# Not all brown people are illegal immigrants **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 4, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-all-brown-people-are-illegal-immigrants/591479 "2011-08-04T17:22:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-all-brown-people-are-illegal-immigrants/591479/101 "2011-08-06T15:31:00Z")
Oh, and I have met quite a few Brazilians who very much celebrated La Hispanidad, including one who had cried in the Basílica del Pilar (Nuestra Señora del Pilar is the patron saint of Hispanity) seeing his flag directly across from the image. Met one Brazilian who reckoned that Columbus should have stayed in Genoa, shut him up asking where had he gotten those green eyes 😛 (people complaining that their own ancestors should’a stayed in the home country and refrained from meeting their other ancestors just strikes me as completely dumb - never heard a Spaniard saying the Romans should’a stayed in Italy, but I expect it to happen any day now) **Nava** , hispana but not latina. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-all-brown-people-are-illegal-immigrants/591479/102 "2011-08-06T15:35:00Z")
Well, after reading through this thread, I don’t feel so bad about being confused regarding the Hispanic/Latino thing. **brazil84** , I’m out. I had to say my piece in order to sleep at night, but I’d rather fight this battle in the media and the legislative floor than on a message board. Thanks for reminding me I have a lot of work to do. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-all-brown-people-are-illegal-immigrants/591479/103 "2011-08-06T15:38:06Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > Well, after reading through this thread, I don’t feel so bad about being confused regarding the Hispanic/Latino thing. Oh, hon, it’s one of those things that are as confusing as “left” and “right” in politics. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-all-brown-people-are-illegal-immigrants/591479/104 "2011-08-06T15:39:10Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > Okay, so maybe treating people like shit does deter them from hanging around. I see your point. And deters other people from coming here illegally too, I suspect. > [@](#): > > There’s a difference between exacerbating the abuse and exploitation of a minority group and boycotting a business and you damn well know it. Perhaps there is, but your position seems to be that no group of people should ever be “marginalized” ever. If you really believed that, you presumably oppose boycotts directed at particular countries, regions, or business sectors. Besides, I’m not calling for abuse or exploitation of illegal aliens. I simply feel that generally speaking they should be denied the opportunity to work in the US; denied non-emergency services; and deported. If charity-minded Americans wish to go to Mexico or wherever to help these people, that’s fine with me. > [@](#): > > Focusing on immigrants as the cause of the problem I’m not sure who this point is directed to and I don’t know what problem you are referring to. > [@](#): > > Do my anecdotes trump yours? Probably not, but I think the problem here is what is meant by “incredible hardship.” > [@](#): > > their lives are pretty hard. That’s probably true. But to me there’s a difference between “pretty hard” and “incredible hardship.” By the way, you didn’t answer my question from before: Do you agree that there are still a lot of poor people in Mexico? And if so, why haven’t all of those people sneaked into the United States? ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-all-brown-people-are-illegal-immigrants/591479/105 "2011-08-06T15:43:58Z")
> [@](#): > > **brazil84** , I’m out. Ok, bye. I hope you don’t take part in any boycotts of countries, regions, or industries. Because that would be “marginalizing” people. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-all-brown-people-are-illegal-immigrants/591479/106 "2011-08-06T16:54:48Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > As for Española (or its alternate spelling Hispaniola), well, it means “female person or item from Spain or belonging to Spain” - Columbus wasn’t very imaginative when it came to names. This is true, but the original formulation was “La Isla Española,” so the contracted forms kind of refer back to that. I was trying to keep things relatively simple :rolleyes: back in #28. > [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > Well, after reading through this thread, I don’t feel so bad about being confused regarding the Hispanic/Latino thing. I’m thinking of doing a Venn diagram. 😉 All of the following are self-identifying ethnocultural sets contained within or largely overlapping the Latino set, and sometimes each other. A couple are slurs in some places but just fine elsewhere. [ul][li]Afrocubano[/li][li]Boricua[/li][li]Chicano[/li][li]Cholo[/li][li]Criollo[/li][li]Indio[/li][li]Isleño[/li][li]Mestizo[/li][li]Tejano[/ul][/li]There are plenty more. That’s without _even_ getting into the ethnography of Brazil, which seems to get more complicated every time I look at it. (I like [this little image set](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Brazilians_001.JPG).) Oh yeah, and none of these means _illegal immigrant_ either. Most of them are some shade of brown, I guess, but not all. ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-all-brown-people-are-illegal-immigrants/591479/107 "2011-08-08T02:44:04Z")
didn’t some of them pre-date the white man? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-all-brown-people-are-illegal-immigrants/591479.md?page=5)