"American" or Hispanic...?

[blackwisdom]

I'm not going to lie; I don't know a lot about all of the details in the question that I'm asking. Here's a dialog I had with a friend today. I'll lay it out for you:

Me:
What ethnicity do you claim?
Her
Hispanic
That's what I thought you would say.
What do you mean.
How come american (northern, central, southern) aboriginal people call theirselves "Spanish?"
You know what I never thought of that.
I was just thinking today that these Native Americans were here for thousands of years and all of a sudden Imperialistic Spaniards came and changed the language and added to Native Cultures; and all of a sudden you're all Hispanic. Where did that come from.
I don't know... (and the conversation went on about her Great Grand Parents being born in Mexico City and all. We just built a little bit after that, and I opened some questions for her. I told her some things about the pyramids and native technology.)

My question to you guys is;

How has the Black and Brown people gotten to the state where we identify ourselves according to Imperialistic ideologies to the point where we're forgotten our own? I know about Jim Crow and all, but how has this process become so encompassing on every aspect of our very identities that we lost our own? This is very serious and deep. Even with my understanding that it's in the imperialists' nature to do so, I'm still in awe.

Hit this up folks, and lets try to build positively. Lets not focus soo much on stop hating on white people and focus on historical fact.

Peace be unto you

[Wooly Noggins]

The conqueror calls us

HIS Spanish Property - Hispanic

and alot of different types of people all fall under this title

we lost our way back to our own because the conqueror claims what was once ours

another strange name they use is Latino

how are people who are not born in latin america called latino

and how did latin america become latin america when latin is the language that was spoken in rome

[manhattan360]

I dont even like calling myself hispanic or latino thats wut they label me but thorught the years of clolism this things they tell u are incerted into your mind after 400 years of that my granma she is very racist she think she;s white or wants to be white that they whey she was raised its like my brother with no knowledge african americans now beliving in jesus and god and all this stuff over there its the same for the caribean and south american countries they playing with our heads to control us and not to rebel they dont want u to know the true god thats why i call my self asiatic or mutt

[tajeco]

Have you taken Anthropology is college, it talks about stuff like that, you might like it.

[Os3y3ris]

Hispanics call themselves that because they're no longer Aztecs or what have you. The Spanish came, they conquered and they stayed. As unfortunate as that may be, thats reality and its reflected in the people there, both culturally and genetically.

[TeknicelStylez]

IDK if everytime someone asked me my nationality I can't be like, "dadadadadad" and ramble. I know and you know what the deal is, some puerto ricans call themselves Tajinos, but when they say that people just look at em sideways. Why go through all the trouble of knowledging everybody else about your heritage, as long as YOU know who the fuck gives what label you carry, its just a LABEL but the real product is YOU.

Words only hold whatever meaning you put into them.

[7ess]

I get asked what my ethnicity is every fucking day - no lie, its too complicated to break down for some dude on the street so i usually say Latina or mutt if I'm annoyed, i think its a rude ? when you don't even know that persons name and at the end of the day who really gives a fuck. I overstand your question tho...

[SubtleEnergies]

I think of this coz my mum is SPANISH! From SPAIN.

So many times on the net and real life too I will ask someone their nationality and they go "spanish". So I am like you're from spain? and they are like "nah, argentina, el salvador..." or wahtever....idiots.

And people even call spanish people latin....wtf...
I don't see how south Americans are LATIN or HISPANIC. It's insulting to both cultures, not to mention fucking confusing.

[Kephrem]

I'm not going to lie; I don't know a lot about all of the details in the question that I'm asking. Here's a dialog I had with a friend today. I'll lay it out for you:

Me:
What ethnicity do you claim?
Her
Hispanic
That's what I thought you would say.
What do you mean.
How come american (northern, central, southern) aboriginal people call theirselves "Spanish?"

She called herself Hispanic, then you come back and ask her why do people of Latin America call themselves Spanish. I never met a Hispanic person that refers to themselves as Spanish if they are not directly linked to Spain. It's always uninformed non-Hispanics that use "Spanish" when describing people of Latin America.

You know what I never thought of that.
I was just thinking today that these Native Americans were here for thousands of years and all of a sudden Imperialistic Spaniards came and changed the language and added to Native Cultures; and all of a sudden you're all Hispanic. Where did that come from.

Hispanic
"pertaining to Spain" (especially ancient Spain) 1584, from L. Hispania "Iberian Peninsula," from Hispanus "Spaniard" (see Spaniard). Specific application to Sp.-speaking parts of the New World is 1889, Amer.Eng.; esp. applied since 1972 to Sp.-speaking persons of Latin American descent living in U.S.

[Kephrem]

Hispanics call themselves that because they're no longer Aztecs

You're giving out wrong information. It's the many Mexicans and Mexican Americans that are descendent of Aztecs, not Hispanics in general.

As for your comment it's like saying some African Americans don't any longer say they're African.

or what have you. The Spanish came, they conquered and they stayed. As unfortunate as that may be, thats reality and its reflected in the people there, both culturally and genetically.

In some areas the Spanish influence is hardly visible, neither in genetics (there's many pure indians spread out throughout that country, I assume you meant Mexico) and culturally among those who are still tied to their roots you can still find the amerindian overlapping the spanish influence.

[SubtleEnergies]

Well every latino I have met nearly has called themselves spanish. Maybe in Australia its different?

[Kephrem]

Are you sure they're not from Spain?

[Born Ruler I]

Hispanic just means you come from a Spanish speaking culture. It is not an ethnicity or race.

And Black and Native people whose primary language is Spanish are products of the same system which made Black and Native people English or Portugese speakers.

Triangle slave trade, colonization, manifest destiny, white supremacy...

One

[TeknicelStylez]

Fuck all this shit, I'm fucking "Hispanic" and I don't give a fuck.

Anybody that looks at me and doesn't see my "Spain" heritage is obviously blind. I got a family tree traced all the way back to the canary islands, where the Mendoza family was noble, than we migrated to Cuba and became farmers.

[blackwisdom]

IDK if everytime someone asked me my nationality I can't be like, "dadadadadad" and ramble. I know and you know what the deal is, some puerto ricans call themselves Tajinos, but when they say that people just look at em sideways. Why go through all the trouble of knowledging everybody else about your heritage, as long as YOU know who the fuck gives what label you carry, its just a LABEL but the real product is YOU.

Words only hold whatever meaning you put into them.

I never heard that before. But that word does mean a lot. If we as people start to call ourselves what we are, then it'll force a change in what everyone else calls us. Look at Blacks in america. When we demanded that we be called African-Americans, that's what we were called. We've been nigger, coloured, Negro, Black, Afro-American, African-American, Nigga, and then some. I know I'm far reaching, but it's just my thoughts. I can't wait til the day when we can call ourselves, Afrikan. But I'm a big "Visionary." Thank everyone for their posts. I greatly appreciate the positive responses.

Take it easy
Peace