What does it really mean....

[seaboy4hire]

to be a Latino? I've been told a couple times within the last couple weeks that because I do not speak Spanish I'm not really Latino. This really pisses me off. Under my circumstances growing up it wasn't' spoken and in many families it isn't taught to the children in Spanish speaking homes so that the children will better integrate into society. This is what my fathers parents did and many of his friends parents. So anyways I'm not sure what I am saying other then damn it just because I don't speak Spanish doesn't make me any less Latino then Juan who just crossed the damn border! To me that is like telling a Jew they aren't really Jewish if they don't speak Hebrew. Ok no more ranting for a bit.

 

Hugs,

Greg

[Rick Munroe]

To me that is like telling a Jew they aren't really Jewish if they don't speak Hebrew.

 

Or, conversely, telling someone that they are Jewish because of their ancestry, even though that person is an atheist who doesn't follow any religion, Jewish or otherwise. I think it's silly for anyone to tell anybody else what they are and aren't...and telling you that you aren't a real Latino because you don't speak Spanish is really dumb!

[Guest TexHunk69]

Or telling a Frenchman...

 

He isn't French because he gives terrible head. You're a Latino if your ethnic heritage is from a country identified as Spanish-speaking. Anyone trying to exclude a non-Spanish speaker is just pulling the same old superiority junk that certain people always do. I've been told I am not Jewish because my Mother's lineage wasn't Jewish. Just don't expect Hollywood to help you with your identity--Don't forget that icon of Puerto Rican national identity, Natalie Wood, starred in West Side Story! LOL

[Guest RianB]

Greg, in Florida with it being so close to the islands I've heard this saying alot of times. Im surprised to hear someone telling you that way out in Seattle because its usually places down here that pretty much ALL of Latino guys know Spanish fluently. And if one doesnt, they are somehow a misfit. I find that ridiculous too. I got mad myself when my best friend told me my X boyfriend (who was PR) that he wasnt really Spanish cause he didnt know 'the language'. Funny enough, a few months later the same guy who accused my BF of not being Latino turned out to be lying about his own nationality. He was from a different country other than the one he made everyone believe!

 

I've also known plenty of Latino guys who sorta spoke Spanish, or could just pick up on it. I guess it has to do with how our Latino families feel about the language. If you arent Spanish but can speak it, you get kudos. If you are Spanish and dont speak it, you get the raised brow. Its like that with a few other races too, just in a different way. I get the brow alot as well. Some attitudes die hard.

 

And by the way, you shouldnt have to prove to anyone who you are. Just as long as you're being true to yourself. If you want to learn Spanish then do so cause you want to, not because you're 'supposed to'. There isnt any 'shoulds' as thats just conditional. If someone wants to make you feel less of your heritage by a statement like that, then they probably arent comfortable with their own heritage.

 

Hope that helps

[Guest jay1jay]

The whole Latino vs Hispanic label is confusing enough as it is but when people start throwing their own qualifications into the mix then its just downright ridiculous. Sorry to hear someone had the nerve to tell you that but don't mind them. I don't understand how people can promote discrimination within their own race.

[Lookin]

I think discrimination has less to do with race than with how able a person is to accept people who are different in some way. Whether it's ethnicity, age, sexuality, income, religion, or just about any other demographic, some people are afraid of the "other" and some people are not. I think the more life experience people have, and the better teachers, the less fear they are likely to have. But some people haven't had good teachers or life experiences, and they get uncomfortable around those who are different. Sometimes even small differences, like the dialect of Spanish you speak, might be enough to make such folks uneasy.

 

At least that's how I've got it figured out so far.

 

The other thing I figured out is that if these people are willing to become more enlightened, then you can take a shot at sharing what you've learned from your different experiences. And, if they're not willing, then your anger is understandable, and you can either get mad at them or just tell them you hear their mother calling them. I don't think it's good to hang around with a bunch of willfully unenlightened people. It's a buzz kill.

 

This is one of the things I like about this Message Center. There's lots of different life experiences represented here and people are usually pretty good about sharing them.

 

http://www.companyofmen.org/image.php?u=4202&dateline=1248693419 http://www.companyofmen.org/image.php?u=3859&dateline=1236578540

 

http://www.companyofmen.org/image.php?u=5906&dateline=1242800738 http://www.companyofmen.org/image.php?u=5681&dateline=1241847509

[seeker630]

Minorities vs minorities

 

I don't understand how people can promote discrimination within their own race.

Similarly, I have had trouble understanding why members of a minority may not have sympathy for members of a different minority.

There are probably many reasons for such, but I think there are *some people who can only define their own self-worth by finding someone else whom they can convince themselves they are superior too.

