There is no such thing as a White Latino.
I am a light-skinned Latino. I am not white. Whiteness isn’t just based on skin color. It’s a mindset. A thought process based on the superiority within American and Western European societies. Whiteness is not welcoming to people like me despite my looks. My last name doesn’t allow me all of the privileges White America enjoys. My appearance, however, can sometimes prevent me from being profiled by police, that is, until they run my plates and/or see my name.
I’m not here to argue that light-skinned Latinos don’t benefit from white privilege. We do more times than not as we traverse our everyday lives, but it ends there. That so-called privilege we are thought to benefit from rears its ugly head when we try to buy a car, get a mortgage, apply for a job, or interact with police. We all know what it’s like once white bosses see our names. In fact, it has been discussed at great length and some have even whitewashed their names on resumes and applications to prove that they weren’t given a chance because of their Latinidad.
This was partly represented in a poll released in 2017 conducted for National Public Radio (NPR), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The poll showed one-third of Latinos reported being discriminated against in the workplace, seeking employment, and when seeking housing.
“In the context of institutional forms of discrimination, more than three in ten Latinos report having personally experienced discrimination because they are Latino when it comes to applying for jobs (33%), being paid equally or considered for promotion (32%), or when trying to rent a room or apartment or buy a house (31%).” It was based on “a nationally representative, probability-based telephone (cell and landline) sample of 3,453 adults age 18 or older.”
The study is quite telling. It does not, however, cover every aspect of discrimination we face on a daily basis. Speaking Spanish in public, interacting with White America, oppressive policing in our barrios, the systemic issues related to paying higher interest rates on loans, paying larger down payments, and being redlined from living in certain areas. If we denounce our Latinidad and speak in code as White America does, certain Latinos are led to believe they enjoy other privileges, but again, they’re limited.
Whiteness fears the browning of society and we’re ALL part of that fear.
Then there are those mediocre Latinos who embrace whiteness in America as if taking sides with the oppressors will somehow grant them immunity from the racism that permeates society in the United States. They eventually find out that nothing could be further from the truth.
Embracing and Abandoning Your Latinidad
If you’re like me and embrace your Latinidad, you’re subjected to many different forms of discrimination. If you abandon your heritage and embrace whiteness, racists will treat you like a friend as they mock you behind your back. Hate groups might welcome you as one of their own but once they manage to maintain their superiority over all of us, you suddenly become a target.
For racists and white nationalists in America, your last name is enough to doom you to their hateful beliefs. Many of these willfully ignorant haters refer to all of us Mexicans and think we speak Mexican (not Spanish). They categorize us into the one group that most Americans will demonize in the same way Trump does. They treat you as if you’re stealing their jobs and their women, devaluing their neighborhoods and bringing crime, drugs, and murder.
If it feels like they use some of the same tropes that they use against Black folks, that’s because they do. In fact, they use many of the same comparisons to justify their xenophobia. There are subtle differences because of the perceived negative impacts they think we bring to American society. But looking past those subtle differences, the basis for their hate is one and the same.
They hate us all.
Since the coronavirus outbreak, we’ve seen how rhetorical generalizations about the Chinese have been responsible for a rise in hate crimes against Asians. It’s largely because referring to COVID as the “China virus” has led hate groups to attack Asians because they’ve been lumped together as a single group—much like we are when we’re all referred to as Mexicans.
America’s history of generalizing Black folks as animals, thugs, murderers, drug dealers, and welfare queens with fatherless children should be a lesson in how white supremacy treats and associates minorities no matter where our families are from. The exact same tactics have been used by white nationalists all over America for more than a century and they’re using them right now by employing the power of social media to amplify their hateful generalizations.
The recent actions of white supremacists over the last decades have led us to where we are today with a much bolder, angrier, and more heavily armed neo-Nazi. These so-called militias are nothing more than white gangs of thugs terrorizing every non-white person in every city in the United States. Emboldened by a president who promotes their hate and celebrates their actions, they now believe that showing up to our neighborhoods and murdering us is justified.
If you’re one of those Latinos who takes sides with the hate America breeds, you are complicit in normalizing the oppression, murder, and cultural genocide of your own people. If you find yourself taking sides with white supremacists, I hope this piece shines a light on what you are doing so you can stop being so fucking mediocre. Because when they come for you, we may or may not be there. If we do come to your aid, we’ll be telling you we told you so and laughing at you at family functions until the day you die.
That’s what we do. We clown each other until death.
Stop Being Mediocre
You’re probably wondering what I mean when I say mediocre. Well, if you find yourself taking sides with the oppressive nature of whiteness in America, then you aren’t entitled to espouse racist views AND call yourself Latino. If you voted for that racist in the White House, you may as well stop calling yourself Latino too. Taking sides with an anti-Latino bigot disqualifies you from ever claiming to be one of us. Thinking that these people adore any of us is not just naive, but willfully ignorant and downright stupid. THAT is what makes you mediocre.
Mediocre Latinos who act like they're White espousing anti-Black and anti-Latino sentiments do more harm within the Latino community than any white supremacist ever could due to their proximity to other Latinos. Light-skinned Latinos aren't White. They are wannabes. Fight me. 👊🏾
— Arturo Dominguez (@ExtremeArturo) September 2, 2020
If you’re a light-skinned Latino like me, and the mentality of white supremacy circulates in your feeble mind, just refer to yourself as white. Because unlike me, you live your life with that whiteness mindset that I mentioned at the beginning of this article. You and I are not the same. I refuse and denounce that same whiteness that led to the wholesale slaughter of our people and the colonization of our lands. Latinos who side with colonialists are traitors to our respective cultures now just as you would have been when our ancestors were nearly erased from history.
