial divide with white Latinos renouncing their fellow countrymen with sangre indio.
