I WANT TO ENCOURAGE A MORE CONSTRUCTIVE DISCUSSION OVER RACE RELATIONS ON NT

[mvp07]

Lmao and somehow we are the racists, bigots and ignorant...

We have plenty of culture.

I am sure you do and it is held in high regards where you come from or live in... That is about it!

Your relevancy stop there. You can perceive yourself and the importance of your culture in anyway you want, but trust that it stops there. No one is checking for it, it is just confusing to some that you act like "A" and identify as "B".


I don't see none of your people being a factor in this society in anyway, shape or form.

 

[Methodical Management]

Though I don't see a lot of hope for this particular thread, which was never formatted for a civil discussion, I would like to make a few points in the hopes that we could at least salvage something constructive from this and avoid of a few of the major pitfalls in future attempts:

First:
[h1]Race is not the same as ethnicity. [/h1]
Traditionally, scholars have differentiated between "race" and "ethnicity" by describing the former as a determined by biology and the latter by culture.  As race, however, is itself a cultural convention it's more accurate to suggest that ethnicity is how a person would culturally self-identify, while race is the quasi-biological category assigned to you by society based upon your appearance.  

For example:  Tony Parker may consider his ethnicity to be French, though his mother was a Dutch model and his father was an American basketball player.  He might consider himself to be multi-racial, though different societies have different conceptions of race.
[h1]Race is conceptualized differently in the United States than in Latin America. [/h1]
The United States is unique in that it has been the ONLY plantation society in the Americas that was majority-White.  This fact accounts for a dramatic distinction in how race and the concept of racial mobility have been defined by different societies in North and South America.  

Race is not about science.  It's about privilege.  America's "founding fathers" did not even consider German immigrants to be truly White.  In a 1922 anti-miscegenation case, an Alabama court could find "no competent evidence" that an Italian immigrant was White.  The definition of Whiteness has thus expanded considerably, and for the pragmatic purpose of maintaining the White category as the top of America's racial hierarchy.  

Scientific racists in the United States were tremendously worried about maintaining "racial purity."  Teddy Roosevelt, for example, became obsessed with the concept of "race suicide" as expressed by Lamarckian sociologist Edward Ross.  Terrified by the declining birthrate among White Americans, Roosevelt urged Whites to reproduce for the sake of the race and quoted Ross directly in promoting "Chinese and Asiatic exclusion."  

The United States' conception of race has long been defined by the "one drop rule."  As infamous eugenicist Madison Grant put it, "Whether we like to admit it or not, the result of the mixture of two races, in the long run, gives us a race reverting to the more ancient, generalized, and lower type.  The cross between a white man and an Indian is an Indian; the cross between a white man and a Negro is a Negro; the cross between a white man and a Hindu is a Hindu; and the cross between any of the three European races and a Jew is a Jew."  

This view of race differs markedly from that of scholars in South America writing around the same time.  Like Roosevelt and Grant, Brazilian theorist José Oliveira Vianna advocated the “whitening” of his nation’s population, though he believed the Brazilian population could be improved through interracial breeding.  (Exactly what Roosevelt and Grant feared most.)  For Vianna and his peers, interbreeding created the possibility for "upward mobility" through the racial hierarchy.  In other words, the Whiter you are, the more privileged you are - which contrasts sharply with the American view, where a man like Homer Plessy could be denied access to a "Whites only" train car.  To be "1/8th Black" was legally indistinguishable from being "100% Black."

It's no coincidence that the only plantation society in the Americas to be majority-White was also the only plantation society in the Americas to formulate the "one drop" rule - or to conceptualize Whiteness as "genetically recessive."  Maintaining the racial hierarchy with "White" on top and "Black" on the bottom requires the use of coalition politics.  In the United States, that meant the strategic inclusion of erstwhile "swarthy" or "ethnic" Whites, like Irish, Italian, and German immigrants.  In many Latin American societies, that meant divide and conquer through internal stratification and upward-mobility.  

That's reflected in the census as well.  In Brazil, there are literally dozens of different racial groups.  In a famous 1976 study, the  Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (responsible for the Census) asked respondents to identify their color.  They received 134 different response types.

