latino as a race?

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Don Juan

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You included "latino" in your category. let me tell you, "latino" is not, repeat, not a race of people. The so called Latino was invented by confused anglo-americans when encountering a group of peoples of mixed heritage. Mainly inmigrants from spanish-speaking countries. To this day , pure blacks,whites,chinese, are all refered to as latinos if they happen to speak spanish. I happen to be the offspring of spaniards but don't call me spanish or latino. I'm a Dominican.
 
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Apr 26, 2002
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True, Mr. Juan. But it is, for the time being, a convenient yet not perfect way to distinguish between ethnicities in general (Tunisians are not "black", but aren't they "African Americans").

I kind of like the idea that Latino identity transends race. Sometime in the next thirty or so years, the majority of people answering the census survey in the US will check off "mixed". When that blessed day comes, all this racial mierda del toro will come to an end.
 

mkohn

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I know a woman who crosses off 'hispanic' and writes in 'latina.' It's her choice.
Not so long ago, the forms didn't include 'hispanic' and people of Latin America and Spain were expected to check off white.
Someone must have decided against that, hence, 'hispanic' as a category.
I don't know why we are confusing race with nationality any way.
I look forward to the day when race will be a non-issue.
mk
 
Race

a group of people of common ancestry, distinguished from others by physical characteristics, such as hair type, colour of eyes and skin, stature, etc. Principal races are Caucasoid, Mongoloid, and Negroid and this designation is rooted in the European imagination of the Middle East and Africa

a group of animals or plants having common characteristics that distinguish them from other members of the same species, usually forming a geographically isolated group; subspecies

a group of people sharing the same interests, characteristics, etc.


Black and white is not a race thats just a color characteristic of a group of people but in the States, its excepted as a Race Characteristic. Not too many people in the states are walking around saying "I'm Negroid"

Latino/a I see as a Cultural characteristic as is a Dominican being a cultural characteristic of a group of people living in the country of The Dominican Republic. YET there are variable Races within the country of the Dominican Republic mainly mixed with the three dominate races. Negroid, Caucasoid, and Taino( help me someone) I don't know how the scientist distinguish Natives/Indians when it came to these race labels. Anybody have a scientific term?

Latinos are not a race. The terminology "latino" denotes one's cultural and geographic ties to Latin America. A "mexican" would be a resident of the geographic land mass known as Mexico. A "Puerto Rican" would be a resident of the geographic land mass known as Puerto Rico. There is no such thing as the "hispanic race". The term "hispanic" denotes one's linguistic ties to the spanish language. Many chicanos take issue with being called "hispanics".
But anyway

The old-school definitions of 'Mongoloid', 'Negroid' and 'Caucasoid' as the 3 primary races do not encompass the diversity of our planet. For example, the Australoid people fall into none of these categories. Europeans may think Australians resemble black Africans, and class them as 'Negroid', but genetically, they are the most unrelated people in the world. And the Khoisan peoples of Africa are not Negroid, Mongoloid or Caucasoid. Caucasoids are characterized by 'tall stature' in dictionary definitions, but the largest people in the world are the Pacific Islanders, who hail from Mongoloid stock.
 
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carl ericson70

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Don Juan said:
You included "latino" in your category. let me tell you, "latino" is not, repeat, not a race of people. The so called Latino was invented by confused anglo-americans when encountering a group of peoples of mixed heritage. Mainly inmigrants from spanish-speaking countries. To this day , pure blacks,whites,chinese, are all refered to as latinos if they happen to speak spanish. I happen to be the offspring of spaniards but don't call me spanish or latino. I'm a Dominican.

Greetings! I'm no expert on the subject,but I think I read somewhere that second and third generation hispanic americans had major input in the census dept's official categorization for people of south and central american origin.

Anyways,I'd go even further and say-hispanic is not a race nor is it any sort of cultural group(in actuality).I say this because there's a huge amount of cultural differences among central and south americans.For example, dominicans are as culturally distinct from mexicans,as swedes are from italians.

For whatever reason though uncle sam doesn't like the idea of cultural diversity,among those who might happen to speak the same language.Instead has this obsession to have everyone in neat little racial categories and when that doesn't work,they come up with labels like"hispanic".

