The Study of Racialism

Sadie · Regular User Joined: 19 Oct 2008 {Posts: 72 }

Latinos are by no means regarded as White in the U.S.A no matter how white they look in phenotype. They are non-white simply because they are Latino. Most white Americans still adhere to the one-drop rule for mixed people like Hispanics.
What is interesting to see, are white Americans who take the DNAPrint 2.5 test and find that they have some non-White admixture. Then they find that they are not as "pure" as they thought.
Similarly, there are White Latinos who are in the same situation. They find on a DNA test that they are 75% or more European. They know that recent generations of their family are White in phenotype. Yet this situation is not considered the same as it is for White Americans. A White American is still considered White even if a DNA test proves they have some non-White ancestry.
There are Europeans who are dark yet they are still considered White. Look at celebrities like Antonio Banderas and Julio Iglesias.Both are as dark as a Latino yet they're considered White. Similarly, dark Italians & Greeks are as dark as some Latinos and are still considered White. There is a double standard where Latinos are concerned.
In fact, Latinos who consider themselves White are subject to ridicule. Whites will scrutinize them looking for color or features to prove they are not totally White. But show them a dark Italian, for example, and they overlook the "exotic" features because they know they are Italian. They explain these "exotic" features as being simply Mediterranean.
Latinos who claim to be White are seen as denying their heritage. On a certain forum(I won't mention the name)they are even given off-white dilemma awards. If a DNA test says that you're majority heritage is European and all your family looks White, why shouldn't you say you are White and Latino just like Italians do? Yes, the average Latino is probably not as White as an Irish person but they might be as White as an Italian. So what is really White enough to be considered White?

fwsweet

Sadie · Regular User Joined: 19 Oct 2008 {Posts: 72 }

Antonio Banderas and Julio Iglesias are technically refered as Hispanic/Latino in the USA. However, Spaniards are not the same as Latinos of Mexican, Puerto Rican or Dominican descent.

Sadie · Regular User Joined: 19 Oct 2008 {Posts: 72 }

Any opinions out there about this or are people tired of hearing about this? It's probably been discussed ad nausium on a forum such as this. But I must say, from what I've seen people here are much more well-read than other forums similar to this one.

G-Man · Moderator Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 2652 }

girlfromthenc · Mentor Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 231 }

I think the Cuban elite have been able to get themselves seen as White Hispanics, mostly because they have gone out of their way through the media to show that not all Hispanics are 'mixed' or 'non-whites'. They make it a piont to piont out that the Hispanic situation is no different than the American situation with its White and non-White peoples.

sagascend · Moderator Joined: 17 Jun 2006 {Posts: 2111 }

fwsweet · Posted: Wed 22 Oct 2008 01:39 Post subject:

sagascend · Moderator Joined: 17 Jun 2006 {Posts: 2111 }

Sadie · Regular User Joined: 19 Oct 2008 {Posts: 72 }

Thinking it over, I think the term Hispanic (although not a racial classifier) is a better way for Latinos to classify themselves. It promotes racial harmony unlike the American system which is obsessed with race. It unifies us as being a member of the same culture. Why can't we just classify people according to ethnicity rather than race? We do that when we say African-American, Italian-American, Irish-American, etc. but we don't want to eliminate the racial aspect of it entirely.

fwsweet · Posted: Wed 22 Oct 2008 16:32 Post subject:

Sadie · Regular User Joined: 19 Oct 2008 {Posts: 72 }

onlyhuman77 · Posted: Wed 22 Oct 2008 17:50 Post subject:

fwsweet · Posted: Wed 22 Oct 2008 18:57 Post subject:

Sadie · Regular User Joined: 19 Oct 2008 {Posts: 72 }

I hope everyone realizes that it was a joke.

I'm absolutely certain that I and everyone on this site realized it was a joke. I was just in jest as well. Razz

CIMMERIAN · New User Joined: 11 Apr 2008 {Posts: 33 }

I think much of whats said here applies to Latinos on both ends of the spectrum. Latinos with any visible Afrodescendancy who do not embrace the ODR version of 'blackness' are accused of being ashamed, race deniers, deluded, white wannabe, etc.

Hollywood kind of enforces this when they give Latinos who's phenotype is 'too white' or 'too black' by only giving them other ethnic roles.
I've seen these Latinos play white roles and black roles, I recall reading an article where a black Latino was told that 'it would only confuse audiences' lol

I find there is a wide spectrum that Hollywood considers the Latino stereotype, but those who are too 'white/native or black' looking fall outside of it.
Exhibit A:
Zoe Saldana is Dominican but has only played black roles that I know of.
Dania Ramirez is Dominican but has only played Latino roles that I know of.
For those who have trained eye, Dania Ramirez displays non-white mixture, but it falls within the Hollywood range of the Latin look.
Also please note all the Italian actors that play Latino roles.