General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I am Latina but pass as White [View all]Boomer
(4,168 posts)"White" really is a useless term when you get into the intricacies of Hispanic language mixed with Latino culture, ethnicity, history and geography.
My mother's family is from Mexico, and they're largely German and Spanish in ancestry which makes them White. There's also some native Indian blood in there, but from a region in Mexico where the Indians are lighter skinned, so not really "White" but they passed on fewer genetic traits that would be noticed by racists.
My Mestizo (mixed-race) grandparents and aunts were racist themselves, however. They deplored seeing a light-skinned Mexican married to a dark-skinned Indio. I suspect they were precariously gripping onto their slightly more privileged social class and were motivated to put as much distance between themselves and full-blooded Indians -- at the bottom of the ladder -- as they could. These were attitudes from the 1950s and 60s that I witnessed personally as a child, and I hope they've substantially changed since then as my grandparents' generation passed away.
I look non-Hispanic. People assume I'm non-Hispanic, even with an Hispanic first name. Thankfully, I've never been put in a situation of hearing the White people around me insult Hispanics. Not sure how I've managed that, given the harrowing accounts other people report, but I suppose it helps that I'm a bit of a social recluse.