The question of who should mark “Hispanic” on college applications comes up pretty often. I thought it would be interesting to throw out some questions that aren’t attached to a particular person, so we can skip discussions of whether the person is trying to game the system. So, which of the following people should mark “Hispanic” on the application?
My parents are from Mexico, and are native speakers of Spanish. They (and I) speak Spanish exclusively in the home. They adopted me from China as an infant.
My parents are from China, and are native speakers of Chinese. They (and I) speak Chinese and English in the home. They adopted me from Mexico as an infant.
Same as 1, except they adopted me at age 10. I learned Spanish as a second language.
Same as 2, exempt they adopted me at age 10. I already spoke Spanish, and learned Chinese and English later.
Three of my grandparents were born in Spain. They emigrated to the United States when they were young, and my parents were born here. My parents grew up speaking primarily English, but speak a little Spanish. I speak no Spanish at all.
Same as 5, only it's Mexico instead of Spain.
My parents emigrated from Japan to Peru, where I was born. I grew up speaking Spanish and Japanese at home.
My parents emigrated from Japan to East L.A., where I was born. I grew up speaking Spanish and Japanese at home, but learned English at school.
I was adopted by an English-speaking white couple in Iowa as an infant. When I was 18, I obtained information about my birth mother, who was from Guatemala.
My parents are white English-speaking Americans who worked in Mexico for decades. I was born in Mexico, and learned both Spanish and English as a small child.
Here’s a quick primer on how the Census Bureau approach works.
Q. I immigrated to Phoenix from Mexico. Am I Hispanic?
A. You are if you say so.
Q. My parents moved to New York from Puerto Rico. Am I Hispanic?
A. You are if you say so.
Q. My grandparents were born in Spain but I grew up in California. Am I Hispanic?
A. You are if you say so.
Q. I was born in Maryland and married an immigrant from El Salvador. Am I Hispanic?
A. You are if you say so.
Q. My mom is from Chile and my dad is from Iowa. I was born in Des Moines. Am I Hispanic?
A. You are if you say so.
Q. I was born in Argentina but grew up in Texas. I don’t consider myself Hispanic. Does the Census count me as an Hispanic?
A. Not if you say you aren’t.
Q. Okay, I get the point. But isn’t there something in U.S. law that defines Hispanicity?
A. Yes. In 1976, the U.S. Congress passed the only law in this country’s history that mandated the collection and analysis of data for a specific ethnic group: “Americans of Spanish origin or descent.” The language of that legislation described this group as “Americans who identify themselves as being of Spanish-speaking background and trace their origin or descent from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central and South America and other Spanish-speaking countries.” Standards for collecting data on Hispanics were developed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in 1977 and revised in 1997. Using these standards, schools, public health facilities and other government entities and agencies keep track of how many Hispanics they serve (which was a primary goal of the 1976 law).
We need to get rid of Hispanic. It’s an outdated concept that was created for pretty racist reasons. Transition to a Latin@ type classification. The orgs don’t care about white Hispanics (like myself, mom from Spain). Their goal is to collect data about those from Latin and South America.
Well, if you don’t actually trace your origin or descent from one of those countries, but say you are Hispanic anyway, it may be that the Census Bureau won’t ask any more questions–but you’re not actually Hispanic.
Well, let’s face it, these days on a college application you can say you are a female even though you were born with a penis. Self-identification fluidity is the new thing, so this is not surprising.
(By the way, I did not use the d word above, so I don’t know why 4 asterisks were used. I used the p word. 5 asterisks Didn’t know that was prohibited.)
My usual favorite retort to the “who is Hispanic question” is, is the Mexican intellectual and author Enrique Krauze (parents from Poland) ‘Hispanic.’? Are the refugee children from Poland and their descendants (most are likely deceased now) whom Mexico welcomed during WWII Hispanic? Are the descendants of the national hero of Chile, Bernardo O’Higgins, Hispanic? Yes, they are. Especially if they say so, according to how we “designate” people in the U.S.A…
There are other complications, too. Are Argentinians of Italian ancestry Hispanic? Far more Italians than Spaniards immigrated to Argentina over the years, and Italo-Argentinos are the country’s largest ethnic group, substantially outnumbering Argentinians of Spanish descent, though there’s certainly been a lot of mixing. Italian surnames are extremely common in Argentina. Although Italian never took hold as a primary language in Argentina, there are nonetheless an estimated 1.5 million Italian speakers and it’s said that the Spanish spoken in and around Buenos Aires has intonations more characteristic of Italian dialects than of other forms of Spanish, and is infused with slang words derived from Italian that would be unrecognizable to most other Spanish speakers.
What about Brazilians? Brazil is a Portuguese-speaking country, not Spanish-speaking, and although Brazil has much in common with its Spanish-speaking neighbors, the term “Hispanic,” strictly construed, refers to Spain and Spanish, not Portugal and Portuguese.
What about the indigenous Quechua-speaking peoples of the Andean Highlands and parts of the Amazonian basin? For many of these people, Spanish is at best a second language; some speak little or no Spanish and have little or no Spanish ancestry. Are they Hispanic? More likely, for them “Hispanic” would refer to the criollos, Spanish-speaking whites of Spanish ancestry who historically have run the Andean countries for their own benefit. not for the benefit of the indigenous peoples. And what about aristocratic criollos who immigrate to the United States; should they be allowed to count themselves as “Hispanic” and get a boost in college admissions on that basis, notwithstanding the substantial wealth and class privilege they and their families enjoy, rooted in hundreds of years of white supremacy in their own countries?
Perhaps the whole idea of 'Hispanic" is a category mistake. It conjures up images of the mostly mixed-race, predominantly poor and working-class immigrants who came to the U.S. mainland from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Central America, together with their descendants. In point of fact, Latin American cultures and societies are much more complicated than that, and the term “Hispanic” is sufficiently amorphous that it can absorb many people who don’t fit the stereotype that the term was intended to capture.
I am one and prefer term hispanic to latino. I disagree that term was mostly for poor This explains it pretty well IMHO. I am from the east coast. Actually most higher income folks prefer hispanic. The business org for those of such background is Hispanic MBA
3 grandparents White, 1 grandparent Mexican descent but he’s a 4th generation American. All grandparents are upper-middle class. Cousin and his wife are upper-middle class. Nobody speaks Spanish in their homes. All highly educated.
Should these sons get some kind of URM status push for admissions? (and this situation isn’t that unusual in border states)
I think special status should be given to low-income of any ethnic group, including white. Special status for the upper-middle class seems strange to me.
The term hispanic, or “of Span” is really outdated and I am not sure why the Hispanic Scholarship Fund uses it as most of its awardees are very much not “of Spain” but of other underdeveloped nations. But no matter, I believe it’s taken on a new meaning to encompass anyone of spanish speaking origin. Will checking a box help if your great grandma was from Spain? Who knows? But to bring up the original topic from a previous thread, I think it’s bizarre to identify yourself as hispanic simply because your friends are! Call me weird but my city is almost all asian and my kids have eaten, played with and gone to school with asians their whole lives but they don’t identify as such. What am I missing?
Didn’t know that was prohibited.)