Carl e.
 

carl ericson70

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On utopia

Porfio_Rubirosa said:
True, Mr. Juan. But it is, for the time being, a convenient yet not perfect way to distinguish between ethnicities in general (Tunisians are not "black", but aren't they "African Americans").

I kind of like the idea that Latino identity transends race. Sometime in the next thirty or so years, the majority of people answering the census survey in the US will check off "mixed". When that blessed day comes, all this racial mierda del toro will come to an end.



I disagree!Most social scientists predict that athough the u.s. pop is one day going to be majority brown or black,whites are going to continue to be the dominant socio-economic group.In other words something more along the lines of brazil,with whites at the top,even though minorities.

Uhhhh! in terms of wether or not when the above takes place,we'll be living in a color-blind society.I seriously doubt it.I think that there's always going to be an element of racism,classism,color & caste prejudices etc.. in u.s. society.Regardless of wether or not the majotity is mixed.Once again......look at our neighbor to the south:Brazil,which has alot of racism & socio-economic inequalities,associated with race.

Hate to be a pessimist,but..................

Carl e
 

Larry

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Mar 22, 2002
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Quote:
Most social scientists predict that athough the u.s. pop is one day going to be majority brown or black,--Carl ericson70



One day? If you look at the current complexion of the United States I think it's safe to say that anyone reading this will be dead for over a century before we would even approach that.





Quote:
whites are going to continue to be the dominant socio-economic group.In other words something more along the lines of brazil,with whites at the top--Carl ericson70



I dont agree with this either. I think there will be more of a balance than this statement suggests. Maybe not reflective of society on a "percentage of population" basis but there will definately be some assimilation of "minorities"(for lack of a better term) into the category you are describing. I think we are seeing it already.

Larry
 
Larry (ILoveDR) said:

Quote:
whites are going to continue to be the dominant socio-economic group.In other words something more along the lines of brazil,with whites at the top--Carl ericson70



I dont agree with this either. I think there will be more of a balance than this statement suggests. Maybe not reflective of society on a "percentage of population" basis but there will definately be some assimilation of "minorities"(for lack of a better term) into the category you are describing. I think we are seeing it already.

The "socio" part may be well balanced when it comes groups of people and race but the "Economic" may continue to be majority white depending on how the global market evolves. i.e.

how long will US depend on the middle east for oil and what impact will it have in the middle east and western hemepshere with that dries all up.
how long will african countries allow other countries to tap the majority of their natural resources i.e. diamonds, minerals and oil.
Will the caribean evolve from just a tourist market
and agreements such as NAFTA turn latin countries into major players in the world market or continue to be locations of cheap labor.
and countries in asia such as China, what role will they play if they ever decide to drop communism.

These examples and more can dictate who will be numero uno socially and economically in the world.

Each group, race, culture, and regions have all had their moment in the sun. Things will make drastic changes, certainlly not in our life time but they will change.

This is just an observance.
 

Larry

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Mar 22, 2002
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The global market?

Sancochojoe, I think you are reading a little too far into things. I am simply considering immigration and what I would assume to be the natural progression of certain groups over the course of time.

Larry
 
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Re: The global market?

Larry (ILoveDR) said:
Sancochojoe, I think you are reading a little too far into things. I am simply considering immigration and what I would assume to be the natural progression of certain groups over the course of time.

Larry

true I agree. I guess we can just have forsight in our life time or a generation further.
 
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Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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Didn't I read that

Hispanics have displaced Blacks as the largest minority?

this will be very interesting for the Social Scientists inthe year 2050...

HB
 
Sure Hillbilly if you think Blacks only reside in the US
and you exclude Black Hispanics.

That leaves the question, who are Hispanics and if you read my previous post on what is Latino and Hispanic

...There is no such thing as the "hispanic race". The term "hispanic" denotes one's linguistic ties to the spanish language....

So with the same question, what is your definition of hispanic, because the above is mine. Being Hispanic does not have a color.
 
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leo_DR

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I've been told that the term "Hispanic" and even "Latino" were the US governments way to keep an accurate (or somewhat accurate) account of how many Spanish-speaking citizens it has. (Can anyone back me up on this?)

When I was an international student studying in the US up until today, I always find US race categories interesting and puzzling.

