*This brings two things to mind. One is the fact that the “Hispanic” term is invented; another is that the inventors had a specific agenda in mind when they did it. Since then, the term has run athwart of many of the people it was invented to define. VL
Before the 1980s people of Latin American origin were classified as white. Author Cristina Mora tells Latino USA how the Census Bureau, activists and Univision created the Hispanic category.
This article was originally published in Latino USA.
*There is little that gets Taquistas (and Latinohispanicschicanosmexicanospuertoricanscubanosandonandon ) riled-up like the word "Hispanic" does. There is no consensus on the term, for or against, except for the fact that the word was invented and imposed. And even then, the story of how the word was coined has several versions…
Grace Flores-Hughes is a federal employee who says she created the word "Hispanic" for official government use. She's from South Texas and seems to be Republican. There's a long interview with her in The Washington Post from 2009 and I think it's pretty interesting, here are a few highlights: I…
What kind of Latino/a are you? If you're like me your answer should be: What are the choices? Or better yet: Who's asking? Within the community we've always known there were different kinds of Latinos. You can be Salvadoran or Peruvian, Mexican or Puerto Rican. And even within the Mexican community there…
