Thanks to Dorotea for the advice :wavey Since my topic in the Sanitarium was going to go off course, I thought this would be a good idea.

As I might have said earlier, my family is Cuban, my grandparents fled Cuba after Castro took over. Technically, that would make my family Hispanic, according to the Census, but my grandparents are from Galicia, Spain, which means that we are also "White". It's always been a bit confusing because on the one hand, we are Hispanic, but physically we are White as well. You're supposed to be either one or the other.

In Latin America, no one wants to say it, but there's a real hierarchy based on skin color and culture. Most of the wealthy in Latin America are either white or light-skinned, who look down on the poor, who are mostly Indians or Blacks, depending on the country. My own family were part of the elite in Cuba, they were quite wealthy, and they still have that mindset. For example, my maternal grandmother is quite racist, and she regularly refers to Blacks, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, and other minorities in pejorative terms. In fact, she doesn't like anyone who isn't Catholic and White, she also thinks Protestants are not real Christians and the Jews and Arabs need to be converted.

Cubans have been pejoratively referred to by other Hispanic groups as the Jews of the Caribbean because of our relative success compared to other Hispanic groups. Cubans, especially the elite who fled Castro, tend to be middle-class or wealthy, Republican and at the same level economically as middle-class Americans. In my family, I have several cousins who are lawyers, doctors and other professionals, and they tend to look down on others who haven't succeeded as much. My own mother refers to American citizens who are poorer as being "white trash". (To her, an American is a non-Catholic, non-Latin white, excluding Italians, Portuguese and such). She also looks down on anyone with dark skin and refers to blacks as "morenos", or darkies, and Mexicans as "indios", or Indians. And yet, she insists she's not a racist, but that she doesn't like dark-skinned people.

It's weird, because it's embarassing that my family still thinks this way, that they are snobs because they were successful in the old country, and while they consider themselves to be patriotic Americans, they look down on actual American people. If anyone here is Hispanic, or knows someone who is Hispanic, share your thoughts and tell me what you think.

That's horribly embarrassing. One of my teachers was Portuguese and Irish, but because his dad was Irish and he had the surname, he couldn't be counted as Hispanic. Here in Chattanooga, most of our Hispanic community is made up of Mayan refugees from Guatemala, and the rest are Aztec Mexicans, like my friend Richard. He told me that Mexicans and Guatemalans hate each other and that there's a huge struggle between the two groups, especially in gang activity.

As for your family, all you can do is roll your eyes and try to ignore it, like what I do with my mother. I'm part Native American through my mom, but she calls herself "white" because she's more Irish than Chickasaw. "You can lie about everything you are, but you're white", she tells me, "that's your dominant heritage. You're white. End of story". Yeah, but I'm also Amerindian, too. My mom even looks more Native American than I do, but she refuses to acknowledge that side of her ancestry, which I find horrible, and then she criticizes me for wanting to be referred to as "other" on surveys and to be listed as having mixed heritage.

What would you do in my case?

That's a tough one. Since you don't look very Indian, some people may not believe that you are Indian. But since you are, you ought to just keep on putting down Other, there doesn't seem to be any box for that yet. I understand that about your mother, though. I've known Puerto Ricans and Dominican people who obviously have some African heritage who are ashamed of it, they actually tell people they're white, they are so embarrassed by their heritage, and they actually look down on American blacks, calling them the n-word and such. What are the demographics of Chattanooga?

Chattanooga is about evenly white and black with hispanic and asian minorities.

I just wanted to know, I've never met anyone from there. About the Guatemalans and Mexicans, those that you know are Indian or mostly Indian, right? From what I've read about Mexico and Central America, the Indians are treated a lot worse than everyone else, even by the mestizos. What is your take on it?

Wow Vanessa...thats really awful...

i am portuguese as you all know...I think :P and its awful that people judge each other like that!!!

