I was born in Argentina (part of Latin America). My family is all from Spain. Am I considered a Latino? I mean, I’m from Latin America after all. What does being a “latino” implies? Because as someone from a Latinamerican country, I always thought myself as a “latino”. But apparently I’m a white hispanic?
To paint with a very broad brush, “white hispanic” is folks with Spanish ancestry and a few other areas, but NOT central/South America (except for Brazil). A lot of it is determined by colonial history (which country controlled which place and when). There are probably a few exceptions or examples I’m leaving out but that’s a loose rule of thumb. It gets murky because who is considered “white” is the result of a social construct. Hence why, for instance, Polish/Italian people are now “white” in the US. They didn’t used to be considered white.
No, you’re right. It would be valid for you to select Latino regardless of skin color. I’m just referring to how the US Census categories are defined. Latino is under race but there’s a separate question asking whether you are Latino/Hispanic.
I was born in Argentina (part of Latin America). My family is all from Spain. Am I considered a Latino? I mean, I’m from Latin America after all. What does being a “latino” implies? Because as someone from a Latinamerican country, I always thought myself as a “latino”. But apparently I’m a white hispanic?
This is actually a decent summary that helps with the tendency to conflate race/ethnicity.
To paint with a very broad brush, “white hispanic” is folks with Spanish ancestry and a few other areas, but NOT central/South America (except for Brazil). A lot of it is determined by colonial history (which country controlled which place and when). There are probably a few exceptions or examples I’m leaving out but that’s a loose rule of thumb. It gets murky because who is considered “white” is the result of a social construct. Hence why, for instance, Polish/Italian people are now “white” in the US. They didn’t used to be considered white.
Racism is stupid.
and the law of the land
Sadly
No, you’re right. It would be valid for you to select Latino regardless of skin color. I’m just referring to how the US Census categories are defined. Latino is under race but there’s a separate question asking whether you are Latino/Hispanic.