"The Birth of a 'Latino Race'"

The Claremont Institute ^ | December 29, 2004 | Ken Masugi

[Stoat]

"The Birth of a 'Latino Race'"

 

LAT op-ed by Ian Haney Lopez, who notes the effect of the Census Bureau's adding an "other race" category. "Today, about 6% of Americans, or more than 1 in 20, count themselves as "some other race," and the overwhelming majority of them are Latinos. Like it or not, nearly half of the Latino population considers itself a race." This is clearly a conclusion he wishes to promote. Yet, a simpler conclusion can be derived: race here simply means nationality, as it did until the middle of the twentieth century. Thus the irrelevance of Lopez's remark that "the Latino community's insistence on being considered a race also challenges the conservative mantra that the U.S. no longer needs such categories because it is moving quickly toward race blindness." Obviously, when scholars redefine "race" they can get this constitutional race blindness all the more difficult to achieve. Lopez might as well have adduced the existence of Chinatowns and heavy drinking on St. Patrick's Day to challenge conservatives.

 

Lopez also fails to note the opposition of black organizations to the "other" category, as it diluted the numbers of those they claim to lead. (See my post below, on comic strips blacks.) The San Jose Mercury News summarized a Pew Foundation study of Hispanic/Latino residential dispersion, undermining some of Lopez's claims.

 

"Using 2000 Census data, the Pew Hispanic Center, a non-profit research group based in Washington, D.C., analyzed the makeup of Census-defined neighborhoods across the country and found that 57 percent, or 20 million, of Latinos live in neighborhoods where they constitute less than half the population.

 

"Still, the report acknowledges that many Latinos live in neighborhoods where they make up the majority. And, in fact, that percentage actually has increased from 39 percent in 1990 to 43 percent in 2000."

 

One should suppose that illegal immigration serves as a cause of this. See James Edwards in the latest issue of the Center for Local Government's newsletter Local Liberty.

[Stoat]

Ken Masugi is the Director of the Center for Local Government. Its purpose is to apply the principles of the American Founding to the theory and practice of local government, the cradle of American self-government. Dr. Masugi has extensive experience in government and academia. Following his initial appointment at the Claremont Institute (1982-86), he was a special assistant to then-Chairman Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. After his years in Washington, he held visiting university appointments including Olin Distinguished Visiting Professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Dr. Masugi is co-author with Brian Janiskee of Democracy in California: Politics and Government in the Golden State (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002). He is co-editor of six books on political thought, including The Supreme Court and American Constitutionalism with Branford P. Wilson, (Ashbrook Series, 1997); The Ambiguous Legacy of the Enlightenment with William Rusher, (University Press, 1995); The American Founding with J. Jackson Barlow and Leonard W. Levy, (Greenwood Press, 1988). He is the editor of Interpreting Tocqueville's Democracy in America, (Rowman & Littlefield, 1991).

He is author of numerous essays and reviews of works on political theory, constitutional law, public policy, and films. Dr. Masugi has also published in the popular press, including the Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register, Washington Post, Washington Times, National Review, and the Weekly Standard.

[Stoat]

Race ping

[iconoclast]

Would one be un-PC but correct to translate Latino to Mixed?

[FreedomCalls]

It's called the "human race" isn't it?

[Clemenza]

The majority of Latinos in this country would be considered mixed, as most Mexican American are mestizo (Amerindian and European), while most Puerto Ricans on the mainland and Dominicans are mulatto. Of course, that doesn't stop certain people from calling all of the above "Spanish."

[SauronOfMordor]

Would one be un-PC but correct to translate Latino to Mixed?

South of the Rio Grande, they use the term "mestizo", which means somebody of mixed Caucasian and Indian ancestry. Most of Latin America is mestizo, with the wealthy classes being more Caucasian, and the poorer classes being more Indian

[olde north church]

It's called the "human race" isn't it?
I'm a third generation Native-American (my great-grandparents were all born in Europe) but that doesn't prevent me from listing myself as "other" or calling myself a "person of color". If Hispanics are of Latin origin, then Italians TRULY are. Anything I can do to interfere with and undermine a bureaucracy!
Excelsior!

[GOP Jedi]

My understanding is that the Hispanic "race" arose out of intermarriage between the Celts who originally dwelt in Spain and various occupiers, most notably the Muslims (finally driven out in 1492). I crave correction if this is not so, but if it is, Hispanics are not a race, but a mingling of races.

[Stoat]

Would one be un-PC but correct to translate Latino to Mixed?

My understanding is that the entire concept of a Latino designation is so vague as to make it effectively irrelevant in any sort of meaningful sense. An extremely wide range of people, from wildly different backgrounds, publicly define themselves as Latino. Carmen Electra, as an example does, as do many people whom you might think of as 'white' or 'caucasian' if you were to pass them on the street.  It appears to be a  "if you want to call yourself Latino, go ahead" sort of designation.

[seppel]

I don't think Latino is mixed as in black/white mixed marriages. Latino is a distinct and proud race. I think it's the result of Spanish and Portuguese (same racial background) interaction with South American Indians. But the spanish and portuguese blood there is small since most spaniards stayed home anyway.

[Welsh Rabbit]

I wonder what race Ian Haney Lopez considers himself? He looks like a white boy with a Spanish surname to me.
http://www.law.berkeley.edu/faculty/profiles/facultyProfile.php?facID=301

[Clemenza]

Spaniards = White

Latinos = Several different races, depending on the country. Argentina has the same percentage of whites as the USA. Brazil has the largest black population in the western hemisphere.

[Clemenza]

Carmen Electra (real name Tara Patrick) is not Latina at all.

I have a freind from Colombia, who's last name is Holt-Chapman. Of English ancestry, he is whiter than me.

[Clemenza]

Greco/Latin/West Slavonic here!

[InTheRight]

"Latino" means anyone whose ancestors were Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, or Romanian. I'm sure there are many Americans who would be surprised to find out they're both Anglo and Latino if they checked out their geneology.

[Clemenza]

My Polish ancestors (the West Slavonic side) were too busy pushing west, taking the land the Germans vacated as they pushed into the Empire. My "Italian" ancestors were from Salerno, which means at the time they were already a mixture of the original Greek settlers and the Latin/Italic peoples who conquered them.