It’s the most commonly discussed question on Latino blogs: is the correct term “Latino” or “Hispanic”? And why do we still care?

For whatever reason, this topic continues to ignite debate throughout the Latino (can you tell which one I’m partial to?) community. And what exactly does “Hispanic” mean?

The Latin Americanist asks:

What is a Hispanic? Or a Latino? Which is a race, which is a cultural distinction? Where do Brazilians fit into all of this??? What if your parents are from Europe but you were born in Argentina and your only language is Spanish??? What if your parents are from Mexico but you were born in the US and your only language is English??? What if we were allowed to check up to five different boxes for race/ethnicity on the census?

Latin Americanist references an article which puts the debate into real live terms, detailing what certain Latinos think of the terminology:

Cuban native Anna Tomeu Lopez has cousins who are blue-eyed and blonde.

So it bothered her when census forms and other official documents gave her one option to describe herself: Hispanic.

“What really ticked me off is they say they consider Hispanic a race and it is not,” Lopez, 46, said.

“There are many Hispanics who are white, like I’m white,” said Lopez, a member of the New Hampshire Immigrant Rights Task Force and Latinos Unidos de New Hampshire.

“I would rather be called Latina,” she added.

So would Taina C. Cruzado, 31, who grew up in Hartford, Conn., and is of Puerto Rican descent.

“I feel more Latino. Latino to me is how I feel about my ethnicity,” she said.

“Hispanic is not a name we grew up with. Latino is. Hispanic is a name given to us by the United States government as a way to identify us as a people who speak Spanish,” said Cruzado, editor-in-chief of NosotrosUs magazine.

Another fascinating element of all of this is, as The Latin Americanist notes, what race Latinos choose on census forms. See a chart here.

So what’s it gonna be for you? And which do you choose? I think the terminology one chooses to go with, like it or not, speaks volumes about our politics.

Via / The Latin Americanist (thanks Oso!)