Brazil is not a Hispanic country. The language of Brazil is Portugese, not Spanish.
Wiki says no.
Well, yeah, we covered that already.
What ever happened to self-identifying? If a Brazilian identifies with the Hispanic community and considers himself Hispanic, then he is. Same way that Obama is an African-American, even though you could technically define him out of that group. And as I noted above, all of the Brazilians that I know do not self-identify as Hispanic. Anecdotal, of course, but that’s my experience.
Yeah, but the definition from the government was culture of Iberian origin. Which would include Portugal.
I could identify myself as Australian, that doesn’t make me Australian.
By the way, how could you possibly identify Obama “out” as an African-American. He fits that descriptor in the most literal way possible. His parantage is half African and half American.
The government does not classify people as to their race and/or ethnicity. The government merely offer a cheat sheet. Everyone is free to self-classify themselves, or not at all, according to the cheat sheet.
I don’t participate and do not complete the self-classification if at all possible. I guess I may be a contrarian.
Many people, including posters here, reserve that term for Americans who are the descendants of slaves. That was, in fact, the original definition. Personally, I think that definition has changed so that Black = African-American in this country. But we’ve had threads on this MB where posters have argued vehemently against that change.
Yes, but words often don’t have a literal meaning, and “African-American” is such a word. I have a friend married to an Egyptian, who has two daughters – African father, American mother, but those two girls would never be called “African American”. So the “African” here is limited to sub-saharan Africa.
Next, Teresa Heinz Kerry was born in Mozambique and migrated to the U.S. Does that make her an “African American”? No, because she’s of purely European descent. “African-American” means that your skin is at least medium brown, if not darker.
Finally, “African American” has the connotation of being descended from slaves, who generally were brought over from West Africa. Senator Obama’s father came from East Africa, and his ancestors were not enslaved in the US, so (for many people) that means Obama is not a real African American.
You are right…I remembered the questions being worded differently, but I was wrong. (My apologies…it’s been a long 8 years since that census!)
The question regarding Hispanic ancestry is worded as follows:
Here’s a link to the form (warning: PDF):
Which I guess answers the question regarding ralph’s wife…she could mark herself as “No,” of course (I know there are a lot of people like you, Duckster, who opt out of this, and BTW, I want to make clear that I never meant to imply that a person couldn’t do that if they wanted to.) Or, she could mark herself as “other,” as they seem to cover all the possible terminology for that ethnic group. Interestingly, the government lumps Hispanic & Latino together, but ralph’s wife differentiates them.
Also, it’s interesting to note that they ask this question first, before the question about race, in an attempt to keep people from confusing the two. But apparently, people are still having trouble in that regard, as I also found this article, which states that they are planning to tweak these questions in an attempt to get cleaner data (apparently 97% of those who marked “other” for race were actually Hispanic).
So, can an affluent Brazilian (descended from Norther Europeans) file a lawsuit for discrimination, on the basis that she is a “latina” (and therefore a persecuted minority?).
What about the inhabitants of New Mexico? they have been American citizens since 1845 or so-are they “hispanic”?
To answer your second question: yes, you can be an American citizen and still be Hispanic. Hispanic isn’t a race. A blond haired blue eyed kid from Argentina with German descendants is just as Hispanic as the dark haired kind from Puerto Rico who is descended from Spaniards and Africans.
Marc
You’ve been a regular poster on this MB for 6 years. Are you seriously telling us you don’t know the answer to those questions?
Anybody can file a lawsuit against anybody. Whether they can win lies not within their ethnic identity per se, but whether they can demonstrate that the defendant intentionally discriminated against them for it. In your scenario, the plaintiff would have to prove that the defendant knew her ethnicity and knowingly discriminated against her because of it. As a matter of fact, it isn’t really even technically necessary for the plaintiff to belong to whatever class the defendant is being alleged to have disciminated against, as long as it can be proven that the defendant believed the plaintiff to be part of that class. For instance, if your employer falsely comes to believe you’re a Jew and fires you because of it, you can still recover damages for discrimination even if you’re not really Jewish.
Your second question is just silly. Black Americans have been full citizens since 1865. Are they still black?
ralph124c, I see what you are getting at, now.
I would say it depends. There are government programs that are based solely on minority status. For instance, if my husband were to start a business, his status as a person of Hispanic ethnicity would help him qualify for government contracts, even though he is not likely to be discriminated against, based on his “all-American” looks. When he went to college (a state school), he was actually required to attend a counseling session to help him “assimilate” before he could complete his registration (despite the fact that he grew up in a mostly-white/non-Hispanic Chicago suburb and he doesn’t speak Spanish). Putting aside the fact that it was required (which annoyed him), it is a program available to everyone who is of Hispanic origin, regardless of their need.
On the other hand, many government assistance programs are need-based, and have nothing to do with one’s ethnicity.