 GIMME
LABEL DEPT.
The
"Hispanic Latino" Label in America
Update by Don Jíbaro
 olitically correctness is oftentimes bringing us more chaos
than order. It is now fashionable to claim different ethnic roots. However, many are trying to define racial and
ethnic groups without stepping into each others toes… a task that is becoming
more difficult each time.
As Puerto Ricans we are, of course, included in a whirpool of confusion and struggle in a psychological hand-to-hand combat with our
peers.
Everybody wants to have a somewhat aristocratic quality or flavor relating to
their own gentry and no one desires to be identified by vulgarity or rudeness…
However, maintaining or striving to maintain the appearance of superior or
middle-class social status or respectability requires hard work as individuals
as well as a community.
This work must be devoid of false delicacy, prudery, or
affectation. It's so true that, while none no one wants to be classified as a
phony, not too many care to abstain from behaving or doing the things that
automatically will make you one... like promising something and not delivering
it.
We have learned that the greater proportion of the members of an ethnic group of
people determines the group’s character. This tends to preserve ithe basic form
of civilization and customs, arts and crafts, legends, traditions, and
superstitions from generation to generation. Thus, we pass on what and who we
are.
This is indisputably the case with Latin Americans (Con tu permiso, let’s call
ourselves that for now for the sake of reference) whose unprecedented growth is
rapidly changing the political, economic, and cultural panorama in many parts of
the United States.
So, who is a Latin American? Are Caribbeans included? Of course! But are we
to be Caribbean Americans, because many maps separate the Caribbean from
“continental” Latin America for obvious topographical reasons? Bet you hadn't
heard that one before.
The last census in 2000 found that people of Latin American heritage identifying
themselves as members of two and sometimes three ethnic groups. Consider the
cultural diffences of the Cubans in Miami, Puerto Ricans in New York, and
Mexicans in Los Angeles who while sharing a common language, yet have unique
experiences.
Ever seen a blond green-eyed Puerto Rican from Corozal? Yes, my real mami...
blonde and green eyes... still alive and kicking in San Juan.
Many books like “Living in Spanglish: The Search for Latino Identity in America”
by Ed Morales are being written with labels already embedded in the title. Does
that perpetuate the stereotype or pushes us to seek a “new” politically correct
terminology?
Ed writes…“One borderline (or GAP) exists between first-generation immigrants
and American citizens of varying levels of assimilation, and more between
Caribbean Latinos, who are more influenced by African culture, Mexican/Central
American Latinos, who are more influenced by indigenous Meso-American cultures,
and South Americans, whose societies tend to be more Euro-colonial in tenor.”
I reluctantly agree with Ed, since the gap is there. Subliminal but existent.
The “Puerto Ricans vs. Newyoricans” issue has shown that there’s an
enmity or antagonism between Boricuas from the Mainland and Boricuas from the
Island. That gap gets narrowed with education and tolerance. Some of that has
been accomplished by celebrities such as Jimmy Smits, J-Lo, Marc Anthony, Ricky
Martin and others who bring our culture into the elite social strata.
Then… what exactly is this Latinamericanhispanico culture phenomenon that
creates such a trail of eggshells for us to tread upon?
Morales sets aside “Hispanic” and “Latino” as problematic, and prefers to use
the term “Spanglish.” Doesn’t that place us “out of the frying pan and into the
fire”? It does, regardless of how hard Mr. Morales tries to broaden the term
beyond language, to encompass a multicultural and multiracial identity. To this
jíbaro, it’s just one more label. We need unity, not a new degree of separation.
Hey... Are you a Boricua coqui? ...Latino toad? ...
...Hispanic frog? Why are you green? Huh?
Our music unites us… be it mambo, merengue, bolero or ranchera. The great ones,
Puente, Palmieri, and even Los Panchos and others have blended the aspects of
one group into the other in order to appeal to more than one smaller ethnic
constituency.
We need a fascination for unity and solidarity as the United States confronts a
fragmented racial and ethnic future and the influence of Latin Americans grows.
Parenthetically, on the Hispanic, Latino, etc. thing, I particularly don't
adhere to any of it... Generally, those are terms given by the Separatists,
whether it be anglos or otherwise… looking for a “label” that draws a subtle
separation from us, while not being totally offensive. Sort of like the labels
given to the what became “Negroes” in the 40s and 50s, that became “Blacks” in
the 60s and 70s, that became “African Americans” in the 90s.
Do I come from Latinia? Hispania?
I know that as an individual I might not be able to do anything about the way
society labels us... Moreover, we might even have to conform to "rolling with the punches."
ALL I KNOW IS THAT I am a Puerto Rican who comes from one
of a conglomerate of
countries known to the world as Latin Amercia, so if anything, I’d be Latin
American. but, sincerely, I don’t subscribe to any of it!
Tu sa'e... Soy Boricua y maj na'  
"Fools won't take advice, but
the smart will listen." (Proverbs 12:15)
Peace and Prosperity,
Don Jíbaro Barbanegra
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