[Sca-cooks] odd

Terry Decker t.d.decker at att.net
Sun Feb 20 15:09:30 PST 2011


The ethnic identifiers are an artifact of the United States heterogeneous 
culture, group superiority complexes and our national efforts to balance and 
secure liberty and equality for citizens (we're not too good at fraternity, 
so maybe we'll turn some attention to that in future).  They're for ease of 
statistical analysis and to provide data required by some of our rather 
cumbersome laws that are meant to enforce the spirit and letter of our 
Constitution.

Latino refers specifically to a person (citizen or not) whose family is from 
Latin America.  Europeans need not apply.  Hispanic is the broader term and 
refers to anyone of Spanish ethnicity.

If you want to have some real fun, consider that in New Mexico, whites 
(WASPs, San Patricios, etc., etc.) and blacks are "Anglos" except when the 
black is from a family that emigrated into the state with the Spanish 
migration in the 17th and 18th Centuries.  In that case, they and any of the 
long settled citizens of Spanish extraction are "Natives" except when a 
Native American is present, then they are "Hispanic."  Recent immigrants of 
Spanish ethnicity are "Latinos" to distinguish them from the Colonial Period 
immigrants.  Fortunately, this is local cultural thing that isn't reflected 
in government papers.  Richard Bradford presented this far better in Red Sky 
at Morning.

WASP is sociological jargon.  The term was defined for the public by Andrew 
Hacker, a political scientist, in 1957 to identify members of an affluent 
and political powerful subset of (White) people in U.S. whose families were 
of English descent (Anglo-Saxon) and Protestant denomination.  The reference 
is primarily to the aristocratic families with the wealth and privilege that 
allowed them to socially and politically control the Northeastern states and 
influence national politics.

Bear

----- Original Message ----- 

I have always being puzzled for that question in the inmigration form to
enter the US. Am I Caucasian? Definitely, very white skin :) But Spanish
grandfathers from dad's site and Italian grandfathers from mom's side make
me definitely "Latino". But in Europe the definition "Latino" doesn't exist,
yes, Italy, Spain and France are "latin countries", it means countries were
Latin was spoken.
The "Latino" word as an opposite to a vague and confusing Northerner's, WASP
identity it's an US invention.
Ana





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