Elevating The Status of Hispanic-American Pt. 2
Happy Hispanic Heritage month to you all, and welcome to part two! Last week Rachon wrote an amazing blog about how he’s elevating the Hispanic community by using his status as a Hispanic-American to act as a bridge between his American and Mexican roots. I am also in a similar position as a Mexican and Puerto Rican woman who was born and raised in the states, but I didn’t realize the importance of that role until I started working on this blog.
Being Hispanic-American can be confusing for some, especially when you’re not a Spanish speaker. I personally grew up feeling like I wasn’t Hispanic enough for the Mexican or Puerto Rican community, but having undeniably Hispanic features made me feel like I didn’t fully fit into the “classic” American crowd either. My confusion was also amplified when I would be faced with my least favorite demographic question: What is your race?
Rachon mentioned in part one that when he fills out paperwork and reaches the part where they ask his ethnicity, it’s an easy answer because the options are cut and dry: Hispanic and/or Latino or Not Hispanic and/or Latino. The race question, however, is where things would get sticky because the options you have to choose from are White, Black, Native American, Pacific Islander, or other. After years of selecting “other,” I started to wonder what other Mexican or Puerto Rican individuals selected as their race, and I was shocked by the answer.
An article by the New York Times found that more than 3/4 of Puerto Rican residents identify themselves as white, despite most of the island’s population having African roots. NPR also wrote a piece explaining that a 2010 census found that over half of the Mexican-American population selected white as their race, as well, despite most of them not feeling as though they identified as white. These responses are rooted in both communities also fighting to do exactly what I’ve been struggling to do: fit in.
Fun fact for you: Mexican was actually once considered a race up until 1929 when a Mexican-American organization protested to remove it saying, “We are white race, we are Americans.” This came after the U.S. had taken over the Southwest (which was previously a part of Mexico) and promised the Mexican residents that they would be treated as full citizens after the take-over. At the time, you were required to be white in order to be a citizen, so delivering on this promise meant white-washing Mexicans so that they could be included. Now, most Mexican-Americans just select white because there’s nothing else applicable to them. The same applies to Puerto Rico, which is a U.S. territory, making all of its residents U.S. citizens. Despite already having that citizenship, they identified themselves as white in order to actually be treated as such, and that belief system has just been passed down from generation to generation.
Reading up on this made me realize exactly what I can do to elevate the status of Hispanic-Americans: stay educated. I struggled with fitting into a community just to find out that part of my identity confusion is rooted in my ancestors, who fought to be considered white so that they could provide their next generations a better future. Now that they’ve won that battle, I need to stay educated on what needs to be done to get race options added back onto censuses and allow Hispanic-Americans to see that being American doesn’t mean you need to be white.