Exploring the differences in how race has been conceptualized throughout the Americas is a tremendously interesting area of study, and far more complex than we could hope to address here.  I'd strongly encourage anyone interested to check out the following texts in introduction:

Afro-Latin America, 1800-2000 by George Reid Andrews

A Nation for All: Race, Inequality, and Politics in Twentieth-Century Cuba by Alejandro de la Fuente
Shades of Citizenship by Melissa Nobles 

One of the terrible consequences of this so-called "upward mobility" is a tendency to shun, disavow, or otherwise turn away from African heritage.  

To this end, there have been a number of campaigns, as recently as the 1990s, in countries including Brazil and Cuba that emphasize pan-ethnic African identities and request that citizens resist the temptation to self-identify, on the census or otherwise, as "White" and embrace, instead, a Black identity. That said, between fiercely promoted nationalist sentiments, which, ironically, have acted more to divide than unite, and the complexity of racial categorization schemes, many recent immigrants and visitors to the United States likely feel only an attenuated connection, at least initially, with American racial categories and identify, instead, on the basis of nationality and/or ethnicity. 

As pertains to this thread:  I don't believe it's "wrong" for ninjahood to culturally identify as Dominican - but it is downright dangerous to ignore America's construction of race and social inequality.  

It's worth noting that many people who emigrate to America - not just from Latin America, but all over the world, subconsciously engage in what's known as ethnic queuing.  James Baldwin describes this process for White immigrants better than anyone in his 1984 essay "On Being White... And Other Lies."  

America became white – the people who, as they claim, ‘settled’ the country became white – because of the necessity of denying the Black presence, and justifying the Black subjugation.  No community can be based on such a principle – or, in other words, no community can be established on so genocidal a lie.  White men – from Norway, for example, where they are Norwegians – became white: by slaughtering the cattle, poisoning the wells, torching the houses, massacring Native Americans, raping Black women. 

This moral erosion has made it quite impossible for those who think of themselves as white in this country to have any moral authority at all – privately, or publicly.

And while people of various European ethnicities sacrificed much of their ethnic identities to become assimilated into the homogenized, yet privileged, category of "White American" (or what, in a generalization consistent with that privilege, has simply become known as the social default for "American"), they are not the only ones who've engaged in ethnic queueing.  

As others have pointed out, it is, sadly, not altogether unusual even for, say, a Black, Nigerian immigrant to look down their nose at native-born Black Americans.  Some people believe they can climb the ladder by stepping on the backs of others.  (And, indeed, that is the path that a great many have taken in this country.)  

Longtime community members may recall that I often invoke Du Bois' concept of the "public and psychological wage", which describes the non-monetary compensation that poor White Americans receive for their complicity in a system that has left them otherwise impoverished.  

You look at the rise of Trump and his brand of "populism," for example, and it immediately raises the specter of Southern Populism.  In The Strange History of Jim Crow, C. Vann Woodward describes how populist leader Tom Watson told Black and White voters in the early 1890's,

‘You are made to hate each other because upon that hatred is rested the keystone of the arch of financial despotism which enslaves you both.  You are deceived and blinded that you may not see how this race antagonism perpetuates a monetary system which beggars you both.’   Repeatedly he stressed the identity of interests that transcended differences in race, telling them that ‘the colored tenant ... is in the same boat with the white tenant, the colored laborer with the white laborer,’ and that ‘the accident of color can make no difference in the interests of farmers, croppers, and laborers.’  He promised Negroes that ‘if you stand up for your rights and for your manhood, if you stand shoulder to shoulder with us in this fight’ the People’s party will ‘wipe out the color line and put every man on his citizenship irrespective of color.

By 1906, Watson abandoned his attempts to forge an interracial coalition on the basis of class consciousness and began supporting the disfranchisement of Black voters.  

You can see a very similar process of scapegoating, tribalism, and what Dr. King deemed the "Drum Major Instinct" in play with Trump's demonization of immigrants and minorities.  If you think you're somebody special because you were born in this country and you buy into the scapegoating of immigrants, you have an awful lot in common with those working class Whites at the turn of the century who would prefer poverty to equality so long as they could be given a preferential distinction over those they deemed a "lesser" group.  

