If I wanted to write and say there are far more Latinas in America than people realize, would that statement be correct?

[Silver7]

Like I'm saying, a lot of Latin people have had children with white Americans throughout the years to the point where they are so mixed, so a lot of Latin people look like white Caucasians now.

There are probably so many mixed white looking Latinas, and you might not be able to tell that they are of Latin descent because of how mixed and white they look. Which would mean there are more Latinas than people realize

Am I right about this assumption?

[moontokkym]

You're using a pretty racist rule that's the "one drop" rule of determining someone's race/ethnicity where other races perpetuate and "take over" as soon as there's "one drop of non white blood in the lineage" while whitness has to be "preserved".
Generally once someone is mixed race it's a genetic crapshoot as to how they look, so if they look more like one parent than another a lot of how they define their ethnicity will also be how they're raised and what part of their parent's cultures they resonate with at different times, it can get really complicated trying to work out how to juggle both.

That also means that say if someone is 1/8th black and 7/8ths white, because their grandfather had a black dad but everyone else in their lineage has been caucasian, and they no longer have any ties to black ancestry, culture, art, common shared experiences, etc... and look white, they are treated as white, they might even consider themself white, or not even know there's anything other than white in their ancestry. They are, for all intents and purposes, white, despite being technically "mixed".

I say this as a very pale english white person: by the one drop rule, I am black, and that is a ridiculous statement to me because the cultural ties to this great great great grandfather were lost to family history and had to be dug up in archives. It's not even that far back in the lineage that our family still looked black or at least not entirely white, we just didn't know our lineage prior to our grandmother because of adoption, yet it would be disrespectful of me to claim I have any personal insight into what it's like to be any other ethnicity than caucasian, so I base my observations on my friends' experience as they tell it, on the kids I work with, and how I can somewhat sympathise with the living in two cultures simultaneously because though not being mixed race, i am a dual citizen, though it's far from the same as being observably different.

I think you should reconsider your conception of race, it seems very archaic. This is a very complex subject that interacts with many other facets of life in sometimes unexpected ways, and can very easily be insulting to many people, so it's important to handle them with care.

[kyupol]

I'm not sure...

My DNA test says I'm 89% Filipino, 1.5% Spanish, 1.5% Chinese, and the rest is the rest of the world except Africa.

And of the Filipino percentage I'm like 60% central Luzon and about 30% Bisaya. And 10% every other Filipino group.

I can't dare say I'm Bisaya. What more the other races outside the Philippines

Though I've been spoken to in:
- Spanish
- Chinese
- Korean
- Farsi
- French

Because some angles I pass off as those races. When the weather gets cold, my skin tone lightens and probably why I passed off as French.

Filipinos are among the most mixed races on planet earth. Some of us look more Chinese, some look more Caucasian, some look more African, or Middle Eastern, etc.

So... Since I have a drop of blood of every continent except Africa... Can I legally apply citizenship in every continent where I have a drop of blood from? That would be cool.

[vapidink]

Apart from what moontokkym said, I just want to mention that it sounds like you have some preconceived notions about what Latin American people look like. Latin America spans two continents, each country that makes a part of it containing different ethnic groups that vary in appearance. From Afro Latinos to what you'd call "white" Latinos, appearance is not a good point of reference for who is or isn't Latino (and I'm assuming you mean "Latinos" as in, men and women of Latin descent and not solely "Latinas" which is specifically Latin women).

Personally, I've been told I could pass as white even though I am Mexican. My Mayan ancestors just so happened to be raped by Spanish conquistadors so I came out a little bit more pasty than the average southern Mexican. I still don't consider myself white though I have to select white on paperwork sometimes.

[VibrantFox]

moontokkym and vapidink's responses pretty much cover it i think but you genuinely are treading very close with racist ideology and rhetoric so if you're looking for factual information you'd be far better of actually researching it than taking that kind of information and running with it

just as a starting point the wikipedia page for race and ethnicity in the united states breaks things down pretty well

Race and ethnicity in the United States

but you've really got to be mindful the nuance of sensitive subjects like this

[Silver7]

You're using a pretty racist rule that's the "one drop" rule of determining someone's race/ethnicity where other races perpetuate and "take over" as soon as there's "one drop of non white blood in the lineage" while whitness has to be "preserved".Generally once someone is mixed race it's a genetic crapshoot as to how they look, so if they look more like one parent than another a lot of how they define their ethnicity will also be how they're raised and what part of their parent's cultures they resonate with at different times, it can get really complicated trying to work out how to juggle both.