If you take sides with white supremacists in the modern era, that leads me to believe you would have taken sides with the Europeans who stole our culture and heritage. I’m left to believe that you would have been the traitors that all but ensured the massacre of entire colonies for your own self-preservation. I mean, that’s why you do it now, isn’t it? Of course, it is. We see all of you.
None of us who celebrate our culture and heritage have any reason to believe that your motivations are any different. We see you regurgitating the same anti-Black sentiments that white supremacists promote. We see you ignoring our African and Indigenous roots as if your perceived whiteness makes you superior to the rest of us. My family, who is more than half Black, sees you. You don’t scare us but you do disgust every one of us for supporting the racism that has infected the United States since the very beginning.
I see you as the type of people who would have joined the Texas Rangers as they butchered Mexicans because of some false promise they granted you. I see you as taking sides with Spanish conquistadors allowing them to pillage the wealth of Indigenous tribes throughout the Caribbean and Latin America as they raped women and girls while slaughtering men and boys.
What makes you so different than what I just mentioned? Nothing. We are Latino and no matter how light-skinned you are, you aren’t white. Do your ancestors a favor and drop this white supremacist mentality. Drop the “White Latino” bullshit. Because although you think, act, and oppress like the problematic colonialist mindset that many white Americans live their lives by, you will never be white. And if you do think and act like them, it’s only a matter of time before they turn on you too. That’s the nature of the war waged against us. Again, they hate us all.
You are not white and “White Latinos” don’t exist. You can stop it or you can be a sellout for the rest of your life. I don’t really care as long as you know your place isn’t among us. Your place is with those who hate you just as you hate your own people and ancestors. Which can only mean one thing: there’s a lot of self-hate among you wannabe “White” Latinos.
The hate you breed for your own culture, heritage, and belonging is the real shame in all of this.
***
Arturo is an anti-racist political nerd. He is an upcoming author, journalist, advocate for social justice, and a married father of three. He is a top writer in racism on Medium and a regular contributor to Latino Rebels. If you’d like to learn more about the issues covered here, follow him on Twitter.
stealing their women? lol
I wonder if Arturo bothered to read about the history of race in Latin America before being all up in his feelings and posting with his white latino tears. White latinxs exist, just like Black latinxs exist. Latinidad is not a race. I suggest Arturo thinks about what he would be called if he went to Latin America. He would be called blanco because that’s what he is. Being in the US doesn’t change that. Being discriminated against based on xenophobia doesn’t change that. Race is a messed up concept that isn’t based on science. It is merely based on looks and is a social construct. So if you look white, you are white. That doesn’t make you any less Latinx, because again, the two things are separate. Claiming white latinxs don’t exist is really messed up and you just end up minimizing the differential experiences among racial groups within Latin America and the diasora.
I’m Puerto Rican and that is how I identify myself. Race and Color are too divisive so in that sense I am counter culture .
I want to be sensitive and respectful to your deeply held belief and sense of white identity. As well as your life experience. And agree that for anyone to say that “White” Hispanics don’t exist is wrong. No one has the right to label other arbitrary. (I know they do it all the time). I don’t hear anyone saying that “Black” Hispanics don’t exist. And if these Latinos do say they are not Black then many say that they are trying to deny their race and are ashamed, right.
But “White” is not just about a “look” or a “color” And yes, it “colors” your life experience from socially with some advantages to disadvantages. But here is the thing a “White” Identity” entails commitment to certain cultural values and ideological believes, it is racially loaded.
There was a time when not everyone with a white look or white skin color and from Europe was considered “White”. In the United States in order to be “white” you had to be anti-black, (e.g. see book: How the Irish Became White), accept being superior to people of color who are considered inferior and valued less. And I can say a lot more but…I hope this helps and not ignite more stuff.
This is so fucking stupid
When you have nothing of value to bring to the conversation you should remain silent.
Don’t preach it. Follow it as well
100% – absolutely retarded. What a waste of time.
Yes, very. Incredibly stupid.
The writer clearly has a big, flipping chip on his little, brown shoulder. LOL
I’m Latin heritage and always get assumed to be white. I am both Spanish and white. I’m married to a white guy.
As a Latina and an immigrant to this country, I agree that this is one of the most ill informed and ignorant things I’ve ever read. This is a real problem that even highly educated Latinos have.
Race, nationality and ETHNICITY (Latino for example) are all separate, yet important in identifying with your background. Ignorance like this is so dangerous, it’s mainly what leads to misinformation which propagates animosity and inequality. It’s shameful to the Latin American community and it only hurts us all. Very sad.
“I refuse and denounce that same whiteness that led to the wholesale slaughter of our people and the colonization of our lands.” It is great to see such passionate identification with indigeneity from a self identifed light skinned Latino. Maybe I missed it, but where is the acknowledgment of the violence of author’s white ancestors? Author also identifes as Black. But I find it objetionable and convenient to only own part of one’s ancestry. We are the sum total of all of it, including the parts we don’t want and are ashamed of. My apologies if I am being unfairly critical. I liked the article. I wouldn’t leave this comment if I didn’t.
(((Arturo Dominguez))) must have triple citizenship-the Latin American nation he or his parents were born in, the US, and Israel. This kind of postmodernist, Frankfurt School, critical race theory mumbo jumbo can only reveal his true ethnic origin.
