Study Finds Hispanics Don’t Want To Be Called Hispanic

CBS DC ^ | April 4, 2012

[Free ThinkerNY]

WASHINGTON (CBSDC) — A majority of Hispanics do not like being called Hispanic.

According to a new poll conducted by the Pew Research Center, 51 percent of Hispanics do not like to be categorized as “Hispanics” or “Latinos,” saying they like to be identified from their family’s country of origin.

Only 21 percent of those polled identified themselves as “Americans.”

Hispanics and Latinos are split as to whether to identify themselves as a “typical American.” Forty-seven percent of Hispanics and Latinos identify themselves with the term, while another 47 percent of those polled find they don’t seem to relate to a “typical American.”

As it comes to speaking English, nearly 90 percent of those polled believe you need to learn the language to succeed in America, but they also want to hold onto their Spanish-speaking roots. Ninety-five percent of Hispanics believe it is important to speak Spanish in the U.S.

[rockabyebaby]

What about “white hispanic” - is that accceptable?

[Finny]

"White hispanic" is a crack up! It boils down to this: both words, "Latino" and "Hispanic," are code for "indigenous brown people from any nation in the Western Hemisphere conquered by Spain or Portugal."

The word "hispanic" is tied to only ONE word: Spain, and from it, the word "Spanish." The word "latino" is tied to only ONE word: Latin. Spain is a European nation peopled by caucasians; Latin is a language that served as the base for a number of European languages, including Spanish and Portuguese.

I can see someone being proud of being Mexican (my great-great grandfather was), or proud of being Peruvian, or Brazilian, or Chilean, or Argentinian, or Columbian, or even of being (like my great-great grandfather) of the blood of the brown indigenous people of those countries and NOT of caucasian European descent. I can see being proud of those things. But proud of being "hispanic" or "latino"? It means proud of not thinking very much about the actual meaning of words.

[Bob]

What's the objection, though, to the term Mexican-American?

To me, that's very similar to Italian-American, German-American, Irish-American, or other terms that recognize the person's heritage while identifying themselves as being Americans.

[Finny]

I don’t have any objection to the term Mexican American.

[octex]

I’m always halfway tempted to ask them what part of Mexico they’re from. :=)
***************************
Just as it’s so tempting to ask people who call themselves “African-Americans” where they came from in Africa and when they became naturalized US citizens!!!

[P.O.E.]

Many of them are actually American Indians. Aztecs, Incans, etc.

[superloser]

It's always nice when some of these people who speak English/Spanish, speak Spanish right in front of English only people, including their own coworkers.

I tend to respond to these people in Chinese just to shake them up.

Its amazing how fast they revert to English when a non-Asian starts throwing Mandarin at them.

[Owl558]

“Our town was Mexican before New Mexico was a state.”

My family is New Mexican from a small town south of Albequerque and almost all refer to themselves as Spanish or Hispanic, NOT Mexican. The people and culture are different. These are proud and loyal Americans who are bi-lingual, serve in the military and generally do not want to be lumped together with (illegal) Mexicans.
Latino = Stupid
Chicano = More stupid

Sadly, as you see on this thread, many Americans are ignorant about their own history and lump all ‘hispanic’ cultures together because they cannot distinguish between the Spanish dialects being spoken. As you may know, the New Mexican accent is distinct for any with ears to hear. Even fewer Americans know that New Mexicans are a distinct culture within the United States who were there long before the pilgrims or British colonization of the eastern seaboard.

Bravo to you for pointing this out.

[WestwardHo]

My family is New Mexican from a small town south of Albequerque and almost all refer to themselves as Spanish or Hispanic, NOT Mexican.

One of the most hilarious conversations I have ever heard was an older Mexican woman discussing various shades of brown and their place in the Mexican caste system. Oh to be a “real Castellian!” Ft Sumner is Mexican, I asked. LOL!

[Morpheus2009]

Hispanic has been perhaps among the most blanket terms I have ever known. It describes the origin of someone as being anywhere from Spain to anywhere in Latin America. It would be like calling someone like me white. Well, I happen to be of Yugoslav (Serbian) origin, which is different in many ways culturally than if I were French, English, Irish, or the various other European ethnicities out there. Similarly, when someone says hispanic, that refers to numerous ethnicities as well. It’s time to just admit that some terms are pretty narrow nowadays.