There has been some discussion concerning whether Hispanics will be considered "white" in this country. Although being "white" does carry with it certain privileges such as more employment and educational opportunities, would it be beneficial for us to be seen as "white"? But there are some of you who might ask, is it even possible for Hispanics to be considered "white"?
First off, we need to clarify that "Latino", "American", and "white" are just labels are assigned to us by man. Being "Latino", "white", or "American" does not make us inherently smarter, or more creative. These are just labels. If man were perfect, we would not need labels. However, sometimes identities like "Hispanic American" or "Chinese American" are needed to understand one another.
However there is one amusing thing about labels--they are very arbitrary and change over time. For example, there was once a period of time when Italians and Jews were not considered "white." However, today they are.
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Keep in mind, some Italians and even some Jews are darker than more than just a few Latinos. Still, Italians and Jews, no matter how dark their complexion is, are seen as "white." Latinos, even those are blonde haired and blue eyed, are still seen as minorities and not as "white."
I can understand why some would anticipate on Latinos being considered "white", perhaps to assimilate and help better absorb them into society. Perhaps this will help Latinos in the U.S. with certain privileges that are not afforded to other racial minority groups, like lessened criminal injustice by the police and less discrimination, as a whole.
I changed my mind, the way we’re going after Trump, light-skinned Latuno/as will be considered "white", the rest not but it’s ok.
I have asked this question many times myself. However, I do not think lumping Hispanics in this country as "whites" help us our situation in this country a great deal. In fact, this may actually result into self hatred for U.S. Latinos.
We Latinos are not only from Europe but also have indigenous and African roots and we need to appreciate all of our heritage, not just one part.
There are a few Latinos that are solely descended from Europe. However I am not talking about them because I can see them being labeled as "white" and "Latino". I am talking about the millions of Latinos who are biracial or even tri-racial.
It is good for Latinos, even those who are fully white, to embrace all aspects of our Latinidad. In other words, we need to appreciate what makes us Latinos.
Latin America is not, by any stretch of the imagination, an ethnically homogeneous society. We are a very tri-racial society. Our Indigenous ancestors gave us culinary innovations, including uses for corn and potatoes, Whites from Spain brought us Roman Catholicism and of course the language, blacks brought us music like rumba and salsa.
The Chinese, Japanese, and Lebanese have also migrated to Latin America, making us a more diverse society than what the average American thinks of us as.
Another reason I disagree with the notion that Hispanics should be lumped in with "whites" in the country is because I do not believe that becoming "white" is something we, as Latinos, should feel obliged to strive for, to begin with.
I feel instead of trying to be "white" or worrying about being seen as "white", we Latinos should more attentive on other goals to make ourselves better people, such as taking care of our families, ensuring our children go onto college, and getting better paying jobs--essentially living out the "American Dream."
And American Latinos are doing just that. According to the Pew Research Center, U.S. born Dominicans, Colombians, and Peruvians graduate from college with a bachelor’s degree at a higher rate than the average American does. Jody Agiius Vallejo, in her groundbreaking book, From the Barrio to the Burbs, demonstrates to us that Mexican Americans in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and who have been in this country for three generations and beyond, have higher incomes than the average LA resident does.
And maintaining our identity in this country as Latinos does not mean we will not integrate, either. Like previous immigrant groups, Hispanics do acclimate to the American culture. By the second generation, Hispanic Americans assimilate by watching football, a sport they would never played in Latin America and many listen to American musicians more often than they do artists from Latin America. What is interesting is most third generation Latinos in this country prefer to see themselves as "American" over their ancestry and even like to be called "American" over Latino. This graph from Pew Research illustrates this.
A tremendous path to assimilation is intermarriage and U.S. born Latinos intermarry at a high rate. We may carry this tradition from our parent’s homelands. Even though Latin America is not racially harmonious in the most perfect sense, cross racial dating and intermarriage has always been going on there. For example, my family has dark skinned and light skinned people. This is a very common phenomenon for both Latino families here in the U.S. and in Latin America.
According to the Pew Research Center, almost forty percent of all U.S. born Latinos in this country marry a non-Hispanic spouse. In fact, over 60 percent of all Hispanics intermarry by the third generation.
Almost half of all intermarriages in this country are between non-Hispanic whites and Hispanics. In addition, by the third generation, over 60 percent of all Latinos have friend circles where most aren't Latino. This again goes contrary to the notion that Hispanics refuse to assimilate and as a group will always be a "nation within the United States." And that the idea of retaining our heritage can only do this country harmony lead us to "Balkanization."
Still, there is some concern that Hispanics might not integrate like the Irish, Germans, and Italians once did. And it is not, however, as a result of an unwillingness for Hispanics to become "American." Rather it is because of how the world has changed since the arrival of European immigrants during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These include changes in technology and the birth of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's.
Once European immigrants came to our shores, they cut off ties to Poland, Italy, or Ireland. There was no Skype, no iPhone, and no Facebook to keep arrivals in touch with their arrivals back home. This was also at a time before international air flights, which made going back to the ancestral homeland easier and cheaper.
Most Hispanic immigrants also came here after the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s. Before, white immigrants had to be "Americanized," which really meant "Anglicized." After the Civil Rights era, however, blacks, Native Americans, Hispanics, and even white ethnics, like Italians and Poles were able to become more proud of who they were.
For instance, some whites shun the idea of bilingualism because this was not a thing back when European immigrants were first immigrating to our shores. Today, however, speaking another language other English is not only acceptable but actually embraced.
Instead of focusing on how minorities can become like "old Americans", or even worse on how we can "strive to become white people", we should see how we could advance in more lucrative ways.
Retaining our heritage as "Latinos" is not a step backwards, but actually a move towards the right direction. For example, I can maintain my Latino heritage and still succeed as a teacher, doctor, or lawyer. Being Latino is great and we should not shun our heritage because it bothers or even "offends" some people. Instead let us see how we can retain our heritage and move forward in this country socioeconomically. In fact you can see with the rise of Mexican and Cuban restaurants and the increasing popularity of Latin music that we, as Latinos, are doing just that!