Though it's unlikely that many will have read this far, I would like to address a couple of other issues:

1)  In its attempt to invert the existing racial hierarchy, the colorist trope of "melanism" reinforces the concept of scientific racism that undergirds White supremacy.  

Nawghtyhare also brought this concept of "Black genetic superiority" up in another thread, and I'll post here what I told him via PM, because I think it's extraordinarily dangerous and wrongheaded to premise any "counterclaim" for White supremacist ideas in the same quack science that was used to rationalize its development:  

Spoiler: Click to read.

I don't have a ton of time at the moment, but I would suggest looking into Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, whose five proposed racial categories proved highly enduring, influential, and toxic.  There's a thread about him on NT, actually, though posts from that era have screwed up formatting.  I believe I replied to this one as well, since the topic post oversimplified matters.  http://niketalk.com/t/272309/the-man-who-started-it-all-johann-friedrich-blumenbach

The short of it is this:  genetically speaking, human beings are 99.9% identical.  Race is a social construct.  It would be simpler and more meaningful to typologize humans on the basis of tooth shape or predisposition to sickle cell anemia than on the loosely affiliated bundle of traits that currently constitute "race."  

We must acknowledge the legacy of racism and what race has meant socially and culturally as a result, but it's dangerous to try and validate scientific racism by invoking a "Caucasian race."  That is an idea, not a scientifically valid description of a genetically distinct offshoot of humanity.  

Saying, further, that "caucasians are genetically inferior" or "caucasoids are known to be highly destructive" is pejorative, and it's racially pejorative.  In fairness, there's no possible way we can allow someone to post those sorts of statements on our forums.  

As Audre Lorde so famously noted, the master's tools will never destroy the master's house.  If you say "White people are genetically inferior" or "White people are genetically predisposed to violence," you're validating the trope that's been used as the basis for White privilege.  It's the same when people talk about Black athletes and "fast twitch muscle fiber."  Even if the intention is to frame something in a way that posits Whiteness as a genetic liability, the real antidote - and the scientific reality - is not that the White race is bad, it's that the "White race" is nothing but an excuse for oppression.  It's an excuse to colonize.  It's an excuse to enslave.  It's an excuse to delineate "us" from "them" based on a small number of observable traits that have proven increasingly atomized and preposterous with each generation.  (See the concept of "passing", the staggering variety of racial categories used in Brazil and elsewhere, etc.)  

I get that people like to cite the Isis Papers etc. and use that as an inversion against the narrative of White Supremacy, but it feeds in to the "racial existentialism" that White Nationalists and White Supremacists feed on.  They WANT it framed as an "us vs. them" conflict.  They WANT to see people demonize ALL White people so they can say "we're under attack."  They want to claim that they're the ones being threatened and victimized.  Look at the undertones of Trump's campaign, and of racists in general.  

It's White privilege that should be under scrutiny and under attack.  Claims of White genetic inferiority are rooted in the same bad science as claims of White genetic superiority. 

2)  Personal attacks are NOT allowed on our forums.  

No matter what your personal opinion of "the nomad" may be - and despite the numerous and detailed threats he's made regarding this community and its members - no member of this community should be subjected to personal attacks.  It is in incredibly poor taste to wish a mental breakdown upon someone - especially so if you suspect that person of suffering from a mental illness, like depression.  

Similarly, no matter what your personal opinion of "ninjahood" may be, he is not to be subjected to harassment or personal attacks, either. 

I find it particularly ironic that Nomad would be guilty of attacking his fellow Trump supporter in this way, given his very recent condemnation of those who criticized former NT member Ben Yang - and his previous rants about the criticism he's received from "anonymous users."  

"Here comes the so called "inquisitive" piranhas, who are gonna try a piece together MY IDENTITY, but remember, they say "the internet is not that serious". Yet these faceless piranhas will have information on deck to concoct a backstory which will paint me in a negative light to where it's a free for all attack on my character"

and, from a previous incarnation, 

Pusillanimous, frail hypocrites hiding behind a keyboard, see-through like a LACE G STRING trying to force your convoluted world view through a sneaker forum. Be a man and stand up on your own two. Talk to me like a man...meet me face to face, Skype even, phone call, but don't be a coward and hide behind a computer screen FORCE FEEDING the mass public YOUR VERSION of what I should be and what you THINK you are.