[AdamSmith]

I think it's silly for anyone to tell anybody else what they are and aren't...

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissism_of_small_differences

 

Or, conversely, telling someone that they are Jewish because of their ancestry, even though that person is an atheist who doesn't follow any religion, Jewish or otherwise.

 

Or because they can make Hadassah jokes!

 

If that were it, yr umble lapsed Baptist here would be Jewish.

[Guest greatness]

It's unfortunate

 

Actually it happens a lot. I asked a gay friend from Europe what is the most stressful thing living in US. He was bothered that some gay people here asks him what his ethnicity was. One of the frequent questions he got was "What are you? (you don't seem to be white)". Let's accept one another for who we are.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't understand how people can promote discrimination within their own race.

[MsGuy]

I once worked with a Norwegian who was convinced all Swedes were the worst kind of sneaky conniving bastards. I never did get him to admit that no one born more than 300 miles from Eau Claire could tell one from the other.

 

All this type of stuff has got to be embedded in our genes. No other way to account for it.

[+ Charlie]

As an English-Irish-Scottish-Welsh-French-Spanish-German-Czech-Catholic-Episcopalian-Lutheran-Calvinist-Jewish American, I resent it when anyone questions my identity, just because I can't speak Gaelic, Welsh, Czech or Hebrew, and don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day, Christmas or Yom Kippur. (Especially if the questioners are my Swedish, Italian and Vietnamese aunts.)

[KMEM]

Charlie-

 

You sound just like your ancestry is what America is all about, at least that is what I thought it was all about. I get VERY tired of any modifiers to the title of American Citizen.

 

Thanks.

 

Best regards,

KMEM

[Lookin]

All this type of stuff has got to be embedded in our genes. No other way to account for it.

 

It's true. For much of our evolutionary history, outsiders weren't paying a social call: they were there to kill the males and carry off the women, all to spread their genes. If you wanted your genes to prevail, you killed them first. Fear of the 'other' was ingrained.

 

But evolution continues. We've discovered our children have a better chance to have their own children if we cut back on human slaughter and learn to work cooperatively. Our growing social networks have let us expand our gene pool beyond our villages, and soon beyond our planet.

 

Not that fear of the 'other' will disappear. It may come in handy one day. But I think it should be reserved for real threats to our survival.

 

http://divisionoflabour.com/archives/alien_from_the_movie.png

[MsGuy]

It's true. For much of our evolutionary history, outsiders weren't paying a social call: they were there to kill the males and carry off the women, all to spread their genes.

 

IMO, the core social function of religion is to con our xenophobic genes into treating strangers as family. Historically it's been no easy job for humans to keep together social units much larger than a clan.

[Guest RianB]

As an English-Irish-Scottish-Welsh-French-Spanish-German-Czech-Catholic-Episcopalian-Lutheran-Calvinist-Jewish American

 

wow; I know you said you dont celebrate some of the Holidays associated with, but how do you manage to choose which religion to follow on? Or are you your own person and not religious at all?

[+ Charlie]

I am a Sodomite, but I only worship on special holidays.

[Lookin]

Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform?

[+ Charlie]

Reconstructionist

[+ purplekow]

Sodomites quite the religious practitioners, always down on their knees with the congregation yelling "Oh God Oh God" Sometimes praying with both feet in the air. They are a rather flexible religious group with some loving to give and others receiving all the time.

[+ Oliver]

Sodomites quite the religious practitioners, always down on their knees ... flexible ... group with some loving to give and others receiving all the time.

 

They also play tennis!

[Lookin]

What an observant group of Sodomites we are! Any Evangelicals?

[Guest]

A person can have an ethnicity yet not speak the language of his ancestors. One can be a full-blooded Cherokee, and not speak the language, for instance. If your ancestors come from Latin America, you are Latino. This should not be confused with Hispanics, whose ancestors come from Spain. Likewise, a Norwegian-American may or may not speak Norwegian, and same goes for Samoans, Japanese, etc.

[Guest RianB]

A person can have an ethnicity yet not speak the language of his ancestors.

 

See, my question would be something like...If I dont speak the language or talk like it yet my parents are (fill in ethnicity), then what the hell am I? Not that I'd want an answer, but its just the silliness of the statement. Its like many annoying stereotypes I hear about my race, as if you're 'supposed' to live up to that. Yeah right, bullshit.

[Rick Munroe]

I am a Sodomite, but I only worship on special holidays.

 

I am a fellate, but we are historically a persecuted lot, and it's a heavy load to bear.

[+ Charlie]

Rick, I think the correct noun form would be a fellatee or fellator (I do speak that language).