Hispanics
are considered the most diverse ethnic group around the world. There is such
biological and cultural diversity that it would be fallacious to throw
Hispanics under one homogenous category. But I am a believer in a pan-Latino/a
identity. In an ideal world race shouldn’t define who you are; to me I think it’s
cultural. I purposely asked a client who is from Puerto Rico the other day what
was his race, and he responded “I’m Puerto Rican.” It’s a tough question for
Hispanics who don’t usually identify in terms of racial categories (e.g. black
or white) because, quite frankly, many Hispanics (1) identify nationally, and
(2) are mixed biologically and culturally, that is, they are mestizos. Therefore, it’s perplexing to
think of Hispanics in terms of race. Some suggest the brown race, but this is
just creating a whole new category, which in my opinion separates Hispanics
rather than brings them together. Because there are white Hispanics of direct
European decent, Asians, Africans, and indigenous peoples who make up Latin
America. Hence, this racial categorization will just demarcate Latinos/as in
general.
I
personally, solely focusing on my father side of the family, have a mix of
Spanish European along with indigenous peoples, and who knows, maybe even
African or who know what else my family has mixed in there. Point being, I am
mestizo. I speak a language and have cultural aspects that derive from Spain,
but I have traditions that have been passed down to me from generations such as
my food, music, family values, work ethic, and other ways of life that come
from my country and from Latin America in general. In my case it becomes more
complicated for the fact that on my mom’s side of the family I’m genealogically
mostly fourth generation Russian (what is now modern-day Ukraine in Kiev) with
a little bit of Polish mixed in there. (It is interesting to know that white
ethnics don’t face the same racial issues in the U.S. as nonwhite minorities. Perhaps
being because they can assimilate easier to the white Anglo society, than
nonwhites who “stick out” from visual racial categorizations, not to mention,
nonwhite minorities have a history of colonization with the U.S.)
But
I believe that people aren’t tied by any type of biological essentialism. In
other words, we are free to self-identify, which is why I associate culturally
with my Colombian heritage on my father’s side as it has shaped me in large
part to the person I am today. But despite that I’m Colombian, it does not mean
I can’t relate to other Hispanics. At the end of the day I have more in common with someone from, say,
Peru or Argentina versus somebody from Greece. Therefore a key to the unity of heterogeneity
in Latin America is its common history.
