![]() ![]() ![]() "It's time for Latinos to make their top priority integration into the American mainstream," writes Frank Cisneros in his book "Latinos and the Future of the Nation." The key to such integration is dominating English and completing a high school and college education. Millions of Jewish refugees from Europe and the Middle East settled and thrived there generations of their children are now fully integrated South American citizens. Ethnic identity is used to fit a political agenda, not a reality.Ĭentral and South Americans don't bother with the nomenclature "Latino" or "Hispanic." In the democracies of Latin America there have been presidents not only with Spanish, Portuguese and indigenous heritage, but also with English last names (Fox), Arab (Menem) and Asian (Fujimori).ĭuring World War II, South America was extremely open to Jewish immigrants - far more than the U.S.A. Are they still considered to be Hispanic or Latino in the political sense? citizens and don't need immigration visas. In addition, neither Cardoza or Sotomayor were immigrants - Puerto Ricans are U.S. Sotomayor's family is from Puerto Rico and some say that Caribbeans are not Latino. Activists usually define Latinos as those who come from Central and South America. Spaniards are not considered by Latino advocates to be Latinos Italians are not either. ![]() Does that disqualify him as a Hispanic? Some say Portuguese are not Latinos. His ancestors fled the Inquisition there and may have been Portuguese. Does that make him not Latino? Born in New York City (as was Sotomayor), his family came from the Iberian Peninsula. Census definition today, he was Hispanic.īut it's complicated - as complicated as the multicultural, diverse people who are citizens of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean today. His name, Cordoza, is a familiar Spanish, Hispanic, Latino, Chicano name. But ever since President Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor as a Supreme Court justice, the media has gone wild with the mantra "the first Hispanic justice." Oh, really?īenjamin Cordoza was a Supreme Court justice in 1932. No one really knows who exactly is a Latino, an Hispanic, a member of "La Raza" or even a Chicano. After living in Latin America and covering Latinos for years as a journalist, one thing is clear. ![]()
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