These are puzzling words for a person who is currently using someone else's photo to represent himself and has set about scouring the Internet for personal information about "ninjahood" in attempt to portray him in a negative light.  

Criticize his opinions all you want - I've certainly done so.  Be anonymous if you want.  Your treatment of ninjahood is a great example of why a lot of people don't want pictures and personal information about themselves to be accessible to strangers over the Internet.  Do not abuse your anonymity to bully another person through our platform.  

No matter our differences, we should all at the very least be willing to agree to treat each other with respect and decency.  

To do otherwise does less to diminish your adversary than it does yourself.

 

[polosanddunks]

I know but is how a lot of us were first exposed to it, from the music we listened to, the way we spoke amongst our selves growing up in the hood.

Like I said, as a kid i didn't know any better as Boone around me regardless of skin color felt uncomfortable with anyone saying it....as an adult I've been exposed to more than just a couple of street blocks, so now I know better

Respect I see your stance now. Makes sense. A lot of kids from the block dont know any better because thats all they know.

 

[mvp07]

That is good explanation up there.

The thing is those that immigrated here or have connection to a culture that is a world part, they know first hand their differences and that is ok. But when those that are from the states who are not familiar ask for explanation on why they act similar and identify different, they give the most ignorant answers. Explain yourself in a civil manner and no one will check you. Who is imitating who at the end of day.

 

[hennessy]

Meths post is worth the read.

 

[RIP sleazyy]

Meths post is worth the read.

 

[SC kid]

He pretty much Winston Wolfed the thread

 

[ccastro02]

So all I'm asking is what if the trend continues, the the net effect is still Latino towards white, what would you say then.

My answer is they wont if given an explicit Hispanic option, just like da author himself says at da beginning of that paragraph.

I don't understand why people are having a hard time understanding this. Latinos just want their own category, so they don't have to choose between white and black.

 

[ksteezy]

I am sure you do and it is held in high regards where you come from or live in... That is about it!

Your relevancy stop there. You can perceive yourself and the importance of your culture in anyway you want, but trust that it stops there. No one is checking for it, it is just confusing to some that you act like "A" and identify as "B".


I don't see none of your people being a factor in this society in anyway, shape or form.

man what kind of ignorant BS is this?

 

[hennessy]

I am sure you do and it is held in high regards where you come from or live in... That is about it!

Your relevancy stop there. You can perceive yourself and the importance of your culture in anyway you want, but trust that it stops there. No one is checking for it, it is just confusing to some that you act like "A" and identify as "B".


I don't see none of your people being a factor in this society in anyway, shape or form.

man what kind of ignorant BS is this?

Definitely a sheltered mind set. Doubt he has traveled very much (if at all).

Steezy I hold your culture in high regard as I'm sure many other outside of your culture do as well. The food, women , music, etc... Hispanic culture IS relevant because it has been preserved and passed on through the generations and had made its way into America as well. Hispanic people, and their culture, are clearly factors in society. I've never been turned away from a Hispanic establishment even though I'm not Hispanic. I dated a Hispanic chick for a while and although the yambs were amazing I miss the family dinners, salsa dancing, and just the culture overall more than the chick I'm hungry now...

 

[Nouss]

From wiki. That Lil blue dot on the western/central coast of Africa...is Guniea.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_where_Spanish_is_an_official_language

A Spanish speaking African country.

View media item 1995494

Bruh, I was just gonna let those 2 dudes continue to dwell in their ignorance. But...

Latin America doesn´t have a monopoly on the term hispanic or hispanic culture. There are hispanic countries outside of Spain and the Americas. Equatorial Guinea is a Hispanic nation. Ecuatoguineano´s are hispanic.

Let´s see... what makes a country hispanic?

Spanish is the official language...check
Spanish religious and cultural norms intertwined with the indigenous culture....check
400 years of on and off spanish occupation/colonization....check

The worst part about it is that Ninjahood is in here complaining about the black people telling him who he is while simultaneously tryna tell us (yes I live in Equatorial Guinea) that we aren't hispanic in culture.

