Public Domain
Over the past few weeks, we have read A LOT about the fact that George Zimmerman is not “white” but that he is “Hispanic” (even though when initial media reports of his February 26 shooting of Trayvon Martin called him “white”). It started when Zimmerman’s father, Bob Zimmerman, shared this information in a letter to the Orlando Sentinel, and within hours, bloggers (mostly conservative ones) were quick to emphasize that Zimmerman’s Hispanicity: You see, race baiters, he is NOT white? He is Hispanic! Shame on you, liberal mainstream media! You were quick to play the race card. White people are not racists!
Then, when that all died out (well, except for on forums that still have some choice words for Zimmerman’s and ethnic background), we started reading mainstream reports calling Zimmerman a “white Hispanic.” Yes, you New York Times, and others. And then FOX NEWS’ Bernard Goldberg went off.
We asked ourselves: why? Why the change and why was the label used? Why even describe Zimmerman’s ethnicity? What does it matter? Why is Goldberg a tool who has no clue about Latinos? Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin. He had a record of paranoia with “suspicious” (code word: Black) people. He is of Peruvian descent. So what.
Because, conservative bloggers and mainstream media outlets: Hispanics can be racist, too.
In fact, the basic social and economic tenets of colonial Latin America were based on race. And classism in Latin American is still racially charged. Many tell the story of ‘knowing your place,” and it is one of Latin America’s ugliest secrets, one that recently has started to be discussed with more honesty.
But back to Zimmerman, the White Hispanic. We scratched our heads about this and kept asking ourselves why do members of the mainstream media insist on using this term when reporting in Zimmerman and why did people like Goldberg felt the need to “attack” the liberal media?
CNN contributor Ruben Navarrette Jr. offered his take, and quite frankly, his concluding paragraph should have stopped after the word Hispanic, because after starting strong with his reason as to WHY the term was used, he failed miserably at the end:
…I think [the mainstream media] were looking for a way to avoid what would have been an embarrassing about-face. They didn’t want to stand up and say: “We were wrong. Without having all the facts, we made certain assumptions about the suspect. And now it turns out that it’s not simple, that this story is more complicated than we thought and that this suspect is both white and Hispanic.” So they turned to the term white Hispanic.
It is also possible that some in the media are afraid to frame the story as Hispanic versus African-American. I understand that. Relations between the nation’s largest minority and the group that used to hold that title are tense enough without adding fuel to the fire.
Whatever the reason for using this term, I don’t like it. And I don’t have any use for it. Are we now going to refer to people as white Hispanics and black Hispanics? Given that my complexion is a shade lighter than brown, should I be referred to as beige Hispanic? Where does this end?
Americans need to discuss race and ethnicity in serious ways. The tragic death of a young person is a serious issue. Everything about this story must be taken seriously. Distorting the language shows we’re not serious people.
So, Ruben, call out the media for goofing up but then say that they didn’t want to frame the story as Hispanic vs. African-American? So, when stories like this one out of Pasadena happen (and this one is awful), the media can’t talk about the fact that the 911 caller who lied to police which lead to the death of an unarmed Black teen in Pasadena was Hispanic? As for Navarrette’s comment about white Hispanics and black Hispanics, well, isn’t that accurate to some? Race is part of the greater cultural complexity of what it is to be Latino in the United States. As for being afraid that you will be called a “beige Hispanic” (kind of a silly overreaction), Navarrette can use “mestizo” or “throwback” or whatever else he wants to use.
Come on, we even have a case of a Black Hispanic becoming a White Hispanic. Exhibit A right here:
The point is: race and culture are interwoven in Hispanic/Latino communities, and it has never been a harmonious fit. To deny that reality is to deny that we as Latinos can be our own worst enemy when it comes to racism. If we aren’t bombarded with Univision and Telemundo shows with White, more light-skinned actors living the lap of luxury, all we need to do is look at popular culture: Latinos promote whiteness more than ever. They sell a world of whiteness, and have done so for decades. And that is wrong.