[…] past week, one previous Latino Rebel contributor decried that the difference occurs when people learn [his] last name, though I must posit that […]
I don’t understand how you can spout this rhetoric as if Telemundo and Univision isn’t all white Latinxs? They are not light skinned they are literally white people who were born and grew up in Latin America. There are definitely brown/light skinned Latinxs who are colonized in their mindset in which makes them “white” in a way but they are still brown just racist and white supremacist which is a whole other topic and issue to discuss and unpack. But we have to stop saying that there’s no such thing as white Latinxs when they are everywhere. This idea that we’re all just one race “Latinx” is dangerous and wrong. The experiences are different amongst Latinos who are visibly indigenous or black and more often than not, it’s white Latinos who are perpetuating violence and racism towards bipoc latinx’s.
I totally agree with you that the idea that we are one race is dangerous and wrong but for a different reason. And that is that both scientific a Biblical truth agree that there is no such thing as race or less races.
This idea, especially since it was invented, has been used by people in power to place themselves above others, enslave, commit genocide and more. All on the false basis that white is right, beautiful and deserving. And that black and everything in between is wrong, ugly and undeserving.
Since I am sure you know race and its next of kin identity are social constructions. We can call ourselves whatever we want’ white if we look it. If fact in the United States white people are black if they have one drop of black blood. And in Latin America people who are seen as white are seen as people of color in the United States.
So, what do we do with people who just see themselves as “white.” Or consider themselves to be white and claim to be the rightful inheritors of all of the benefits and privileges bestowed upon whiteness? There are those who would benefit from having Latinx in US and Latin America divided over this and at each other’s throats. The one thing that is clear is that we are one people, from white to black and all of us in between. From different countries. Treated differently but one people. The health and future of this people is at hand but we have the God given capacity to succeed and overcome this. But first we have to stop denigrating ourselves and respect the diversity in which the Almighty has created us in.
Here in Latin America we are fighting racism but sadly your rhetoric is the reason why white latinos got away with racism. They do exist here in Latin America and they look like white Americans. This may be a shock to you but they are usually the rich people in Latin Ameriica. They usually travel outside to US, Europe and come back to Latin America. They married into European Monarchy(Holland) like Queen Maxima who is from Argentine. Most of them hold double nationality(European country and Latin America country). Many of them are more racists that white Americans. How you seen the maids’s room in Latin America? They make work long hours and many times they are treated terrible. Look at the white rich Brazilian President Bolsonaro that is racist. He is also Trump friend. They do not care what people like you think about them because they only mixed with other rich people. Like Brazilian Giselle Bunchen some of them do not have Spanish or Portuguese last name. Sadly if you do not look like them or have the correct last name you are not going to get far in Latin America unless they need you. That is a reality that many of us want to change because it has damage Latin America. But we cannot change what we do not want to see. So open you eyes. Listen to the song Bailes de los que Sobran.
You are the biggest idiot yet. How dare you try to drop me into a category that your tiny little mind has created. If you know anything, Latino and Hispanic are words created to justify a group that encompasses all people who speak Spanish. These are made up words by those that were far from proud from being their heritage. I am a WHITE CUBAN WOMAN!!! Get it moron. My color is white, my heritage is Cuban. For you to say that I don’t exists or that I am somewhat challenged by others just goes and shows your total ignorance.
I agree with you 100%. I’m another white cuban woman
Pathetic, Do you believe americans consider u white? or do you think you are white cuz u r in welfare like many in little havana (a privilege that most of the latinos don’t have)
Colombian here, actually BLACK colombian.
Jorge cancel… What makes your think white people in Latin America care about what white americans consider white or not?
The upper clases of Latin America, most of them white, follow the European train of thought and identity. They don’t give a shit about americans and their opinions.
It’s like people telling me I’m not black because blacks in America don’t consider me white, fuck black Americans and their opiniob for all I care.
I know who I am. White Latin amwricans have all the right to identity with their ancestry regardless of what some dumb white fuck from the US thinks.
[…] makes of itself is centering the experiences of Latinidad to the nation they are in. In the case of Arturo Domínguez’s “White Latinos Don’t Exist, Wannabes Do,” the focal point of our experience is that of the U.S., a colonial beast that has longed waged its […]
You are an ignorant imbecile!!!
You are part black too, dont you know? Cuba was colonized (brutally) by the Spanish. The Moors were in Spain for about 800 years. About 711 to 1492. The Moors were AFRICAN BERBER Muslims. It doesn’t matter what color your skin is. You have African blood and DNA pumping through your blood. So light hair and light eyes became dark hair and dark eyes. I know Reublicans have trouble with science, but that’s science…and history. And by the way I am Cuban too!
Remy: North africans aren’t black. Travel to Morocco or Algeria and you’ll see what I mean. Also most spaniards don’t have light eyes/hair. Like Italians, they are mediteranean and fairly tanned.
So out of touch. No empirical evidence to support the hypothesis. Latinos come in al races, ethnicities and color – Plenty of social/racial issues in Latin American countries. The author’s view is simplistic, unsophisticated and makes for a fun Saturday night over cocktails posit but it’s Mumbai jumbo with little, if any, social value.
Jacqui, Latino/@/x(s) is mythical why buy into that colonizers nomenclature. That is empirical
Funny that you would describe yourself with the xenophobic term “Latino” while deriding xenophobia and racism.
I believe the Spanish term for that is “¡COME MIERDA!”
[…] Domínguez, Latino Rebels: White Latinos Don’t Exist, Wannabes Do (Sept. […]
Hard to tell which stupidity to address. It’s an overload of complejismo and tercer-mundismo. Ashamed to share his name
Have you ever though to educate yourself? We trying to help you and you are taking it badly. I think you have two issues that you have to work on yourself:
1.You should be honest about yourself. A white latino look like Thalia, Ana de Armas or Bolsonaro but not like you. Some counseling could be useful.