Ghanaians root for Liverpool and ManU. Ecuatoguineano´s root for Madrid or Barca...why? Because the channels that they watch and the radio that they listen to are from SPAIN. Why? Because they speak and understand Spanish. Their abuelas cook paella and flan on sundays after leaving the Catholic church. Spanish influence has permeated every part of their culture. They have spanish naming traditions unlike neighboring Cameroon or Congo.

To tell you the truth, I think those 2 dudes feel some type of way about a country in the middle of africa full of black people being hispanic. Those Africans cannot be similar to them in any cultural sense....they cannot... it's impossible.


Side note: I went to a Dominican barber the other day and I couldn't understand a damn word he was saying. Plus homie was tryna trim my eyebrows...get yall mans.

 

[dopeness]

 
As pertains to this thread:  I don't believe it's "wrong" for ninjahood to culturally identify as Dominican - but it is downright dangerous to ignore America's construction of race and social inequality.  

...which is all I pointed out. 

 

a person who is currently using someone else's photo to represent himself and has set about scouring the Internet for personal information about "ninjahood" in attempt to portray him in a negative light. 

This is completely false. Considering your own strict position on anonymity, I'm surprised you don't think it would be petty for me to go out of my way to prove anything. 

I mean after all, the internet is "not that serious", right?

But believe what you want.

Albeit, it says more about the accuser's mindset than my own, when they're confident in their fallacious assessment of who I am. You included.
 

And as someone who went to college for social sciences, I'd like to point out that your own assessment of me coincidentally provides

a live example of the psychological effects that "prejudice" and "bias" has on a member of an out group.

That's been the underline problem for me on Niketalk since the beginning. Acceptance.




You as an authority figure have stated that, "I'm using someone else's photo to represent" myself.

Also, that I "suffering from a mental illness".

That's a classic example of "anchoring".

You're providing an erroneous narrative of who I am to your users, therefore creating a "social norm".

However, because of my eccentric personality, when I refute that claim, often in a playful yet intellectual response, I'm viewed and treated as a "troll". 

The proof is in this thread, paraphrasing; "he starts off cool, intelligent, and likeable, then he melts down".

You and others are making me out to be Cell or Majin Buu,

because you're so programmed to view users through the scope that we initially receive the same amount of respect as you do.

Out of the concern for being banned, no one actually contests your responses. Again the egregious proof is in this thread.

You post a post triple the length of mine and it's seen as a godsend. However, mine is subjected to statements like "nobody reading that", "his posts are so long", "doesn't he have stuff to do"?

I would say to anyone reading this, if you can't see that bias then you're the one with mental issues. As Meth pointed out, it is in poor taste wish someone have a mental breakdown.



...also I'd like to point out that depression isn't a mental illness, it's a mood disorder.  And also it's quite common, in fact worldwide over 300 million people suffer from it, and some don't even know they are. That's like the whole entire U.S. population. Disorders vary in severity. Your puppy can die and trigger depression. Or you can lose a business, be forced to make some of the hardest decisions in your life, or go through family issues. Anything can trigger depression.

Doesn't mean a person is gonna go insane or is insane, in fact here's a list of people who celebrated and appreciated on NT:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/juliapugach...ith-depression-and-bipolar-disord#.wrLE85Kn82

 

 

[Armada]

 

Meths post is worth the read.

Yes it was well worth the read.

 

[ksteezy]

Why cause they are black? Equatorial Guinea and the Philippines are hispanic/latino countries. Hispanic refers to peoples that were colonized by the Spaniards. But I see countries that aren't "white enough" don't belong. You people are terrible liars. 

Lmaooooooo WuT!?

You gotta be kidding me....because there aren't countries in Latin America that are predominantly black...right?....ya stay reaching b...

 

[ksteezy]

Definitely a sheltered mind set. Doubt he has traveled very much (if at all).

