Why is the term Hispanic used as an ethnic category instead of Mestizo?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm reading this with much interest and will ask my family tomorrow. As a "meztiza" with brown skin, black hair, mixed native american and spanish, my family has always called referred to ourselves (itself?) as "hispanos". Here in the US I use Hispanic and Latina interchangeably. I don't really care.

One of the threads touched on this but there is a lot of racism against Indians in our countries. Calling someone an Indian is an insult and many people have tried to distance themselves from their roots. The racism is disgusting and terrible. That may have something to do with it.

Admittedly, I don't know why people from the Americas use this term - ie, Indian to refer to Indigenous, or American Indian instead of Native American (or specific tribe).

Indian = a person from India, and the Indian Subcontinent in South Asia. Someone who has mixed heritage and immigrants in their background, may call themselves "Indian American."

Anything else referring to people with deep roots in the Americas seems offensive and dumb. It's confusing for people who are actually from India, and it's borrowed from Columbus' screwup.

Are you the Indian from the other thread? We use the name Indian/Indio because when Christopher Columbus and the conquistadores came they called the Native Americans "Indians", "Indios". I mean this nicely, but the name is pretty much stuck since it's been used since 1492. It's not confusing.

Yes, obviously. What I don't understand is how it's not considered offensive to those communities, due to the totally inaccurate label originating from Columbus' ignorance and idiocy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm reading this with much interest and will ask my family tomorrow. As a "meztiza" with brown skin, black hair, mixed native american and spanish, my family has always called referred to ourselves (itself?) as "hispanos". Here in the US I use Hispanic and Latina interchangeably. I don't really care.

One of the threads touched on this but there is a lot of racism against Indians in our countries. Calling someone an Indian is an insult and many people have tried to distance themselves from their roots. The racism is disgusting and terrible. That may have something to do with it.

Admittedly, I don't know why people from the Americas use this term - ie, Indian to refer to Indigenous, or American Indian instead of Native American (or specific tribe).

Indian = a person from India, and the Indian Subcontinent in South Asia. Someone who has mixed heritage and immigrants in their background, may call themselves "Indian American."

Anything else referring to people with deep roots in the Americas seems offensive and dumb. It's confusing for people who are actually from India, and it's borrowed from Columbus' screwup.

Are you the Indian from the other thread? We use the name Indian/Indio because when Christopher Columbus and the conquistadores came they called the Native Americans "Indians", "Indios". I mean this nicely, but the name is pretty much stuck since it's been used since 1492. It's not confusing.

Yes, obviously. What I don't understand is how it's not considered offensive to those communities, due to the totally inaccurate label originating from Columbus' ignorance and idiocy.

I'll take a guess that it's because the name has been used literally for hundreds of years. Maybe the tribes that were around in 1492 cared, or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m trying to understand why anyone would think Giselle B isn’t Hispanic just because she’s white. Are Afro Caribbean Hispanics now less Hispanic too? This is ridiculous.

Hispanic refers to a culture and it doesn’t matter what color you are, you’re either part of that culture or you’re not.

+1.

I think OP is the typical American racist who truly can't understand why others are not as racist as he is.

OP here. I am not racist nor did I ever question whether Giselle is Hispanic. I know that Hispanic refers to culture and that Whites, Blacks, and Mestizos can all be considered Hispanic. But in practicality the term is often used as a racial category. You will hear people describe a Mexican's race as being Hispanic, even though that is not accurate because Hispanic is not a race. What is commonly thought of as looking Hispanic is in actuality Mestizo. So why isn't the phrase in use?

Because it refers to a fraction of the Hispanic population and sounds dated and silky like “mulatto”. What’s in it for you with this, anyway? Why do you care? And are you going to find esoteric names for people who are Italian/Indian, German/Indian, German/Afro Caribbean, etc? When are you going to be satisfied that we have correctly categorized all our racial specimens?

Is this really such a morally terrible question to ask or too difficult to understand? Maybe I'm not explaining myself clearly. Both Nelson Mandela and Charlize Theron are from South Africa. You could call them both South African but racially one is Black and one is White. Now take two Mexicans. One is light skin and of 100% Spanish ancestry. The other has an ancestry that is more common among Mexicans, one that is a mixture of Spanish and the indigenous population, otherwise referred to as Mestizo. Both of these people are Mexican. Both are Hispanic. One is White. What race is the other one? Most people would inaccurately label it as Hispanic, but this is not correct since Hispanic is a culture. So what is this person's race? Mestizo would seem to be the most accurate descriptor, so back to my original question why describe this person (in regards to race) as Hispanic instead of Mestizo?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m trying to understand why anyone would think Giselle B isn’t Hispanic just because she’s white. Are Afro Caribbean Hispanics now less Hispanic too? This is ridiculous.