2.You should learn more about what is going in Latin America. What is going in the US is nothing compare to Latin America. You have it easy but you do not see it. Like we say in Latin America: No hay peor ciego que el que no quiere ver.
Comment was not for you but the writer. I hope they do np make the mistake to put it under your name.
Según este resentido, si no estás de acuerdo con las estupideces que él propone no eres latino.
THERE ARE WHITE LATINOS.
There are light-skinned non-white Latinos too but there ARE DEFINITELY White Latinos.
Hi Arturo, I agree wholeheartedly but there’s more to it. The albinos(OCA1-9) who invaded this country some 500 years ago did so wanting a country strictly for themselves. After slaughtering the black tribes( original man= black, original man in the new World = black) they soon realized they couldn’t till the land( high cancer rate for albinos, weak bones=osteoporosis ) so they needed the black man to grow food and cash crops in order to eat and pay the bankers who lent them money for the voyages to the New World. So slavery was developed to fill that void, after the civil war they needed some kind of immigration , indentured servants, Mexican laborers, Chinese laborers, etc. With the narcissistic love that Albinos have for themselves due to their coloring and features, they have managed to instill a self hatred into Blacks and Latinos and Mongols worldwide( Chinese, Philipinos, Indonesians, Japanese,etc) who now want to look like them. More on the Mongols later. Back to Blacks and Latinos, Albinos because of their afflictions, light eyes( early cataracts), non melanated skin causing cancer, poor or lack of absorption of Vitamin D causing rickets they need to mate with melanated people to produce stronger offspring. This is happening all over Latin American lightening people. These people who are a mixed people now want to call themselves white but Latinos as a group are a mixed people, yes, some latinos are albino, I know an Albina Latina who has to cover herself from head to foot due to fears of skin cancer. Latinos have to learn to love themselves and understand their superiority , our genetic makeup is vast due to all these mixtures while Albinos have a small genetic pool causing them more afflictions. Now back to the Mongols of Asia: because of past colonialism with the Opium wars in China by the Albinos of Great Britain and USA, Indonesia (Portuguese, Dutch), Korea (Japan), Japan (influenced by Portugal) and Burma (Great Britain) the Albinos have managed with their media, good looking actors, good makeup, good skin, good teeth all paid to Dentists and makeup people that to be white is the ideal. The consequences in Asia of this is that skin whitening creams having poisons in them such as mercury, etc is now a 23 BILLION dollar industry. People with businesses are discriminating against darker skin people thereby instilling self loathing and consumers of these dangerous products. Asian people don’t just lather whitening creams onto their faces anymore; they also pop melanin reduction pills and shoot up whitening agents as if it were heroin. THIS SELF HATRED MUST STOP OR WE’LL DESTROY OURSELVES MENTALLY OR WITH DRUGS.
I think you don’t understand what albinos are….actually I think there’s loads of things you don’t understand!!!
“If you don’t understand white supremacy, what it is, and how it works, everything else that you understand will only confuse you.” –Neely Fuller Jr. “The United Independent Compensatory Code System Concept”
[…] pieces of my biography —my very Mexican origins and my very white appearance— to reflect on the seeming impossibility of being both, white AND Mexican. My purpose is not to exalt or redeem this composite identity—I have no […]
It is not possible to refer yourself to completely white if you are hispano in near relation(mother, father or even grandparents). If you are not a Nazi follower, like Hitler who was himself jew blooded. How can you refuse your dad, mom or grandparents in family relation just because you don’t want to be considered latino or hispano? I unexpectedly faced the other side of problem. Ok, I confess my veins are blue and purple. Neither royal person nor proud of my skin, just very fair complexion of my mom’s family, naturally blond nothern slavic with icy blue eyes. I’m a bit darker than my mom, but a bit lighter than my dad. I am not accepted well by cubans, because I’m “azul”. Not only cubans, I faced this problems even in Spain and Ucraine(they see me like Russian or white latina). My heart is bleeding and I hide myself and my photos because it is dangerous. I painted my hair black to be accepted better, It doesn’t work. I am sorry to say this is racism too. I am not royal “pavo real”. Of course my character is not so many passionate as pure hispanic people are, I am naturally colder than most Hispanos and even Ucrainians are. It is not my guilt, it is inherited. They are also Nazi followers as well as pure white americans are. The same level of discrimination, job refusal because “azul”. I wonder the new big world war between brown eyes and blue eyes.
Any2way, if you’ve traveled through the Caribbean and Americas’ (for lack of an indigenous name reference point) the first thing you notice is the names of place (e.g.Tulum) nothing Latin about the names as they reference original language of the indigenous peoples of the land.
Latino is a conjuration by the colonizers or as Fela Kuti aptly puts it “Government Magic”, which I believe is the point the author is attempting to make
For example how fugg’d up is the below:
“The Selk’nam Indians, also called the Ona, first arrived in Tierra del Fuego about 10,000 years ago.”
So these people arrive over 10k years ago to “Tierra del Fuego” lmao. I guess totally bereft of culture/traditions until some Latin/Spanish speaking colonizer could even name the lugar.
C’mon the term “Latino” is some colonized fecal matter. I am open to debate if someone can show me this is/was the original language of these peoples.
2nd of all most people identify with there culture and current Latin named space/geography (Argentinian,Cuban,Dominican) blah blah blah you get the Punto.
Now what is an interesting conversation is how do to decolonize this nomenclature. Holla at cha boy.
It’s so sad that none of y’all have even bothered to read the article. Yes, I disagree with a few things he said (most part I agree with), but c’mon if you’re going to sent hate to the author of this article. READ the article first, GEEZ.