I think you should ignore all that on your family...it must be hard but my father is a racist...for him people who aren't white are not portuguese :rolleyes: :rolleyes: even if they're here for many generations..like when they were slaves!( :angry ) and we have many fights...i have my idea and I won't change it!

i almost forgot...my father don't judges other latines...for him we're the good people :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

he tends to hate americans but not latine americans that he considers matires... :wacko: :wacko:

Yeah, I heard there's a lot of anti-Americanism in some parts of Europe. I have had friends from Latin America, they tell me that's very true, that the ruling classes are white or light-skinned, and all the poor people are dark-skinned. If you've ever seen a Mexican soap opera (my mother watches those), the rich people, the good people are not only just white, they are actually blond, blue-eyed white people, and the servants, the bad guys are all dark-skinned. This is very messed up, this whole system based on color, at least here in the states, it doesn't matter as much.

It's really not an issue here, but in some countries it probably is. In countries like Peru and Mexico, where most of the population is indigenous or mestizo, it's not looked down on. In Argentina or Cuba, where most come from Europe, there is an issue.

I know what you mean. there are some mexican soaps here and that is true. its so silly!!! :ugh: here in portugal black people are still considered the bad guys :rolleyes: I hope that changes soon!!! the truth is that many black young people follow the wrong path here but only because they're opressed since they are born... :( its really sad :(

I didn't know that had Mexican soaps in Europe. Yeah, it can be shocking because most Mexicans are mestizos, half/Indian, half/white, yet on these shows almost everyone is blond and very white, if you didn't know better, you'd think it was filmed in Sweden :rolleyes: I didn't know there were blacks in Portugal, most of them are from the Cape Verde islands, right? Correct me if I'm wrong.

they're from our ex colonies...we had a looot!!! Cape Verde (Cabo Verde) is one of them...but we have also Angola, Mozambique, Guné Bissau, Timor, Sao Tomé e Principe, Brazil (some are black) and other places...I love that we have people from so many places... :D but some people think whites are the only good people...

btw mostly we have brazilian soaps...we love it!!! :P

I hope this isn't a dumb question, but are Brazilian soaps like Mexican ones? And my family is originally from Galicia, in northwestern Spain. Galician Spanish is a dialect that sounds vaguely like Portuguese, and some of cuisine is similar, I can understand written Portuguese to some degree. In Newark, the largest city in New Jersey, there is a large Portuguese and Brazilian community, my mother once worked in a supermarket there and they thought she was Portuguese.

I think brazilian soaps are less...dramatic :P but soaps are always soaps :P
Yeah? your family is from Galicia? ACE!!! :biggrin :D
I've been to Galicia many times :wink I go there and speak portuguese and they can understand me perfectly :D
we call spanish people: nuestros hermanos :D :D

What bothers me the most about Spain is how oppressive they are with their ethnic groups. You have indigenous groups like Euskarans (Basques), Galicians (A Celtiberian group), and Catalan peoples (who some say are descended from the Semitic Phoenicians). There are also immigrant groups such as Jews and Romas (Gypsys), and even still a Moorish element. However, the Latin/Nordic mix of Spaniards on top seem to want to make themselves the only ones who count. Basque separatists are tortured and Catalan separatists are looked down on. It's depressing.

That's why I wouldn't feel good about visiting Spain now - if I spent money there, I wouldn't know where it was going or what the government would use it for. Same thing with China and Turkey (Sorry Burak).

I know about the Basque separatists, but from what I've read the ETA doesn't make their cause look good. And this may sound strange, but many Galicians think Franco was great, because he was Galician. Amongst the exile Cuban community, Franco is revered because, as my grandma would say, "He was Catholic and he hated Communists". In the Cuban community, you could be the most evil pervert and as long as you hated Communists, you are cool with them :o That sounds sick, but I guess to people with experience with Communism, Fascism sounds good :rolleyes:

Who was Franco again? He was the dictator during the '30s, right?


Oh, and Castro is also Galician, and Che was part Irish. The Cuban Revolution was also the Celtic revolution.


And I don't agree with the ETA, but I do like the idea of Basque Independence.

Yeah, he was the Fascist dictator. He was also a Galician, and many Cuban exiles think he was wonderful because he hated Communists, as I said earlier.