So, yes, Navarrette’s argument fails at the end of his column and Goldberg is on another planet (don’t you just love when media experts try to lecture others about Latinos?), and since we still didn’t feel satisfied, we just asked our readers and community members. Here are just a few of their responses:
White Hispanic is the appropriate census jargon. Culturally, it’s offensive to socially conscious Latinos, but the context is accurate.
The irony here is that those of us who fall on the Caucasian end of the Latino color spectrum are not considered white by non-Latino/Hispanic whites.
Media manipulating society – if they can divide us against each other, it’s easier to control us. Interesting how this phrase has the potential to divide people more. “White” Hispanic vs “Black” Hispanic or just plain Hispanic? Or the addition of Hispanic, just to remind everyone he is not really white?
I’m not a big fan of the term Hispanic because it’s a census term and label; NOT a culture… Our combined, tapestry of cultures, IMHO, falls under the beautiful, vast umbrella of us all being ‘Latinos.’ To me, the word ‘Latino’ implies diversity and unity, whereas the term ‘Hispanic’ screams government labeling.
To other folks I am perceived as Italian, Portuguese, Mexican, South America, never of Puerto Rican antecedents, and never told I am a White Hispanic. My birth certificate says White under Race. I am la Trigueña in my immediate family.
My husband is Caucasian and I’m Peruvian, so would that term be appropriate for my two kids since they are half and half. I mean I always check the Hispanic/Latino box for ethnicity for them and white for race for them also. Also to me, they should celebrate both cultures equally. Does that make me a sellout of sorts? I don’t understand what the appropriate term would be for them. I would take that as a description of my beautiful daughter who is Half Mexican and half Irish. I don’t take offense. The way we are so mixed these days. I believe the more we mix, the more beautiful and smarter our children are. 🙂 It would be nice if the media would not. Say the person’s race race has nothing to do with the crime you commit there’s racism even with our own race people that dislike what they are very sad. But I do remember the days that when a minority committed a crime you would just hear black man Hispanic man full description and when a white person conifer a crime they would run it by so fast with no description the media has a lot to do with how America sees us.
The media insists on slapping racial (and racist) labels on people, plain and simple. It doesn’t matter what “race” Zimmerman is…an idiot is an idiot. What was a Neighborhood Watch Volunteer doing with a gun in the first place? But I digress…What will the media do next? Perhaps label Mr. Zimmerman as “A descendant of Sephardic Jews”? Anything to bulk up a word count or cater to the lowest common denominator.
For me it doesn’t make a difference to be a Spanish white man from Spain, who cares? racism is racism, and black, brown or white Spanish doesn’t matter, if anyone wants to make a difference, we are a culture all Spanish people, have to make the difference, because white America, will do anything to divide us. They will say, you are from Spain and you are better than Mexicans or Puerto Ricans or the other way around. This is the time, regardless of our ideas, when we have to stand together, because if we don’t, tomorrow may be your son, brother etc, just remember, they divide you today, tomorrow it won’t matter if you are better or not, you are just that, Spanish or Latino
”White Hispanic” – a person who is able to change a Latino surname in exchange for a ‘proper’ English one to avoid discrimination and is able through his or her physical appearance to assimilate into the politically dominant culture -white.
The real issue is this: labels do nothing to help us dissect a tragedy. But we can still have serious discussions about race in America, because no matter who you who are and with whom you identify with, racism affects us all, and for some, it can lead to tragic consequences.
