Living in Label Land: Are you Hispanic or Latino?

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

Among the many issues that President Barack Obama dredged up in nominating the United States’ first Hispanic U.S. Supreme Court Judge was the dreaded "Hispanic" vs. "Latino" label debate.

Sigh.

The minute Sonia Sotomayor was announced as the nominee there was a mad scramble by some to label her an immigrant (she isn’t, her parents came to the U.S. from Puerto Rico which – surprise! – is part of the U.S.) and a mad scramble by others to debate whether, in fact, she would be the first given that the ancestors of Justice Benjamin Cardozo, who served on the U.S. Supreme Court from 1932-1938, may or may not have come from Portugal.

And that alone was enough to inspire the Pew Hispanic Center to dissect the issue in a report they released late last week titled "Who’s Hispanic?"

The answer:

1) any member of an ethnic group that traces its roots to 20 Spanish-speaking nations from Latin America and Spain itself (but not Portugal or Portuguese-speaking Brazil)

2) no one who says they aren’t

3) anyone who says they are. Like me.

I had no less than three emails by Wednesday morning asking me what I call myself. I’ve made many people grit their teeth by responding, "I’m an American, honey." Rarely does that go over well – curious how people tend to not accept that as an appropriate answer – so I stick to "Hispanic."

"Latina" makes me grind my teeth – it sounds so militant to me. "What – my dry cleaning isn’t ready? It’s because I’m a Lat-ee-na, isn’t it?!" Eeewww.

"Chicana" elicits revulsion – I can’t stand it (again, waaaay too militant) and it doesn’t apply to me, anyway – not only am I not from the Southwest, I’m only half-Mexican. (But maybe I can popularize "Ecuamexian?" Maybe "Mexuadorian?")

Despite the fact that the Spanish language is gender-based – spoons are female, "cuchara" and plates are male, "plato" – I of the man-brain prefer to stick to the gender-neutral descriptor "Hispanic."

Hooray! I’m not in the, ahem, minority on this one…according to the Pew report:

"The labels are not universally embraced by the community that has been labeled. A 2006 survey by the Pew Hispanic Center found that 48% of Latino adults generally describe themselves by their country of origin first; 26% generally use the terms Latino or Hispanic first; and 24% generally call themselves American on first reference.

As for a preference between ‘Hispanic’ and ‘Latino’, a 2008 Center survey found that 36% of respondents prefer the term ‘Hispanic,’ 21% prefer the term ‘Latino’ and the rest have no preference."

An unpublished Notre Dame Institute for Latino Studies study that was referenced in the Chicago Community Trust’s Latino Landscape 2008 (see my column "A statistical portrait of Chi-Town Hispanics") says that in Chicago in 2003:

"those who preferred the term ‘Hispanic’ were more likely to be college-educated, somewhat older (36-60 years old), very interested in politics, and members of nontraditional religions. Those who prefer ‘Latino’ are generally younger."

You may roll one way, or the other – it’s all good. I know it’s not a very ethnic thing to say but call me whatever you want, just don’t call me late for supper.

Esther J. Cepeda writes the "600 Words" & "Pregunta del Dia" columns, and is also the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for the Illinois Student Assistance Commission. Her views and reporting do not necessarily reflect those of ISAC. "600 words" is a registered trademark of EeJayCee, Inc., Copyright 2008. May be reprinted with permission, contact eejaycee@600words.com

Comments

[Alan]

Why is people so concerned with others color of skin ? The United States , is no longer lily white ,and is covered with mosques , do I need to say more ?. The white liberal man ,has really done screwed up this magnificent nation , to this very same day ,and though it is still great , it was greater forty years ago .And now we have Sonia Sotomayor US supreme judge , a portorican woman .What race is she ? what color is she? , who cares!, she's up there
impelled by B. H. O.
Her honor , is a caribean woman ,not a pedigree ,so ,why some wander what her color is?.

[Alan]

I believe that the majority of mexicans and caribeans insist on being called Latinos or Hispanics , like this bogus identity is their protection or salvation in the middle of this sea of caucasians , africans , asians and other strange races ,and want to be recognized
for being the ethnic group close to the ruling white race , and they make it bad for the castilian speaking inmigrants that believe to be the original AMERICANS .

[Alan]

My dear "todos somos americanos" :the people that is erroneously called latinos or
hispanics,are AMERICANS long before coming to the UNITED STATES , if they are indigenous to this continent of AMERICA ,there is no other kind of AMERICAN .Being born in the U.S.do not make anybody an AMERICAN , BUT makes them U.S.citizens .AMERICA is not a country , it is a CONTINENT ,and AMERICAN is the native of AMERICA,just like the black man is an AFRICAN or the Koreans are ASIANS .The White man is EUROPEAN not AMERICAN , the same goes for the other races.Got it? Nobody is hispanic or latino because is spanish speaking , I am AMERICAN and i speak german
should I be german?.Think about it!

[blackmamba]

Sotomayor also compared herself as" a wise Latina woman" to a white male. But what race does Sotomayor consider herself to belong to other than human? Or is she Caucasian, Negroid, Mongoloid or Austrlo -Asian? Or a mixture of those races? What color is Sotomayor? Black,white,brown or yellow? Self identification is fine but when you are mixed race and when you take the sordid history of race in America into account then that history will label you no matter your personal preference. One drop of Black African blood made you legally black in America no matter your appearance, your preference or being overwhelmingly white by actual blood lines and heritage.

[Jorge Mujica]

I'm an Irish-Bask-US-citizen-born in Mexico City.

For awhile I favored "Latino" as someone who came from Latin America, but I don't anymore.