[…] a recent article I wrote for Latino Rebels titled, White Latinos Don’t Exist, Wannabes Do, I discussed how Latinos who shed their Latinidad (Latino-ness) to identify as white are […]
[…] a Latino with olive-colored skin, and with Afro-Latinos making up a large portion of my family, I can’t identify as a White Latino as many others do. I simply cannot. Whiteness in America has never been welcoming of Latinos who express our […]
[…] Asian people stand and protect your community and hopefully, you’ll knock a dent in that wall of why Asian women love getting with white supremacist. Hispanic people stand and protect your community; hopefully as time passes you’ll stop spreading shame of those who have African heritage; here’s a comment from the comment section of an article: […]
R2D2 Please stop being so obsessed about race.
We Argentines are majority white Latinos. So are the people from Uruguay. YOu can believe the concept or not.
Lol, many of the geogrsphical names in Argentina (using this name for reference) are actually of the indigenous peoples as all throughout the America’s the Spanish language is introduced through the colonizer aka purveyor of genocide of people and culture.
Why you continue to champion the label “Latino/x” is beyond moral comprehension( ok maybe a tad strong…)
Seriously Latino is only referenced by academics and politicians. Most people identify first by country of origin as the post I’m responding to…
Long Sigh…
Facking bitch talking shit about European you speaking European languages u have European name u look white u are white so don’t tell me it dasent exists white Latina argentina are white people they are European Cuba Uruguay Hispanic is not a race they are white European African mestizo indigenous Asian so stop telling me bull shit Hispanic people are not same people same race so half of Latin American are white European lorn history bitch European power I bet you are more than 75%European and talking shit about European fuck u
Maki, I agree with you, Hispanic people are not the same race. But the reason for that is because race or different races do not exist. And this is not just a scientific fact but also a Biblical truth. White identity like race is man-made (i.e., social constructions), labels that people in power place on themselves and then others with values and fictitious ideas about beauty and social worth. Racial identity is defined differently in the United States then in Latin America. And not every group of people (Irish, Italian, etc.) that came from Europe, for instance, who looks white and has white skin was considered white when they came to the United States. So, yes there are white Hispanics and yes you are white do not let anybody tell you different, shake you up or put you on the defensive be absolutely sure in your heart and in your mind. And set them right, ok.
You sound like a god damn moron, they need to cut your welfare check
The guy who wrote this garbage should get his head out of his own ass and visit actual latin America which is where REAL LATIN AMERICANS LIVE.
That way he will understand that latin America has a racial hierarchy and that whites (Because yes there are plenty of them there), sit at the top.
Attitudes like the one from this STUPID IDENTITY CRISIS RIDDEN PSEUDO-CUBAN FROM THE USA is what perpetuate racism and the status quo in latin america.
INDIGENOUS AND BLACK MASSES OF LATIN AMERICA: We want equality.
WHITE ONES: Why? We are just latinos, we are all the same.
FUCK THE PIECE OF SHIT WHO WROTE THIS TRASH.
So to resume this ridiculous article. You have to comply with that the moron who wrote this is believes in order to be latino.
Being from Latin America is easy to see, this idiot is an American born, identity crisis ridden idiot.
This author is an idiot!
This text is ridiculous. You don’t know nothing about Latin America and their histories and nuances. You’re gringo ignorant who think know just because you have roots from there.
What a bullshit! You mean that every white Latino has to consider himself something else just “because white America wants”, do me a favor. Stop looking at the USA as the center of the world and go take a look at the Latin countries and see that there are people classified as white, they are seen and treated as such, they have passports from about 3 different European countries and they will not stop being who they are just because “White America thinks this or that “.
The Republican party has normalized canceling cultures, and manipulated the masses to act against each for voters leverage,while telling other non-whites to shame and completely delete their culture, every country has their bad and good people, make sure to always cut the habits and from cycling to the next generation and adopt other healthy habits from other cultures, and most of all be happy
El garrapata agarra cualquier pata! Cual pata agarras tu es evidente en esta serie de respuestas? Algunos necesitan vaselina!!
My mother is Mexican and my father is Dominican. I am 100% white passing and don’t have a Latin name. Therefore I identify as white and I don’t need nobody telling me what I am or am not.
Race and ethnicity are two completely separate things….you can be white and Latino; you can be black and Latino; you can be brown and Latino; you can be Asian and Latino. You are Latino by heritage and culture. Race is just a feature, like having green eyes or curvy hair or being 7 feet tall. Unfortunately, discrimination comes in all packages and involves race, ethnicity and everyting in between. PAZ 🖖
Mariana, L, I agree you do not have to surrender or betray your cultural ethnic identity because of the color of your skin. Race like ethnicity is a social category. The misunderstanding is that in the minds of most people you have got to be one or the other. So, let look at this. The main difference is that unlike ethnicity most people believe that race is real; that it has basis in nature. But this is not true; race is just another man-made social category but this time with no Scientific or Biblical factual basis to it. The variations that we see in each other, (i.e., physical characteristics) are not not indicators of different races but of human diversity. One, which I am sure you would agree with, is one of the most culturally divisive, destructive elements in our society. It makes us wants us to believe that the dark person (e.g., brown, black, etc.) next to you is not only of a different race but an inferior one: even though he is of same heritage. And that is at the heart of “white identity”. Think about it. The idea of race/races has historically been used to as a means of justifying and giving legitimacy to oppression, exploitation, dehumanization and now discrimination. How? And you know this, by placing negative social value on the physical characteristics (e.g., ugly, morally, and intellectually inferior) on some. And positive value (beautify, socially acceptable and superior) on the characteristics of the other. Then calling this a matter of difference race. If we want to protect and preserve the love and nobility of who and what we are then we have to be clear not naïve or innocent about what we are talking about here. What these social labels mean what they imply for us. Thank you, PAZ mi Hermana.
