- Nov 10, 2005
- 25
- 0
spicybrown said:Victoria 87: "Hispanics don't identify themselves by skin color, we identify ourselves by nationality. My skin may be white, but I don't have the same views as a Caucasian person from England or Ireland or wherever may be from. Get it straight."
O.K. I respect your analogy, but why is it that Mexicans don't even acknowledge their Afro-Mexican countrymen? There is division in the Latino culture based on skin color, just like it is in the AA community. Wherever there is a myraid of colors within a race, you best believe there will be some sort of prejudice against the darker folk, thanx to European colonization. Also whites allow some Mexicans to identify as "Caucasian" on the census to broaden their numbers. Not to mention all of the lighter-skinned Latinos in South America. It is known that SOME Latin American countries with FEW Blacks actually brag thet they have few to no Morenos. You can witness this by tuning into just about any Latino channel, and see how the Spanish side is only/mainly celebrated, along with anglo featured spokespersons. This is perfectly fine as long as they recognize and flaunt their Native culture too. That's the same as many Blacks going around saying they're anglo and Indian, just ignoring the pedominant African admixture in us.
The thing you have to understand is that Latin America and the U.S have different views on Latinos and skin tone. In the U.S, we're "supposed" to be tan, brown, or black, never white. However Latin America knows that all shades exist, but the thing is, our media makes it seem like you are more attractive if you are either a light tan brown or just white, so instead of people wanting to be darker, they want have lighter skin. If you flip to our channels and watch the shows very few black Hispanics are featured in anything unless a famous star has black skin. Most, if not all, of our telenovelas are filmed in Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia (I think). Those three countries are known for being prejudiced against blacks, in fact, there was a huge controversy in Brazil when a black woman got a leading role in one for the very first time about a year ago (which I think was kind of stupid, seeing as they should have fully expected it when they saw that the name of the show was "The Color of Sin," which dealed with an "interracial" couple). So most of the time, you'll only see a black Hispanic as a servant or a Voo Doo expert making potions. But if they're filmed in Puerto Rico or another country that accepts blacks as much as whites, then you'll see them all the time.
It's complicated, because it deals with different countries and different situations and different views. Like, Argentinians are mostly white, but a lot of South Americans or Caribbeans are black, so it depends on the black population as well. However, I still don't think white Hispanics view ourselves as "Caucasian." If in the census, I was told to mark specifically what skin color I had and Caucasian was the only option, then that's what I would have to put down. In some forms that's what they want, that's why sometimes you see these options:
White (not Hispanic)
Black (Not Hispanic)
. . .because if they were looking for skin tone, my cousin would put down black, and I would put down white, even though we're both Dominican, which is seriously confusing. You'll often see this too:
White Hispanic
Black Hispanic
They obviously want culture and skin tone, so people in my family would have to put down different options.
Now, I don't know what the options were for the census, so I don't really know what to say to that one, so it would be helpful if I knew what they were.