daria - that's a great question and a very astute observation! i'm
really only half panamanian but i consider myself hispanic. here's
the thing - i was RAISED to think of myself as white cuz i grew up
in springfield va in the late 70's early 80's and as a kid there
weren't any hispanics anywhere - there was only black or white - so
my mother's sister convinced all the sisters (my mom is the youngest
of 8)to raise their kids to be "white" (whatever that is) - the
hispanic population ballooned in the mid 80's to what it is now and
suddenly at 16 i realized that i wasn't "white" at all... i felt
kinda cheated not growing up with a more panamanian culture so i
became very interested in the hispanic culture and how it affects me
as a mixed person. that being said, YES YES YES they hate being
lumped together. there's a weird sense of hierarchy in the hispanic
race (i don't know who makes it up or who's "at the top") but if you
were to ask my aunt if she were dominican or el salvadorian she'd
have a COW! i recently went to panama, 3+ months ago, and it really
did feel like my "mother country" and i found myself being very
proud to be from there... (and when i lived in los angeles i would
HATE it when someone asked me if i was mexican! i mean, there are
way more latin countries than freakin MEXICO!)... so, long answer to
your question - i do identify with other hispanics and try my
darndest to speak to them in spanish (my spanish aint so hot) as a
sign of respect - i say we brown people have to stick together!
--- In [email protected], "Daria Akers"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> I have a question.... how much of this race thing is real? I mean
how
> many of these races are what white people have done to categorize
> other non-whites. I have a friend who is Cuban (older man) who says
> that the "race" Hispanic is something that the American government
> pulled together in the 1970s/80s to lump people together because
they
> (Politicians) thought that it worked so great using African
American.
> He said that people are very deep into the culture they came from
> (Cuban, Puerto-Rician, Dominicans) but that they don't lump well
> together. I have also seen this with another friend who is
> Puerto-Rician she totally looks down on Mexicans and hates being
> lumped in with them. Now these are only 2 people and I don't think
> that they can speak for all Hispanics but as a Hispanic do you
> identify with other Hispanics who are not Panamanian?
> I am an ignorant white girl (mother was Scottich, father is
Iranian)
> who hates to be stuck in a box.
> Daria
>
>
> On 9/15/06, Maureen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> - and since i'm hispanic, i'm clearly rooting for the asians... i
mean,
> > um... the hispanics...
>
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