[…] […]
[…] the last few days, Latinos in particular have spoken up again about Zimmerman’s race, and the “white Hispanic” label in particular, largely responding to social media users and mass media pundits who employed the term. Watching […]
[…] the last few days, Latinos in particular have spoken up again about Zimmerman’s race, and the “white Hispanic” label in particular, largely responding to social media users and mass media pundits who employed the term. Watching […]
[…] last few days, Latinos in particular have spoken up again about Zimmerman’s race, and the “white Hispanic” label especially, largely responding to social media users and mass media pundits who employed the term. Watching […]
[…] the last few days, Latinos in particular have spoken up again about Zimmerman’s race, and the “white Hispanic” label in particular, largely responding to social media users and mass media pundits who employed the term. Watching […]
[…] the last few days, Latinos in particular have spoken up again about Zimmerman’s race, and the “white Hispanic” label in particular, largely responding to social media users and mass media pundits who employed the […]
[…] the last few days, Latinos in particular have spoken up again about Zimmerman’s race, and the “white Hispanic” label in particular, largely responding to social media users and mass media pundits who employed the term. Watching […]
As far as I know, divisions and hostilities within the Spanish speaking and Latino global community are very old and not so much attrubutable to “white America”. Latinos brought these attitudes with them to America. I don’t doubt that some nefarious elements within white America would want to play upon these differences for their own political purposes, but you can’t blame and historical inter-latino strife and latino racism on white Americans. For the latino community to try and resolve century old inter-latino prejudice by blaming white Americans for these divisions is an unhealthy and racist way for you to try and deal with that problem and only makes non-latino whites feel that they are being demonized and treated in a racist manner by latinos.
As someone who is 75%Italian and 25% Austrian by blood I would really
take offense if I wasn’t considered Caucasian for the mere fact of
speaking Spanish. This American categorisation of people based only on
the language they speak is the most ridiculous ever! In my country,
everyone speaks Spanish of course, yet you get all sorts of ethnicities,
from Amerindians, to Afro descendants, Asians and European descendants
like myself as well as all sorts of mixed- race possibilities in
between. To fail to acknowledge something as obvious as this and
pigeonhole everyone on the basis of their language spoken is sheer
idiocy and ignorance.
Zimmerman is not white, latino or otherwise. Cameron Diaz is a white latina. Frankie Muniz is a white latino.
Zimmerman is a mestizo.
[…] when I think that the notion of “white Hispanic” has faded away, several more commentaries continue to appear. All raise important points yet […]
“White” and “Hispanic” (or “Latino”) are not mutually exclusive. There are whites (usually, but not always, of Spanish ancestry) in every Latin-American country; in several they constitute a majority of the population. Argentina for example is probably significantly whiter than the US and Canada (i.e. a larger percentage of its population is white).
Furthermore, “whiteness” is often defind less rigidly in Latin-America than in the US. In Latin America, someone who looks European, or who looks more European than anything else, will often be considered “white” even though they have non-European ancestry. There isn’t an imlplicit ‘one drop rule’ in etfect etc.
I think the suggestion that pointing this out is an attempt to ‘divide the Latino community’ is ridiculous. One might just as well argue that denying the existence of white Hispanics is an attempt to ‘divide the white community’. The US has this odd notion of ‘Hispanic’ as a distnct ‘race’. I really think it’s more a matter of being anthropologically and historically illiterate (as so many Americans are) than some sort of bigotry.
Let’s face it; lot of non-white Latin-Americans like being thought of as ‘Spanish’ in the US. The elite classes in Latin-America for the most part contimue to be domianted by those who either are white or look white, so for a very indigenous looking Mestizo or very black looking mulatto to come to the US and be perceived as ‘Spanish’ in some sense, unfortunately, has a certain appeal to people who come from cultures that value the Eurooean phenotype above the indigenous or African phenotype. It’s kind if like if a black American could move to Canada and be perceived as ‘English’.
On the other side of Latino ethnic continuum, there are many white Latinos who like being able to consider themselves ‘absolved’ of the sin of whitness in the US, by being perceived as “people of color” and hence amongst the ‘oppressed’ rather than the ‘privileged elite’ etc.
It’s a lot more complicated than many of the posts here allow for.
I think there’s a simpler reason most Americans think of Hispanic or Latino as a race. Historically speaking, the Latino populations closest to the US, with the most accessible contact, have been working-class Mexican mestizos, who have a brown-skin complexion as a result of their indigenous heritage, and to a lesser extent, tri-racial Puerto Ricans. The US racial dichotomy has always been black and white, so the indigenous features of mestizos and the ethnically ambiguous features of Puerto Ricans don’t really fit into the binary.