What about Latinos with European ancestors? Aren’t they allowed to celebrate their Latin and European roots just because one it’s the ‘opressor’? If you think Latinos only have Spanish last names, then you clearly don’t know us very well.
And course being white isn’t just a skin colour, but by today standards, a person with predominant European ancestry is considered ‘white’, and yes, Latinos with predominant white ancestry are minority, but they do exist and they are still Latinos.
Not being being allowed to celebrate one’s heritage and roots is oppressive and wrong. The people who object to you doing it, probably victims of white/European oppression, need to step back for a moment and reflect. We punish black Latinos by insisting and reminding them that they are black and have African roots. We do not object to their celebrating their African roots. Why? Because it serves to remind them, us, and the world how racially different they are from us, right. They are a social liability when it comes to us dealing with the white Americans and Europeans…that many of us want to identify with because of the social and economic benefits of being white bring to them.
white Latinos do exist you latrino supremacists are racist ,antiwhite latrino supremacists
One of the weirdest things about being a white Cuban-American woman is constantly being told by others what I am and what I am not.
My grandparents suffered terrible discrimination when they came here. They forced their kids to exclusively speak English so they would not be denied privileges, and because some of them were close enough to white-passing. My mom is a Blanca, and I inherited my blue eyes and blonde hair from her. She was born in Cuba, yet she has been a “white woman” since she came here. Her parents faced discrimination, but she never did – not even close, she had doors open for her. And I sure as heck haven’t suffered discrimination! I don’t have a Spanish-sounding last name, and yet growing up my extended family traditions were Cuban, and I am proud of my heritage.
So all of *that* considered: what does that make me?
Personally, I feel I’d be lying and disrespecting those who truly suffer from racism to deny my very pronounced white-privilege. To say I’m “not white” feels like it would be deeply offensive to those who actually suffer under systemic racism, who deal with the day-to-day reality of discrimination. How could I say anything else? Again – I’m pale, blonde, and blue-eyed, and I have an Anglo-sounding last name. Everyone is shocked when they hear about my heritage. Who am I to claim that I’m not white? When I benefit from it everyday?
We’re all under the onus of doing the daily work to try to counter racism. But ignoring reality is not part of that work.
The Latins were white europeans from central Italy. Being “latino” very much makes you “white”.
This being said, those who speak Spanish or are descended from Spanish speaking people are not a single homogenous group in any way, let alone racially or ethnically. The Spanish colonizers forced millions of people to erase their identities in favor of hispanic culture.
Racial gatekeeping is not good for anyone. Recognizing that identity is complex and fluid is good for everyone.
What a fucking idiot. Most latinos are white as were their genocidal rapist ancestors from spain. Id happily fight arturo what a total moron. Learn history dumbshit.
In Belize and on the Guatemalan cost there were literally white British men , called boatmen landing and staying, having families with the natives. In Guatemala we have places like Livingston with mostly black people and places like Xela with blonde blue eyed people. I look like that. I certainly speak like a Latina and have an olive undertone in my skin but I can easily be seen as a white woman despite being Latina. We are very diverse. The bond I feel to other Latinos comes from culture and a sense of home. But what I certainly noticed since moving to the USA is that racism is worse often in Guatemala. One of the most common insults literally means“ don’t be an Indian“. Indigenous people are so often disadvantaged, often don’t speak Spanish and they keep to their own wich makes the problem worse and dress differently ( at least the women) and that closes many doors for them. And sadly this racism is mostly acceptable.
I feel close to people I like, that either share my values or challenge them in a good manner. I’m closer to a Christian conservative that’s Chinese than toa Latina that grew up in El Encinal like me and is a Marxist. Diversity of thought lacks sadly so often in Latino communities.
The key of the problem is as simple as sad it is skintone(colored skin). I mean those people who are considered to be “blue”, “albina” and not accepted as hispanic in the Latin American countries because they seem to be too white compared with the ordinary Latin people. However, compared with very white American people and Northen European they are very similar to Jewish people, I mean the pale complexion white skin(even blue and purple veins), but compared with really white without Latin origin they are a half-tone darker and golden yellowish while the pure white Americans and Europeans are reddish and greyish colors. This is called Mediterranean race. Although the eyes and hair can be rather light. They look like ordinary people from Southern Europe, but not like people from Northern Europe or the US.
“Really white without latin” Gosh, sys, you have some issues there…
Latimo comes from LATIN. Romans WERE white, AND sourthen european. Frenchs, Spaniards, Italians, Portuguese, Romanians, ARE white and sourthen europeans.
Yeah…”REAL” white. As white as a Swedish .. just probably more tanned, and with highter percentage of dark eyes/hair color. Sun tends to do that on people…
What ‘muricans call “caucassian” is actually the white ethnicity and it’s divided into three main linguistical groups: Mediterranean/Latin, Nordic/Anglo-Germanic and Slavic/Eastern European.
There are not “Real” and “less real” white europeans. All of them are white ( even the most mixed-origin spaniards and italians have like 5-10% arab genes on their pools at the most).
Arabs ( and hebrews) are semitic people. “mediterranean” in the way you used it is a cultural, not an ethno-linguistical definition.