Steezy I hold your culture in high regard as I'm sure many other outside of your culture do as well. The food, women , music, etc... Hispanic culture IS relevant because it has been preserved and passed on through the generations and had made its way into America as well. Hispanic people, and their culture, are clearly factors in society. I've never been turned away from a Latino establishment even though I'm not Hispanic. I dated a Hispanic chick for a while and although the yambs were amazing I miss the family dinners, salsa dancing, and just the culture overall more than the chick I'm hungry now...

We are loving and welcoming people, more so than other cultures for sure....try and date into a middle eastern family for example....yet EVERYTIME is us Hispanics taking the fall being labeled racist because we refuse a label of color...be it white OR black.

 

[wavycrocket]

Bruh, I was just gonna let those 2 dudes continue to dwell in their ignorance. But...

Latin America doesn´t have a monopoly on the term hispanic or hispanic culture. There are hispanic countries outside of Spain and the Americas. Equatorial Guinea is a Hispanic nation. Ecuatoguineano´s are hispanic.

Let´s see... what makes a country hispanic?

Spanish is the official language...check
Spanish religious and cultural norms intertwined with the indigenous culture....check
400 years of on and off spanish occupation/colonization....check

The worst part about it is that Ninjahood is in here complaining about the black people telling him who he is while simultaneously tryna tell us (yes I live in Equatorial Guinea) that we aren't hispanic in culture.

Ghanaians root for Liverpool and ManU. Ecuatoguineano´s root for Madrid or Barca...why? Because the channels that they watch and the radio that they listen to are from SPAIN. Why? Because they speak and understand Spanish. Their abuelas cook paella and flan on sundays after leaving the Catholic church. Spanish influence has permeated every part of their culture. They have spanish naming traditions unlike neighboring Cameroon or Congo.

To tell you the truth, I think those 2 dudes feel some type of way about a country in the middle of africa full of black people being hispanic. Those Africans cannot be similar to them in any cultural sense....they cannot... it's impossible.


Side note: I went to a Dominican barber the other day and I couldn't understand a damn word he was saying. Plus homie was tryna trim my eyebrows...get yall mans.

Talk about it......

 

[ksteezy]

Bruh, I was just gonna let those 2 dudes continue to dwell in their ignorance. But...

Latin America doesn´t have a monopoly on the term hispanic or hispanic culture. There are hispanic countries outside of Spain and the Americas. Equatorial Guinea is a Hispanic nation. Ecuatoguineano´s are hispanic.

Let´s see... what makes a country hispanic?

Spanish is the official language...check
Spanish religious and cultural norms intertwined with the indigenous culture....check
400 years of on and off spanish occupation/colonization....check

The worst part about it is that Ninjahood is in here complaining about the black people telling him who he is while simultaneously tryna tell us (yes I live in Equatorial Guinea) that we aren't hispanic in culture.

Ghanaians root for Liverpool and ManU. Ecuatoguineano´s root for Madrid or Barca...why? Because the channels that they watch and the radio that they listen to are from SPAIN. Why? Because they speak and understand Spanish. Their abuelas cook paella and flan on sundays after leaving the Catholic church. Spanish influence has permeated every part of their culture. They have spanish naming traditions unlike neighboring Cameroon or Congo.

To tell you the truth, I think those 2 dudes feel some type of way about a country in the middle of africa full of black people being hispanic. Those Africans cannot be similar to them in any cultural sense....they cannot... it's impossible.


Side note: I went to a Dominican barber the other day and I couldn't understand a damn word he was saying. Plus homie was tryna trim my eyebrows...get yall mans.

Ok so technically they are Latin then, my bad....is not about a monopoly, I'm not trying to purposely exempt Guinea, I looked at it as a geographic thing, guinea is in Africa, I don't know much about Guinea passed that, tbh...but point proven and thanks for enlightening me, now what exactly is the point you guys are trying to prove here?...

Literally close to 100% of Latinos stem from LATIN AMERICA forgive me but I didn't set this up.

 

[ksteezy]

What is this agenda fam???....you really think we somehow feel superior to a country that's in Africa!?...if you trace our roots the majority of us all have roots based in Africa....what is wrong with you dudes

Some of our foods, our music, a lot of our culture has African influence in it, mixed in with sprinkles of others...what Hispanic would deny that?

