[ilbegone]

Originally Posted by Greg in LA

I don't think Mexicans, Central Americans, Spanish speaking Caribbean people and South Americans have yet found a term that effectively describes them.

They have self descriptions.

Mexicano
Guatemalteco
Hondureno
Salvadoreno
Nicaraguense
Costarricense
Panameno
Venezolano
Colombiano
Ecuadorano
Boliviano
Peruano
Chileno
Argentino
Paraguayo
Uruguayo
Cubano
Puerto Riqueno
Brasilero

They identify by nationality. It is only when they enter the United States that they are referred to as "Latino" or "Hispanic", and they can be of any race or racial mixture. Mexican parents fret about their foreign and American born children becoming Americanized, Central American immigrant parents fret about their children being Mexicanized in the United States.

Some Americans with Mexican ancestry who self describe as "Latino" get upset that a black person from Santo Domingo can be described in the US as "Latino" or "Hispanic". While a Puerto Rican (on the island) might describe himself as "Latino", I believe that has filtered back to the island by virtue of it being a US possession. Some southwestern brown racists with Mexican ancestry find it a sore point that Cubans and Puerto Ricans find a place in the National Council of La Raza's agenda by virtue of being described as "Latino" or "Hispanic", they think it's all about a "Chicano struggle". Some Puerto Ricans have their own ethnic nationalist thing concerning Puerto Rican independence, and it has nothing to do with "Aztlan", Mexico, or the Southwestern United States.

And, in some cases, crowding these different nationalities together could sometimes be like mixing ants from different colonies, they often don't get along.

"Latino" and "Hispanic" are terms which are so broad as to be meaningless yet so flexible they can be used to support just about any agenda, because ultimately a person from any race, culture, language, etc, etc, etc could be described as "Latino" or "Hispanic".

The word "Mexican" is nearly meaningless. Many people with generations in the United States are considered by themselves and others of US nationality to be "Mexican" - most Mexican nationals (citizens of Mexico) would never entertain such a thought. It's like an "African American" visiting any country in Africa, the locals would view him simply as an American.

On the other hand, some years ago a junior high school girl started her letter to the editor defending her playing hooky from school on "a day without a Mexican" with "I am of the Mexican race..."

I thought we had a chance to achieve Martin Luther King's dream that we could all be judged by content of character rather than color of skin, but the obsession with race from every race in the United States seems to be precluding that notion.