I wasn't trying to use any racist ideology really, it's more so that I was thinking that the child has a much higher percentage of Latin DNA maybe because many of them mix back with their own people even though they still have white Caucasian DNA present in their blood. (I hope you get what I mean)

Because there are many white Americans that have black ancestry and they still just identify as white

[KevinReijnders]

Tbh, I don't think there is such a thing as "Latin" DNA (or caucassian DNA for that matter). Hell there isn't even enough genetic diversity between people to speak of different races in a pure scientific sense.

Whiteness, and who is considered white, is a pure social construct. Who is or isn't included is entirely designed by whatever racist has the biggest platform at any given time.

As an example, the Irish and Italians were both considered non-white for the longest time.

[NOOR_ASAKZ05]

A person's skin color does not actually determine their race or even their origins. Please be careful with these ideas because they seem very racist. Try studying genetics, it is my passion and it is what has allowed me to show racial differences, although they are not large, they are acceptable.

[VibrantFox]

honestly just kind of begging you to touch grass and talk to actual other human beings coz the thing is even if its not your intent to be parroting racist rhetoric it's still what you're doing.

the one drop rule is something thats been actively used to harm native american's for example if you've learned or heard anything at all about the native american boarding schools from years ago or the hyper complex system to label if you have enough "indian blood" in you to be able to claim you're a part of any of the tribes

like the use of visual traits like skin tone are whats currently right now being used in the u.s. to round up anyone perceived non-white or latin american and detain and deport them. it's not some concept or theory, it's created language used by those in positions of power to actively harm certain communities

if you're genuinely curious to understanding demographics then looking into ethnic diaspora would be a better starting point like the wiki page i linked above. the us census may have information but given the current administration i do not doubt the data will be skewed to promote whatever views they want to perpetuate versus factual information

but if it's being explained to you that things you're saying are potentially or just straight up racist rather than attempt to deflect please actually bother to hear whats being said especially since there's possibility that there's people here who could very well fit into some of those categories you call yourself trying to talk about or portray

[New_To_Comics]

I doubt anyone wakes up and goes 'let's try being incredibly racist today!' it's just a thing that can happen. Y'know. If you're racist. Or if you can't be bothered to do the research. Oddly enough that does not make some statements sound less racist.

I wouldn't know the difference between someone asking this in good faith - as I'm hoping you are doing, though you have mentioned elsewhere that sometimes you just ask to see the reactions - and a bigot trying to normalize racism. Heck, the bigot probably believes they're asking in good faith too, as they assume the premise is true.

[ALI]

This post was flagged by the community and is temporarily hidden.

[moontokkym]

I second vibrandfox: you need to get out and talk to a bunch of people in person and gain some life experience. Whether trying to be racist or not, that is the root of what you are saying. Unfortunately, we have all been raised in the pigsty of racist society, we all have that mud on us and it is what comes naturally because of how pervasive it is. It takes intentional work to scrape the dirt off of your soul, and regular washes to keep it from coming back.

As for the "latin DNA", I get what you're trying to say in that you view people's genes like those 23andMe tests where people are like 30% caucasian, 32,4% subsaharan, 20% klingon or what have you, and that those percentages somehow correlate to the cultural signifier of race. I just think you're being very "gene essentialist" where you believe that it is your blood that determines what race you actually are to an exact percentage level, when the lived truth is that that has very little to do with it.

I want you to really think about what "latin DNA" means for you and how that could possibly be important when divorced from lived culture and upbringing. What makes a gene "latin", versus "black" versus "asian" etc... Like, black people have a higher risk of sickle cell anemia, is that a "black gene"? Same with the genes that make you more susceptable to keloids. Latino communities in the US have been known to be more likely to develop genetic chronic liver disease, does that count as a "latin gene" to you? If so, does it really matter for the story you're trying to tell? If you go back far enough, we're all black and African, whiteness is a genetic mutation that appeared surprisingly late on an evolutionary timescale.

It doesn't matter if a bunch of people have different ethnicities somewhere in their bloodline, unless it's within living memory it's just a statistic. Again you're treating these hypothetical white-passing mixed latino people as latinos who can "mix back with their own people", despite them also being partially white, and therefore also "mixing back with their own people" if they were to "mix" with other white people too. The racism is coming from the fact you are treating "white" as "default", the absence of race, rather than being one of many socially constructed categories of people.

[Silver7]

the fact you are treating "white" as "default", the absence of race, rather than being one of many socially constructed categories of people.

Sorry that was not my intention, I never had the thought in my mind that whiteness is the absence of ethnicity, I have always thought of whiteness as it's own ethnicity. (There are so many white people that I admire as well, Tom McDonald, Jennifer Lawrence, Angelina Jolie and many more)

[stiles]

[stiles]