I have deep roots in the D.R. and consider myself puro Dominicano. I dislike the term Hispanic and have never used it to describe myself.

Leo
 
Welcome to the "American Empire".

I am curious to know what do countries in South America,
and central america used besides their Nationality.

I know these terms are Home Grown in the US of A like other statistical data to Marginalize and categorize people, but do other Hispanic countries have similar statistics?
 
Apr 26, 2002
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What is wrong with categorizing by language? Brits, Americans, Aussies and Kiwis, regardless of race, congregate together wherever they are. If they decided to stay and live in a foreign country, they would become, in the eyes of the indiginous people, a single ethnic group. Only the English-speakers themselves would recognize the difference.

In the US, I see Dominicans, Mexicans, Hondurans, Panamanians, Colombians, Peruvians and Ecuadorians congregating and socializing largely in the same places. A language is a major part of the wiring of your brain. The shared language does seem to create a certain cultural adhesion.

I think people underestimate language as a cultural factor. Sure, a pure blood Inca from Peru has some very different traditions than a Dominican. But, if the Inca speaks Spanish as his first language, then you still might find him listening to Bachata with his fulanos at Jack's Pizza in Allentown, PA.

When I'm in the US, my dominos group consists of three Dominicans, a Puerto Rican, a Panamanian, a Columbian, a Peruvian, an Ecuadorian and a Mexican. BUT WE DON'T ALLOW ANY ARGENTINES!!!
 

jsizemore

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Aug 6, 2003
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What would I be then

I speak English as my so far only fluent language. I live in America. I have blonde hair and blue yes but my DNA says all my male ancestors on my fathers side had decended from native Americans that at one point intermingled with Central American Native Americans. So based on ancestry Am I latino?
Wait I am white. But yet my family had to run from the AMerican Army in the 1800s to avoid the trail of tears because we were too indian. Part of them escaped into the mountains of WV and KY and the others went to Oklahoma on the reservation so Am I cherokee. Ouch Then my moms side was lanape from New Jersey and was a chief of the Delawares. But then I am decended from William the Bastard and Sir frances drake was my great uncle 16 generations back.
Oh what the hell I am just me and I am dating a dominicana. How confused will my kids be?
Damn I need a motrin
John
 

Vainqueur_Noir

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Nov 24, 2003
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I think that latino might as well be a race. With the images that are projected on Telemundo, Univision, and Telefutura. It's as if only a latino can be white skinned, so they might as well just make it a race. Having seperate identities is a good thing. White Americans have their rock music and trends, Black Americans have rap music and their own style. It is a way to be different and respect each other at the same time. Latinos are all lumped into one category and only have one culture that they all have to share, and the lighter skinned latinos are not willing to share, which is proven on Latin TV shows. I think that once black Dominicans, Puertoricans, Panamanians etc. come to the U.S. they realize that they are not white or Indio, or whatever they think they are. The standards of white in the U.S. are very high, whereas the standard of black is very low, all you have to be is half black to be considered black, which is totally different from Dominican standards of black and white. But it's just like in that movie Fight Club, people are always going to see themselves as they would like to be. I do believe that the mind is a strong thing, and some people use it to become something else. When I look at Sammy Sosa I see a black person, he might see a white man when he looks in the mirror. It's weird.

"People do it every day, they look in the mirror and imagine themselves as they would like to be"-Fight Club
 

Guillermo P?rez

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Feb 13, 2004
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In time what society will finally understand is that THERE ARE NO RACES.

All of it is just one race... with different ethnicities and characteristics that evolve depending on where we are...black people became white in Europe after many, many generations... people of "oriental" features became "Native" when they crossed to america.. "red" skinned...

We see it even today... japanese men are 6 to 7 inches taller in average to JUST 60 years ago... so the "orientals" are not "small"

we "ARE" depending of "WHERE" we are... it's that simple.

We are a mix of "races" but every "race" is like that in someway...

What's most important is that we are a MIX OF CULTURES... and from that has come a bunch of cultural mores, folkways and philosophies wich are unique to every country... that heritage cannot be " bundled" alongside other countries, just because we share some of the same situations... I don't know if I'm a "latino"... it's a bit more complicated than that.

But I'm a dominican... and that is fairly simple to say.
 
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