Hispanic refers to a culture and it doesn’t matter what color you are, you’re either part of that culture or you’re not.

+1.

I think OP is the typical American racist who truly can't understand why others are not as racist as he is.

OP here. I am not racist nor did I ever question whether Giselle is Hispanic. I know that Hispanic refers to culture and that Whites, Blacks, and Mestizos can all be considered Hispanic. But in practicality the term is often used as a racial category. You will hear people describe a Mexican's race as being Hispanic, even though that is not accurate because Hispanic is not a race. What is commonly thought of as looking Hispanic is in actuality Mestizo. So why isn't the phrase in use?

Because it refers to a fraction of the Hispanic population and sounds dated and silky like “mulatto”. What’s in it for you with this, anyway? Why do you care? And are you going to find esoteric names for people who are Italian/Indian, German/Indian, German/Afro Caribbean, etc? When are you going to be satisfied that we have correctly categorized all our racial specimens?

Is this really such a morally terrible question to ask or too difficult to understand? Maybe I'm not explaining myself clearly. Both Nelson Mandela and Charlize Theron are from South Africa. You could call them both South African but racially one is Black and one is White. Now take two Mexicans. One is light skin and of 100% Spanish ancestry. The other has an ancestry that is more common among Mexicans, one that is a mixture of Spanish and the indigenous population, otherwise referred to as Mestizo. Both of these people are Mexican. Both are Hispanic. One is White. What race is the other one? Most people would inaccurately label it as Hispanic, but this is not correct since Hispanic is a culture. So what is this person's race? Mestizo would seem to be the most accurate descriptor, so back to my original question why describe this person (in regards to race) as Hispanic instead of Mestizo?

But, OP, as people have said over and over, and as even you are saying and then contradicting, Hispanic is NOT a race. So people describing a person as Hispanic are, very simply, not describing the person's race. A Hispanic can be of many races.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m trying to understand why anyone would think Giselle B isn’t Hispanic just because she’s white. Are Afro Caribbean Hispanics now less Hispanic too? This is ridiculous.

Hispanic refers to a culture and it doesn’t matter what color you are, you’re either part of that culture or you’re not.

+1.

I think OP is the typical American racist who truly can't understand why others are not as racist as he is.

OP here. I am not racist nor did I ever question whether Giselle is Hispanic. I know that Hispanic refers to culture and that Whites, Blacks, and Mestizos can all be considered Hispanic. But in practicality the term is often used as a racial category. You will hear people describe a Mexican's race as being Hispanic, even though that is not accurate because Hispanic is not a race. What is commonly thought of as looking Hispanic is in actuality Mestizo. So why isn't the phrase in use?

Because it refers to a fraction of the Hispanic population and sounds dated and silky like “mulatto”. What’s in it for you with this, anyway? Why do you care? And are you going to find esoteric names for people who are Italian/Indian, German/Indian, German/Afro Caribbean, etc? When are you going to be satisfied that we have correctly categorized all our racial specimens?

Is this really such a morally terrible question to ask or too difficult to understand? Maybe I'm not explaining myself clearly. Both Nelson Mandela and Charlize Theron are from South Africa. You could call them both South African but racially one is Black and one is White. Now take two Mexicans. One is light skin and of 100% Spanish ancestry. The other has an ancestry that is more common among Mexicans, one that is a mixture of Spanish and the indigenous population, otherwise referred to as Mestizo. Both of these people are Mexican. Both are Hispanic. One is White. What race is the other one? Most people would inaccurately label it as Hispanic, but this is not correct since Hispanic is a culture. So what is this person's race? Mestizo would seem to be the most accurate descriptor, so back to my original question why describe this person (in regards to race) as Hispanic instead of Mestizo?

But, OP, as people have said over and over, and as even you are saying and then contradicting, Hispanic is NOT a race. So people describing a person as Hispanic are, very simply, not describing the person's race. A Hispanic can be of many races.

I think you are misunderstanding me. I understand perfectly well that Hispanic is a culture and NOT a race. That is the entire point of my question. People often use the term Hispanic as if it were a race. If you showed someone a picture of Giselle and asked what her race was, people would say White which is correct. If you showed someone a picture of Ricky Martin and asked what his race is people would say Hispanic, which is incorrect, because Hispanic refers to culture. How then should one describe Ricky Martin's race? Mestizo is the most accurate description but is not commonly used. Hispanic is commonly used but inaccurate. I just don't really understand why there is not both an accurate and commonly used descriptor to describe the race of such people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm reading this with much interest and will ask my family tomorrow. As a "meztiza" with brown skin, black hair, mixed native american and spanish, my family has always called referred to ourselves (itself?) as "hispanos". Here in the US I use Hispanic and Latina interchangeably. I don't really care.