Yes, a Syrian and a Sourthen Greek might share the same tone of skin ( on both ways , there are also very pale greeks and syrians as well) and share many customs, but one’s ethnicity is semitic, and the other is indo-european or “white”
Having tanned skin does not make you any less white. Only racist anglo morons think that, they spreaded that nonsense in the XIX Century to difference thenselves for those “lesser, inferior” continental europeans they use to plunder on.
Seems they forgot the time when they were virtually animals and Romans told them about civilization…
what do you think of Latinos blacks when the thought comes and intellectual people a developed people no they are foolish the foolish no not their place they are mindless apes worth less than the dirt from on which they’ve come from, you can struggle but no matter how many of you ban together and Reith amongst the earth you are no match for the American Reich your countries are underdeveloped your culture is inferior no wonder why we seem more privileged to you the only way you will be able to be superior as us is if you change your culture or we will stay in control besides i highly doubt you spics will ever change your culture the only ones that have have either been raised by whites or have grew up in small town areas I would know I’m a combination of the both
Hello,
I was wondering if since my father is white and my mom is Mexican would that count me as a white latino in that sense? I read your article and I thought it was really interesting so I wanted to ask.
I’m honestly confused. If there are no white Latinos, where does that leave Latinos of ~100% Spanish or other European heritage? Are they not Latino then, even if their family background comes from Latin America? If you’re saying it’s your physical appearance that leads to discrimination, then surely there are many Latinos of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, or other heritages (there are even Latinos of English, Irish, and Welsh heritage, including many in Argentina and Bernardo O’Higgins in Mexican history) who are indistinguishable than non-Latino whites, and many even lighter-skinned than non-Latino white people of Mediterranean heritage like Italian, French, Greek, etc. Wouldn’t that If it’s simply a “mindset,” then does that mean people of Latino heritage who grow up speaking English in predominantly white American communities are not Latino? And what about people of mixed Latino and non-Latino heritage like Christina Aguilera and Cameron Diaz? Are they still Latino?
I don’t know if I can add value to this or not, but I found this write up very intriguing and felt the need to comment. I’m a 6’5 Mexican American, tanned skinned, physically fit male, born and raised in Ohio, with a nice smile and solid hairline lol. Throughout my experience, as I’m a well traveled individual, and financially well off, I visited/hung out in cities all over America and the world. I’ve been blessed to meet every type of race possible, and through my experiences, white latina/white Hispanic women are by far the worst at looking down upon darker shades of people than themselves. I’ve experienced this in Miami, Chicago, Mexico City, Monterrey, Montevideo, Uruguay and Buenos Aires, Argentina. I haven’t been to the other big latin America cities as of yet, so I can’t speak for those. I’ve also been to Poland, Ukraine, Australia, Turkey, Ireland, Sweden, Germany to name a few, and the women I met were far more genuine and pleasant to be around with, whether they were white as snow, dark, or in the middle caramel, they never looked down me, not even an ounce, or talked like they were better than me. I’m a chemical engineer by trade for PPG, but have sinced moved to the financial department that works on expansion for exponential growth in potential foreign cities. So cool little story short, whether in the workplace, business, or out on the town, white Hispanic/ white latina women are something else, not saying anything bad, maybe your experience is different, i don’t know what their problem is, but I’ll try to stay open minded as i love all complexions. Would love to hear your thoughts, thanks again.
my family comes from costa rica, my dad married a white woman and had three kids. are we not latino? because yes i’m white but i’m also costa rican
WOW…people are missing the point.
The author is simply explaining that, in the U.S., you can “look” lily white from Northern Europe with blue/green eyes with blonde hair.
However, once it is known that your last name is Gonzales, Rodriguez, or Martinez (etc..) and you speak Spanish as a first or second language onlookers psychologically will categorize you as a brown Mexican and all the negative “stereotypical nuances” that are saturated with it. To many, the term Mexican is an image that is the face of the Latino/Hispanic ethnicity.
There is no denying millions of white latinos…but the Spanish language darkens the whiteness of your skin to brown. Like it or not.
There are millions of white Latinos throughout Latin America. In numerous cases they are every bit or worse of racists as their North American counterparts. Ask any of the black or pure indigenous peoples in the region.
Ironically, their hispanic whiteness will always be inferior to white-anglo-saxon-protestant supremists who view any hispanic of any color as inferior. A white latino/ hispanic will always have the smell of beans in thier midst. Especially if they speak English with a thick accent as Jorge Ramos, news anchor of Telemundo.
In other words Christina Aguilera will always be considered as the Mexican Brittney Spears, despite being her physical clone.
Very informative article. Thank you.
The article is bad. The author is racist. He conforms to the “colonizer” American mentality and isn’t even aware of it, despite all of his protests and activism.
I’m Brazilian, and white. My heritage is Portuguese and German, with some Dutch and French thrown over for good measure.
Living in California for the past five years, we found out that Latin identity is a myth. It is a Hispanic identity (mostly Mexican, but that is for some other time). My son’s school has a Latinos Unidos group, but he’s the odd man out, being the lone Brazilian. They don’t understand Portuguese (he has to speak Spanish); they don’t know Brazilian foods (very much NOT spicy); and we don’t celebrate Dia de Los Muertos. And worst of all, he’s seen as a nuisance they have to bear with, being from Latin America (i.e. a genuine Latin rather than all of the other kids).
And we are white. We didn’t struggle to come to the US, we were invited for our jobs. No crossing the desert with coyotes. No panic over ICE. No fear of deportation or profiling. We have Latin-sounding names. Nobody writes them properly as Portuguese has different rules than Spanish. We work in tech. My wife is c-level in a big corporation. I’m a consultant for another big corporation.
And we have American friends that we travel with. We have European friends that we party with. We have Asian-American friends that come to our house and our kids play together. Some very good Latin-American friends, but in fact not many of Mexican descent.