Hispania an Iberia are not native names, they are Greek and Roman names given to the Spanish peninsula. Hispano-america and Ibero-America are Spanish names given to our continent. Latino America is the name given to it by the French when they decided they wanted a piece of the pie and they did not fit in the "Hispano" or "Ibero" description.

That's why the Irish-Bask-born in Mexico-US citizen thing. Ancestry is a thing of roots, nationality is a political thing, and 2nd class citizenship is a problem.

I refuse to be called Mexican-American, Hispanic-American or Latino American as a way to be distinguished from "European -(white)-Americans" or African-Americans or Asian Americans or Native Americans.

Todos somos inmigrantes y todos somos Americanos!!

[Esther J. Cepeda]

I heard a South American academic lecture once and he said a beautiful thing: "If you call yourself 'Latino' or 'Hispanic' you know you are an American, because those do not exist anywhere but in the U.S."

And also, when I vist Mexico or Ecuador they say with utter certainty, just by looking at me, "ella es Americana!"

[A. Ruiz]

I'm hispanic/latino/mexican but above all I'm a Chicagoan if you ask me..

Can't really call myself an American just yet, I have a green card. Although I've lived in the states since I was four. Perhaps in a couple of years, but I dunno..... If you say "Just call me American", well it's you're making a political statement no matter how you answer. It doesn't really matter though, since I see myself more as an individual than a part of some larger social construct such as nationhood.

Anyway, I'm not too sure but does "anglo" refer to the the use of English? Because in that case I'm anglo-hispanic. Haha.

[Tio Romero]

The Pew Center report illustrates succinctly the reasoning behind these so-called 'labels': they are really categories used by our American government to quantify their services amongst our given population, nothing more. I don't think that they are either antiquated or an engine of stereotype and prejudice, as many try to claim.

Even though I agree wholeheartedly with the author's idea that calling oneself an American if a citizen regardless of heritage is what should matter, it needs to be understood that this is how our government attempts to put a handle on our sector of the population (you try to run a country without this mechanism and see how well you do!). Unfortunately, the mainstream media also attempts to do this using the government's terms, perhaps distorting and alienating the initial intent of these descriptions (which after OMB revision, it is now referred to as Hispanic/Latino).

I like to look at this 'debate' from a more historical point of view- the term 'Hispanic' comes from those whom share a culture with Hispania- the Roman name given to the Iberian peninsula during the Golden Age of their Empire. 'Latin' was the Romance language which was shared throughout the Empire and engendered the many-related cultures in modern Europe. We in the Americas are the recipients of this language and culture via our extensive heritage (including those that claim to be the 'true' Americans that speak English- a language that is a derivative of Latin), so what's to these 'labels' that bother some if we all know we are related historically anyway?

BTW- It was a Hispanic congressman from New Mexico, Joseph Montoya, whom first suggested the concept of Hispanics as a social criteria during the struggle for Civil Rights back in the 60's, not a bunch of white guys like people think.

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Saludos

[Lucilla]

Greetings from Puerto Rico! I came to your post from a link on twitter. Here are my thoughts.(@lucymfel or @CIMAPR on Twitter)

As a young girl I always argued with my neighborhood kids about Puerto Rican versus American labels. I always said I was a U.S. citizen of the Americas with Puerto Rican antecedents. The neighborhood kids thought I had an identity issue and this followed me through college when someone asked me if I was foreign. I told the person I was as American as Apple Pie. The person asked me twice if I was foreign. I stated that just because my name was not Becky Smith or that my parents did not come on the Mayflower (my folks came on a plane, I know fancy), it did not mean that I was foreign. As I worked with people of diverse backgrounds, I was the person everyone came to when a new Hispanic started to work in the department. They wanted to know if he or she was Puerto Rican or Mexican. I would tell them that I am not head of the "Outing the Hispanic" club. I prefer to call myself a U.S citizen because that is where I was born and lived all of my life. I currently live in Puerto Rico and they call me a Gringa. I love living here and learning about the culture of my parents and grandparents. But one look at me and everyone says "Aunque seas Gringa, tienes la mancha de platano."
People go the United States to become citizens of the country. Why are so many people trying to call themselves something else? There is such a tug of war with labels and names that we all forget that we are Human first and foremost. Great post and keep writing!

[Esther J. Cepeda]

"He hated the British with a passion" I love that because it just goes to show how no matter who you're talking about, they're always hatin' on someone. I agree that these labels don't do us any good and they're quickly becoming useless. What to call my one cousin's half-black- quarter- Mexican- quarter- Ecuadorian daughter? Or my other cousin's half-Filipino-quarter- Mexican- quarter- Ecuadorian sons? Who cares? We're all Americans and all far too complex for labels any more :)

[David Diego Rodriguez]

Anyone who is an American citizen, even a naturalized one, is American. I always say I'm American. I sometimes get strange looks from people who insist that I'm Hispanic or latino. Yes, I'm also Mexican, or rather, of Mexican descent, but when I go to Mexico, I can't call myself Mexican--because I'm not a Mexican citizen. I tell my family in Mexico, "Soy americano," and everyone understands exactly what I mean.

[thomps]

I'm not Hispanic or Latina or Chicana etc. I like how you describe yourself as an American. That's how I describe myself. When people ask me what nationality I am I reply "American" followed by this statement; "if you want to know my ethnic heritage it is English, Irish, and German and God knows what else, but my nationality is American." Labels are a very interesting and very contentious, most so-called "Hispanics, Latinos" or however they describe themselves would label me an "Anglo." If they ever called my late Irish great-grandfather an "Anglo" they would probably get a sock in the jaw. He hated the British with a passion. Human beings are more than just one thing. I'm white, female, an American, a proud midwesterner, a librarian, and a bunch of other things. You can't pigeonhole people by just one label. Everone of us is far too complex for that.