We are influenced by African culture....that doesn't make us black, the same way European influence doesn't make us white man...

 

[wavycrocket]

Ok so technically they are Latin then, my bad....is not about a monopoly, I'm not trying to purposely exempt Guinea, I looked at it as a geographic thing, guinea is in Africa, I don't know much about Guinea passed that, tbh...but point proven and thanks for enlightening me, now what exactly is the point you guys are trying to prove here?...

Literally close to 100% of Latinos stem from LATIN AMERICA forgive me but I didn't set this up.

It's just kinda crazy how you and ninja tried to brush it off. Part of it was simply not knowing, and part of it was it being an African country.

Hey man, the fact that you can admit not knowing, then knowing is great imo. Threads like this should be a learning ground, instead of what it is.

 

[ksteezy]

It's just kinda crazy how you and ninja tried to brush it off. Part of it was simply not knowing, and part of it was it being an African country.

Hey man, the fact that you can admit not knowing, then knowing is great imo. Threads like this should be a teaching ground, instead of what it is.

I literally did not know, if they speak our language and practice our culture then they are Hispanic/Latino even if they reside in the North Pole.

Fact is that nearly 100% of all Latinos are from the Latin Americas, so I'm sure there are plenty of Latinos ignorant to the fact that Guinea is a Latin country.

 

[bossdonvah]

I literally did not know, if they speak our language and practice our culture then they are Hispanic/Latino even if they reside in the North Pole.

Fact is that nearly 100% of all Latinos are from the Latin Americas, so I'm sure there are plenty of Latinos ignorant to the fact that Guinea is a Latin country.

If you didn't know why speak on it ?? Very ignorant of you

 

[dopeness]

We are loving and welcoming people, more so than other cultures for sure....try and date into a middle eastern family for example....yet EVERYTIME is us Hispanics taking the fall being labeled racist because we refuse a label of color...be it white OR black.

Just when you start to persuasively articulate your argument you flub it up by making sweeping generalizations. 

My wife is part Iraqi and first generation American, I'm black ...they follow the census and view themselves as Caucasian (which they are).

The "Middle East" is a region, breh. Within the Middle East you have Caucasian races of people that don't get along with others for many different reasons.

For an example, as I pointed out in the "white Jesus" thread, Palestinians and Jews are two different cultures who've feuded for centuries despite sharing the same genetic roots. Similar to Dominicans and Hatians.

It's another reason I believe "Latino" is an ethnicity, not a race. I believe this is the gamut of the confusion in this thread.

Although some Latinos look white, they don't feel "white". They feel connected to their language, their heritage, their behaviors, their foods etc. Therefore without an official identification they feel alienated.

That's their challenge with assimilating into American culture.

In explaining this, I sincerely hope you realize how this confusion is perceived to Americans. No one is forcing ANYTHING on anyone, we're just asking that while you're here respect our home, and house rules.

 

[ksteezy]

They aren't latin American, but they are Hispanic and Latin. You and ninja love to change definitions when it supports your negatively radicalized psyche. 



Hispanic=People from places colonized by the Spaniards who adopted the language and culture. You were the one who tried to say Equatorial Guinea cannot be latin....drown in your own ignorance. Stop trying to save face and admit that you learned something new. Oh and NOW there are Latin American countries with black people? Cause a second a you was talking all that we don't see race nonsense.   

Did I NOT just admit to that just a post or two ago?

You need to stop with this BS of "we too black for you to accept us" mentality ya trying to push....plenty of Latinos that are black

I simply came to my conclusion from a geographic perspective....the country could have been set in Asia and I would have told you the same answer, lovely how you dudes setting traps

 

[ksteezy]

If you didn't know why speak on it ?? Very ignorant of you

It was asked, if the answer was known, why ask it?

 

[wavycrocket]

Curious, what are Brazilians considered? Are they considered "Hispanic" as well? Spanish isn't their language...but it's in "Latin America". So they are "Latinos" but not Hispanic. And have Black Brazilians, White Brazilians, Native Americans, and everything in between.

Ninja and Steezy, what do y'all consider people from Brazil? How bout Haitians? Next door to DR.