So I really can’t talk about the Hispanic community, as they haven’t let us in. But piecing it all together, I wouldn’t say it’s for lack of us trying or being open to it.
Be mindful of when racism, xenophobia and prejudice box you in a role that wasn’t designed by yourself.
And just to comment on something else, that the author makes very clear he adheres to, in Brazil we don’t really refer to other races or ethnicities as Asian-Brazilian, African-Brazilian, Italian-Brazilian or such. They’re Brazilians.
Como Latina e inmigrante a este país, que vergüenza da este artículo. Qué triste es ver y es el colmo que hasta este presente día estemos viviendo entre tanta ignorancia, juzgamiento e injusticia. Aquí el único mediocre eres tú Arturo Domínguez. La raza, etnicidad y nacionalidad son cosas muy diferentes y separadas pero juntas son extremamente importante para poder identificarse uno mismo con su propia cultura. Es imposible estar orgulloso de su patria, raza y origen étnico si uno no puede identificarse culturalmente. Que tristeza es ver a otro latino apuntando el dedo a su propia gente que son solamente culpables de saber de dónde vienen, estar orgulloso de eso y amar a su prójimo por lo mismo. ¡Edúcate!
So, to the author
A Southern Chilean of full Scottish ancestry is not White ?
A Southern Brazilian of full German ancestry is not White ?
An Uruguayan of full Italian ancestry is not White ?
An Argentinean of full Irish ancestry is not White ?
Why some people think they have the right to define others ?
Homogenizing Latinos or Hispanic is racism. Every person has a right to her or his identity.
@Maria O.
The author is not denying white latinos do not exist because they do.
The core point of his article, as I understand it, is that white-anglo-saxon-protestant racists will “always” view WHITE LATINOS through a “brown” lense. The spanish language, the corruption of governments, military totalitarian regimes, lack of technological advances, the mixture of races, no middle class which stereotypically define Hispanic America will always mark your white latino skin as “not-white.”
His title is a metaphor of how white North Americans will always view “white” Latinos/Hispanics as inferior whether you think so or not.
It’s very unfortunate people think this way.
This text seems awfully US and Hispanic centric to me. I wouldn’t call myself a ‘White “Latino”’, but I would for sure call myself a White Latin American. Because that’s what I am: a white individual born and raised in Latin America (still living here). Being born bellow the US and Canada doesn’t suddenly change my ethnic background. I have always being perceived as white by Lat. Americans, Europeans, US Americans… Everyone. You can’t tell I’m from here based on my name either. Not everyone has a Spanish last name, Arturo.
I have an issue with using the word ‘Latino’ in English (I have no problem using it when speaking Spanish or Portuguese) because of how it becomes a racial marker, which I haven’t seen being used the same way in LATAM. After learning English, I was surprised to hear things like: ’What are they? They look Latino to me.’ I mean, how can you tell if an Asian, Black, or White person is from here? Then I realized they mostly meant people who looked native from Mexico and Central America. When I was in school, forms came with the options: white, black, asian, indigenous, brown.
“Latinos who side with colonialists are traitors to our respective cultures now just as you would have been when our ancestors were nearly erased from history.”
I don’t know about that. See, my ancestors didn’t move to Latin America long enough ago to be the OG colonizers but they certainly moved into a land fresh of a genocide. Definitely more on the erasing than on the being erased side. I consider myself anti-colonialist/anti-imperialist and wouldn’t add the US, Spanish, Portuguese (any present/past colonial power) flag to my social media (quite cringe). Won’t make up fake ancestors to have less colonizer ancestry.
Racial relations/discussions where I’m from are very similar to the US. We also have lots of white supremacists and Neo-nazis. Telling white people they are not white doesn’t help. Many people whenever they get called out for racism already throw a ‘how can I be racist if my grandma was 1/4 black?’. And ‘We’re mixed nation. There’s no racism here.” Recently the first black woman elected city councilor in a nearby city started getting death threads by neo-Nazis as soon as results came in. In the 30s there was a Nazi newspaper being published there. They were already publishing pictures of jews in concentration camps in Ukraine and the west pretending they didn’t know what was going on and making their pretty penny.
Lars Schoultz wrote “Beneath the United States” showcasing the perception and an attempt to justify Latin America as being the inferior neighbor of the U.S.”
Mr. Dominguez begins his article with “Whiteness isn’t just based on skin color. It’s a mindset.”
Get it folks?
ok so me as a South White brazilian that was bonr in a european culture cause all my familly and frinds are european descendets, u teeling me that im not white and im native just cause i was born in this place (south or latin america) ? like bro wtf r u talking about principally in south brazil and chile, uruguai and maybe argentina we have more than a half of people with european descendent and identify as white. the term “latin america” shouldn’t even exist because geographically speaking we are in the american continent which is subdivided between central, north and south and culturally we cannot just say that all 20 countries have the same culture if we don’t even have the same ethnicity, example is haiti where the majority are of African descent, Bolivia where the majority are descendants of natives and southern Brazil or Uruguay where the majority are Germans and Italians.
Hey
Just educate yourself 🙂 Latinxs countries have an history of whitewashing by europeans, and guess what? It’s not nowdays white latinos’ fault
Over 40% of latinos are white
This is the dumbest thing I have read in a while. White hispanics DO exists just like any other shade of hispanic. There is notjing wrong with being a white hispanic as there is nothing wrong with being a black or native hispanic. A white hispanic only means that his ancestors were mostly european and we DO exist too. I swear you US born hispanics are the most cringy and “woke” of us all lol.