One of the threads touched on this but there is a lot of racism against Indians in our countries. Calling someone an Indian is an insult and many people have tried to distance themselves from their roots. The racism is disgusting and terrible. That may have something to do with it.

Admittedly, I don't know why people from the Americas use this term - ie, Indian to refer to Indigenous, or American Indian instead of Native American (or specific tribe).

Indian = a person from India, and the Indian Subcontinent in South Asia. Someone who has mixed heritage and immigrants in their background, may call themselves "Indian American."

Anything else referring to people with deep roots in the Americas seems offensive and dumb. It's confusing for people who are actually from India, and it's borrowed from Columbus' screwup.

Are you the Indian from the other thread? We use the name Indian/Indio because when Christopher Columbus and the conquistadores came they called the Native Americans "Indians", "Indios". I mean this nicely, but the name is pretty much stuck since it's been used since 1492. It's not confusing.

Yes, obviously. What I don't understand is how it's not considered offensive to those communities, due to the totally inaccurate label originating from Columbus' ignorance and idiocy.

I'll take a guess that it's because the name has been used literally for hundreds of years. Maybe the tribes that were around in 1492 cared, or not.

NP. Yeah but once you’re in the know that the word given to you by an outsider isn’t actually you then it’s okay to no longer accept that label.

Like no one goes by Negro or Mulatto. At least do yourself a favor and stick with American Indian if you must rather than just saying Indian. It does the group as a whole injustice by making it seem like they’re a confused people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


I think you are misunderstanding me. I understand perfectly well that Hispanic is a culture and NOT a race. That is the entire point of my question. People often use the term Hispanic as if it were a race. If you showed someone a picture of Giselle and asked what her race was, people would say White which is correct. If you showed someone a picture of Ricky Martin and asked what his race is people would say Hispanic, which is incorrect, because Hispanic refers to culture. How then should one describe Ricky Martin's race? Mestizo is the most accurate description but is not commonly used. Hispanic is commonly used but inaccurate. I just don't really understand why there is not both an accurate and commonly used descriptor to describe the race of such people.

If you showed someone a picture of Ricky Martin and asked what his race is, people who didn't know that he was Ricky Martin would say that he was white. We European-heritage people aren't all blond blue-eyed Nordics.

[Anonymous]

Who cares. The thing is, white spanish speaking educated people are benefiting from affirmative action initially targeting mestizo people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who cares. The thing is, white spanish speaking educated people are benefiting from affirmative action initially targeting mestizo people.

A mestizo can look white. Genes vary a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m trying to understand why anyone would think Giselle B isn’t Hispanic just because she’s white. Are Afro Caribbean Hispanics now less Hispanic too? This is ridiculous.

Hispanic refers to a culture and it doesn’t matter what color you are, you’re either part of that culture or you’re not.

+1.

I think OP is the typical American racist who truly can't understand why others are not as racist as he is.

OP here. I am not racist nor did I ever question whether Giselle is Hispanic. I know that Hispanic refers to culture and that Whites, Blacks, and Mestizos can all be considered Hispanic. But in practicality the term is often used as a racial category. You will hear people describe a Mexican's race as being Hispanic, even though that is not accurate because Hispanic is not a race. What is commonly thought of as looking Hispanic is in actuality Mestizo. So why isn't the phrase in use?

Because it refers to a fraction of the Hispanic population and sounds dated and silky like “mulatto”. What’s in it for you with this, anyway? Why do you care? And are you going to find esoteric names for people who are Italian/Indian, German/Indian, German/Afro Caribbean, etc? When are you going to be satisfied that we have correctly categorized all our racial specimens?

Is this really such a morally terrible question to ask or too difficult to understand? Maybe I'm not explaining myself clearly. Both Nelson Mandela and Charlize Theron are from South Africa. You could call them both South African but racially one is Black and one is White. Now take two Mexicans. One is light skin and of 100% Spanish ancestry. The other has an ancestry that is more common among Mexicans, one that is a mixture of Spanish and the indigenous population, otherwise referred to as Mestizo. Both of these people are Mexican. Both are Hispanic. One is White. What race is the other one? Most people would inaccurately label it as Hispanic, but this is not correct since Hispanic is a culture. So what is this person's race? Mestizo would seem to be the most accurate descriptor, so back to my original question why describe this person (in regards to race) as Hispanic instead of Mestizo?

