What Defines ‘Hispanic’? In a racially diverse America, what rules determine one’s race?

National Review ^ | 10/16/2014 | Victor Davis Hanson

[SeekAndFind]

Once upon a time, the liberal position was to reject the old discriminatory branding of people by the color of their skins rather than by the content of their characters.

Not now. Political and career advantage is found in trumpeting

[SeekAndFind]

CAN YOU DETERMINE WHO IS HISPANIC?

[SkyDancer]

The world population can be divided into 4 major races, namely white/Caucasian, Mongoloid/Asian, Negroid/Black, and Australoid.

[SeekAndFind]

What happens if the 4 major races interbreed or intermarry?

[FlingWingFlyer]

...what rules determine one’s race?

Check the markings on the arrows they shoot.

[lefty-lie-spy]

At FreeRepublic we have no race. We are all about Freedom, low taxes, and minimal government intervention and capitalism.

[Aurorales]

I am Scottish/German on my father’s side.
Spanish/Mexican on my mother’s side.

I look slightly Hispanic with very light skin. But I’ll tell you......I don’t feel Hispanic, nor was I raised to think it mattered.

[RightGeek]

After all, Zimmerman is as Hispanic as Barack Obama is African American. But the Times would not dare dub the president, who had a white mother and African father, a “white African American.”

LOL

[E. Pluribus Unum]

According to the United States Supreme Court, you are any “race” or “gender” that you “feel” that you are or wish to be.

[Organic Panic]

Hispanic is whatever liberal politicians want it to mean.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: you are any “race” or “gender” that you “feel” that you are or wish to be.

For the purpose of being accepted by Harvard University, I will henceforth be known as a native American Indian /s

[SeekAndFind]

RE: I look slightly Hispanic with very light skin. But I’ll tell you..... I don’t feel Hispanic, nor was I raised to think it mattered.

Do you speak Spanish at home?

[Vendome]

It starts with a stupid premise:
“Being Mexican or Part Mexican”.

There is no such thing.

It would be like everyone emigrating to Mexico and trumpeting “I’m part American”.

“Really?”

How can either statement be true?

The respective countries are multi ethnic and ancestors from all over the globe.

To be Mexican is very much like saying “I’m Palestinian”...uhmmm, no yer not.

Within the boundaries of Mexico is a rich history pre dating Hernando Cortez.

Yeah, seems there were quite a few native tribes such as the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacan, the Zapotec, the Maya and the Aztec, to name a few.

In fact, there were hundreds of tribes.

Today, Mexico still has thise tribes but, it’s citizens draw on their ancestry from Spain, The Moors, Irish, German, Lebanese, French and many other blood lines.

There is, however, no such thing as Mexican Ethnicity.

There is no “Mexican” language before the year 1519. The languages were various and unique to each tribe, just they were for native populations within the borders of what would become America.

There is no common or grand Mexican history.

When archaeologists uncover lost cities and civilizations in Mexico they work mightily at identifying who the people were and they never declare them “Oh! Mexicans”.

So no, there are no Mexican Americans.

[T-Bird45]

Hispanic is whatever liberal politicians want it to mean.

We ought to re-name them the Humpty-Dumptians.

[Boogieman]

“Hispanic” has never been a racial category, it really only means someone who originated from a Spanish-speaking country. You can be black, white, native american, asian, or whatever and also be hispanic.

[Boogieman]

You probably end up with something like Charles Bronson, after all, he could play anything :)

[I want the USA back]

The government has no right to classify people by race or language group. Privileges based on these classifications are illegal.

[Vigilanteman]

Why continue with divisive racial self-identification?

Because it serves the Democrat agenda.

It is a pretty stupid construct anyway.

My daughter was able to apply for a "Hispanic" scholarship because my wife's paternal grandfather was born in Puerto Rico, as was his father before them. Their forebears actually immigrated there from Sicily because it was a lot easier to get into Puerto Rico than into the United States at the time.

Among my father's people are Sioux and among my mother's are Cherokee, but not enough to give us any benefits other than a slightly darker than Northern European skin, a great head of hair and very little body hair.

Our family could easily decide that we want to identify with this race or that race (except African, although we could probably prove that too if we got back far enough) if we so chose, but other than knowing genetic markers for medical or curiosity reasons, it is an artificial construct.

[Steve_Seattle]

The Left now insists that gender is totally self-chosen and self-determined despite one’s natural sexual identity as male or female. If that’s ok, then why can’t we extend the same reasoning to our race, and proclaim that we are whatever race that we self-identify with, regardless of our actual biological inheritance? If a biological male can self-identify as a female, why can’t a biological white person self-identify as a Native American? (I’m expecting Elizabeth Warren jokes at this point.) And if someone on the Left says, “You can’t be serious, I say, “I’m just following YOUR logic.”

[Steve_Seattle]

"In an ever more racially diverse society where intermarriage is routine and assimilation often rapid, we have no discernible rules for what determines one’s race."

I look forward to the day when the races are so intermingled that the race-baiters will finally have to shut up. But even now, judging by skin color, it seems like about a third of America's "blacks" have at least some white or Hispanic or (rarely) Asian component in their ancestry, e.g., Julian Bond, Louis Farrakhan, Barack Obama, Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods, etc.