They also can‘t get coded as “Native American,” because a.) Native American assumes some level of cultural identity continuity, b.) the US understanding typically reserves the term for people indigenous to the continental US, c.) most Americans are far removed from the Native American population and only have a stereotypical image of a long-dead nomadic Sioux or Apache brave in war regalia to go by, and d.) up until recently many southeastern states like Virginia refused to acknowledge the continued existence of Native Americans in census data.
The stereotypical “Latino” in the US frame of mind is a racially-ambiguous person with dark, wavy hair and a skin tone darker than “white” and lighter than “black” who can’t really pass as either. Also, in Latin America itself, the categories of “mestizo” and “mulatto” and “pardo” go all the way back to colonial times, make up a significant portion of the populations in many countries, and are considered seperate from black or white, so Americans categorizing them as a seperate race is an way of trying to condense the understanding of a very complex population in a way that vaguely makes sense to oversimplified American sensibilities.
Meztizo is someone like George Lopez ,Cheech Marin… Jessica Alba is white hispanic ,Selena Gomez Eva Longoria too.Just because someone has brown eyes and hair doesnt make them full mestizo. Zimmerman is a white hispanic (unfortunatly).
[…] shooting of unarmed African-American teenager Trayvon Martin by a half-Peruvian and half-White Jewish man named George Zimmerman, the rise of so-called Hispanic conservatives like Ted Cruz, Al Cardenas and Marco Rubio, and the […]
[…] the Latino community, racism against Black people —including Afro-Latinos— has a long history. So it’s especially important for leading Latinx organizations to speak up now and commit to […]
[…] was a Latino man who killed Trayvon Martin and a Latino man who killed Philando Castile. And just recently, a Latina […]
[…] It was a Latino man who killed Trayvon Martin and a Latino man who killed Philando Castile. And just recently, a Latina called the cops and erroneously claimed that two Black men kidnapped her child. […]
[…] and why centering whiteness is highly problematic, we recommend the following LR pieces from 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2020. These are just some of the many pieces we LR has published about a topic that […]
[…] against the indigenous. It is more about how Latinos are making sense of the confusing label of the “white Hispanic.” What does it mean to be labeled or take on the label of a “white Hispanic?” Some in […]
What’s with the “White Hispanic vs. Black Hispanic” binary? That’s erasure of Latin America’s indigenous roots. “White” means European ancestry and “Black” means African ancestry – Leaving those as the only two options leaves out the descendants of the Nahua, Maya, Quechua, Aymara, Chimu, Guarani, Muisca, Tomoto-Cuica, Lenca, Taino, Ciboney, Kalinago, Kuna, Mapuche, Zapotec, Mixtec, Totonac, Otomi, Charrua, Toba, Diaguita, and other indigenous peoples who married with other races and assimilated into the mainstream Spanish-speaking societies.
I see one comment calling Mr. Zimmerman a mestizo because he doesn’t look like Frankie Muniz and another comment calling him white because he doesn’t look like George Lopez. Actually, he‘s half mestizo (white-indigenous mix) on his mother‘s side and half white European on father‘s side. A DNA test such as 23andme would probably show him to be roughly 75% white European and 25% indigenous, and his appearance reflects this. This combination is what was referred to as “castizo” in colonial Latin America but is largely irrelevant today even though it‘s the majority in Chile. Having a father of white European-American roots does not erase the indigenous ancestry on his mom’s side, so calling him “White Hispanic” (implying his ancestors are white European ancestry from Latin America) is inaccurate. There are self-identified Native Americans in the US who have less actual indigenous ancestry than him, whereas he probably could not pass as white.
[…] response, we wrote a piece in March of 2012 that stated the obvious: yes, Latinos are racists, especially white […]
[…] https://www.latinorebels.com//2012/03/29/the-white-hispanic-label-yes-people-racism-is-a-latino-thing… […]