But, OP, as people have said over and over, and as even you are saying and then contradicting, Hispanic is NOT a race. So people describing a person as Hispanic are, very simply, not describing the person's race. A Hispanic can be of many races.

I think you are misunderstanding me. I understand perfectly well that Hispanic is a culture and NOT a race. That is the entire point of my question. People often use the term Hispanic as if it were a race. If you showed someone a picture of Giselle and asked what her race was, people would say White which is correct. If you showed someone a picture of Ricky Martin and asked what his race is people would say Hispanic, which is incorrect, because Hispanic refers to culture. How then should one describe Ricky Martin's race? Mestizo is the most accurate description but is not commonly used. Hispanic is commonly used but inaccurate. I just don't really understand why there is not both an accurate and commonly used descriptor to describe the race of such people.

Why do you feel the need to sort people in this way? Because you don't like people you deem white to be called Hispanic? Because you want to make sure brown people are carefully sorted away from white people?

Really asking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m trying to understand why anyone would think Giselle B isn’t Hispanic just because she’s white. Are Afro Caribbean Hispanics now less Hispanic too? This is ridiculous.

Hispanic refers to a culture and it doesn’t matter what color you are, you’re either part of that culture or you’re not.

+1.

I think OP is the typical American racist who truly can't understand why others are not as racist as he is.

Agree with this. Who would want to return to an offensive term used to designate racial inferiority??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m trying to understand why anyone would think Giselle B isn’t Hispanic just because she’s white. Are Afro Caribbean Hispanics now less Hispanic too? This is ridiculous.

Hispanic refers to a culture and it doesn’t matter what color you are, you’re either part of that culture or you’re not.

+1.

I think OP is the typical American racist who truly can't understand why others are not as racist as he is.

Agree with this. Who would want to return to an offensive term used to designate racial inferiority??

OP here. Is Mestizo offensive? I'm honestly not aware of this and if so of course I don't think it should be brought back. I use it because that is the only term that I know of that describes people who are Spanish and American Indian mixed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m trying to understand why anyone would think Giselle B isn’t Hispanic just because she’s white. Are Afro Caribbean Hispanics now less Hispanic too? This is ridiculous.

Hispanic refers to a culture and it doesn’t matter what color you are, you’re either part of that culture or you’re not.

+1.

I think OP is the typical American racist who truly can't understand why others are not as racist as he is.

Agree with this. Who would want to return to an offensive term used to designate racial inferiority??

OP here. Is Mestizo offensive? I'm honestly not aware of this and if so of course I don't think it should be brought back. I use it because that is the only term that I know of that describes people who are Spanish and American Indian mixed.

I should also add that it's not that I have a "need" to sort people out, but I find it peculiar that our society uses the term Hispanic to racially categorize a group of people when Hispanic is not a racial designator. For those of you attacking me for asking this, I ask you, what race is Erik Estrada? Most people would say Hispanic, but as has been pointed out over and over again that is not right. So what race is he then?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OP here. Is Mestizo offensive? I'm honestly not aware of this and if so of course I don't think it should be brought back. I use it because that is the only term that I know of that describes people who are Spanish and American Indian mixed.

I should also add that it's not that I have a "need" to sort people out, but I find it peculiar that our society uses the term Hispanic to racially categorize a group of people when Hispanic is not a racial designator. For those of you attacking me for asking this, I ask you, what race is Erik Estrada? Most people would say Hispanic, but as has been pointed out over and over again that is not right. So what race is he then?

OP, here are my suggestions.

1. Consider learning more about a term before you propose that people use it.
2. Stop saying what "most people" would say.

And if you want to know what race Erik Estrada is, ask him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OP here. Is Mestizo offensive? I'm honestly not aware of this and if so of course I don't think it should be brought back. I use it because that is the only term that I know of that describes people who are Spanish and American Indian mixed.

I should also add that it's not that I have a "need" to sort people out, but I find it peculiar that our society uses the term Hispanic to racially categorize a group of people when Hispanic is not a racial designator. For those of you attacking me for asking this, I ask you, what race is Erik Estrada? Most people would say Hispanic, but as has been pointed out over and over again that is not right. So what race is he then?

OP, here are my suggestions.

1. Consider learning more about a term before you propose that people use it.
2. Stop saying what "most people" would say.

And if you want to know what race Erik Estrada is, ask him.

Thank you PP. here is another thought OP- consider educating yourself instead of demanding other people do it for you. If you spoke like this at work I would think you were deeply ignorant and excessively concerned about making sure white people arent mixed with brown people. I really think you should take a hard look at yourself.