Ben's family immigrated from Portugal 100 years before he was born.
Sonia Sotomayor:
Sonia's parents moved to the Bronx from Puerto Rico.
Posted on 05/26/2009 1:30:34 PM PDT by Bob017
Sonia Sotomayor, Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court, is being billed as the first Hispanic Justice, but clearly under the definition of Hispanic, “persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Central or South American, or others Spanish or Portuguese culture or origin, regardless of race,” Benjamin Cardozo, whose surname is Portuguese, was the first Hispanic Justice.
Everyone says that Bill Richardson is an Hispanic governor, and I don’t see how Bill Richardson is any more Hispanic than Benjamin Cardozo.
* * *
Peter A writes;
Portuguese are not Hispanics. Anyone who has lived in an area with a significant Portuguese population knows this. That's like saying Sicilians are Hispanic.
If your point is that Portuguese are white Europeans, then my response is, “of course they are!” But whiteness has nothing to do with the official definition of Hispanic. Why do you think we always have to use the phrase “non-Hispanic white” when talking about U.S. Census and other survey data? Because respondents are allowed to say they are white and Hispanic.
“Hispanic” is an incredibly dumb definition. People really want to talk about race and not whether someone’s last name is Spanish or Portuguese. White Americans whose families moved here from Spain or Portugal have none of the social problems associated with non-White minorities.
When people use the word “Hispanic” they are probably thinking of people from the Americas other than Canada and the United States with at least some Amerindian ancestry. In other places someone of mixed Amerindian and white ancestry is called “Mestizo,” a phrase which liberals won’t use because they think it implies that there’s something wrong with mixing the races. “Mulatto” isn’t a very popular term either.
Because “Hispanic” implies non-white, even though it’s not part of the official definition, is why most Americans with Spanish and Portuguese ancestry don’t want to be called “Hispanic,” because they want to be considered regular white Americans like people who moved here from other European countries. Liberals might say this makes them sort of racist for not wanting to be grouped with non-whites.
“Hispanic” seems to be native American with a trace of Spanish. There are many of us here with native American ties. Why should Spanish genes make them special? No one gives a particular damn about what I want.
People of Portuguese ancestry are certainly considered "Hispanic", even though their native language is not Spanish. Brazilians are all of Portuguese decent, and they're listed as "Hispanic", while most people in Brazil can't speak a word of Spanish.
So bottom line, if we consider Bill Richardson, Cameron Diaz, and Ken Salazar to be "hispanic", then Ben Cardoza must be too. So much for Obama's "historic first" hispanic judge!
Ben’s family immigrated from Portugal 100 years before he was born.
On one side of his family, perhaps, but IINM, Cardozo was one of the “Grandees,” who were descendants of the first Jewish families who arrived in New York (then called New Amsterdam) from Brazil in 1654.
e.s
Nice
Brazil is Portguese, not Spanish so it’s 6 of one half dozen of another really.
Hispanic comes from Hispania which means Iberian Peninsular; so, Portugal and Spain are Hispanic. So, persons of both Portugese and Spanish ancestry are Hispanic.
Hispanic also means Spanish-speaking, which would seem to rule out Portugal, and for that matter, Brazil, and several smaller English and Dutch-speaking places in the Western Hemisphere but south of the United States. Hispanic could have meant Spanish OR Portugese-speaker, but Portugal was anxious to distinguish itself from Spain and that didn’t happen.
Latin American is another interesting word. This would seem to include persons whose ancesters are drawn from the Spanish- and Portugese-speaking countries of the western hemisphere, and perhaps also people whose ancesters are drawn from Spanish-speaking people in the parts of the United States that were originally Spanish colonies. People whose ancesters are drawn from Haiti, a Franch-speaking country of the western hemisphere, would seem to be included. Maybe or maybe not this would also include the Quebecois and other persons of the United States and Canada whose ancesters are drawn from French-speaking people in the parts of these two countries that were originally French colonies. It would seem to exclude people whose ancesters are drawn from the English- and Dutch-speaking countries of the western hemisphere to include the Caribbean and the Caribbean rim.
Usage of the word Hispanic by the national government has changed with every census since first used in 1970. As of right now, it means
Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.
Therefore Spaniards are Hispanic but Portugese are not.
Brazilians are Hispanic but Portugese are not.
English-speaking people of Belize and Guyana are Hispanic but English-speaking people of Bermuda, the Bahamas, Barbadoes, Grenada, Jamaica and Trinidad are not.
Dutch-speaking people of Surinam are Hispania but the Dutch-speaking people of Aruba are not.
French-speaking people of French Gueina are Hispanic, but the French-speaking people of Haiti are not.
Spanish-speaking people of the Domincan Republica on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (to the east of Haiti) are not Hispanic, even though Cubans and Puerto Ricans are.
Also, the Spanish-speaking people of Arizona, California, Florida, Louisiana and New Mexico who trace their lineage to Spanish colonials are not Hispanic.
HENCE ...
Bill Richardson (descendent of Spanish-speaking people of New Mexican) is NOT Hispanic.
And Benjamin Cardoza (a descendent of Portugese people) is NOT Hispanic.
THESE differences in law are going to be very important because, as we all know, the agenda is that our rights depend on how we are classified.
Hispanic (Spanish: hispano, hispánico) is a term that historically denoted relation to the ancient Hispania (geographically coinciding with the Iberian Peninsula). During the modern era it took on a more limited meaning relating to the contemporary nation of Spain.
Since this is all about identity politics, it comes down to how the person actually looks. If you look at Cardozo’s picture, he looks white. But Sotomayor looks non-white, and according to the race hustlers, that’s what really counts, and why she’s considered the ‘first’ Latino.
I meant to emphasize that his family’s roots in the New World dated back to the mid-17th century.
Why does that rub you the wrong way?
It implies an approach rooted not just in interpreting the law, but in creating law and policy (i.e., judicial activism). To make matters worse, it also suggests that this will be based on racial and gender identity politics.
BTW, you misquoted her, since she said that the “wise Latina woman” would reach the better conclusion.
When I lived in NM about 25 years ago the Spanish-speaking people living in the northern mountains were quite adamant they were neither Hispanic nor Mexican.
They were Spanish, descended from the original Spanish colonial settlers, their blood uncontaminated with Indian or Negro ancestry.
This was, BTW, their perspective, not mine.
I have no idea whether they have since decided to climb on the racial victimization bandwagon and claim Hispanicity.
I misquoted her on purpose.
I figured, but what was your point? Both quotes display the same flaws that I described.
Yes, they do, but do you think they would draw equal reactions from the media, or politicians?
“she’s like a young Helen Thomas”
Although her skin is light (white), her features are of African ancestry.
Just an observation. We see a lot of this in Panaman.
“Sotomayor’s assertion that “a wise white male with the richness of his experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a Latina woman” really rubs me the wrong way.
Why does that rub you the wrong way?”
Haha, nice reversal of her quote :-)
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