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 Editorials | Issues | December 2006 
Survey Says Hispanic is Common Choice
 Tom Ragan - Sentinel
Watsonville, CA — City Manager Carlos Palacios, recently named man of the year by the Chamber of Commerce, said he used to call himself a Hispanic when he was growing up in Albuquerque, N.M.
But since he moved to California more than a decade ago, he refers to himself as a Latino.
"It's a regional thing," said the 44-year-old who speaks Spanish, although not fluently. "For the most part, everybody calls themselves Latinos here, so I've gotten used to doing the same."
He's in the minority, however.
According to a recent survey conducted by several college professors around the greater Southwest, most people of Spanish origin prefer to be called Hispanic instead of Latino.
Hispanic is a term created by the federal government in the 1970s for census purposes and is still holding strong, although its popularity has plummeted over the years.
It has given way to terms such as Chicano, Mexican-American, "Tejano," even American to those immigrants who have recently become U.S. citizens and are proud of saying it.
"Perhaps our biggest conclusion is that people didn't really care or object to either labels," said John Garcia, a University of Arizona political science professor who participated in the study.
The Latino National Survey of nearly 9,000 people was carried out in lengthy telephone interviews last year across the United States and released recently.
With a margin of error plus or minus 3 percent, the survey consisted of nearly 100 questions posed to those who either spoke Spanish or had Spanish surnames.
The first question was, "How do you identify yourself?"
In Watsonville, where 77 percent of the population is Latino, the terms are interchangeable, although a quick sampling Friday afternoon revealed just about any label runs the gamut, depending on the context.
"If I'm with a group of Mexican parents and I'm trying to help their children, then I'll call myself a Mexican," said Mayor Manuel Quintero Bersamin, 49, who speaks Spanish fluently. "But if I'm talking to the Brown Berets, then I'm a Chicano. And if I'm talking to people who are Mexican or Filipino, then I'm either a 'Mexipino' or a 'Filipicano.'"
But one thing Bersamin says he certainly is not is a Hispanic.
"Those who want to subscribe to their Native American or Indian ancestry usually choose 'Latino' or 'Chicano,' " he said. "The Spanish weren't very nice when they colonized Mexico, Cuba or other parts of Central and South America."
And yet the term Hispanic is the most prevalent — perhaps out of habit of having to answer to the U.S. Census or filling out countless applications in which Hispanic is the only label listed.
Hispanic, however, is not a race, contrary to uninformed public opinion, notes Garcia, the political science professor.
The word itself comes from "Espana," or Spain — not exactly something Adolfo Garcia Jr., a Pajaro Valley high school sophomore, was familiar with.
Yet he certainly has an opinion on the matter.
"I'm a Mexican-American," he said. "My parents come from Mexico, but I'm from here. That makes me a citizen. That makes me an American — a Mexican-American."
It's a term among many bilingual children and adults who grew up here and whose parents come from Mexico. Not only are they bilingual, but their bicultural. Some choose to retain the heritage, others shun it, adapting to mainstream society, notes Theresa Espinosa, a receptionist at the Santa Cruz County Immigration Project.
"I'm a Mexican," she said, "even though I was born here. I call myself Mexican, and I taught my children to speak Spanish first, and I taught them to be proud of their heritage."
Aida Figueroa echoed those same sentiments.
"I was born in Mexico, but I've lived here all my life," said the 38-year-old Watsonville resident, who was born in Mexico while her parents, both Mexicans, were vacationing there. "I'm in the process of getting my citizenship."
For others like Antonio Martinez, a 22-year-old from Santa Cruz who was born in Oaxaca and is bilingual, he doesn't care much about labels.
"It doesn't matter, and I don't get offended," he said. "The most important thing is that you never forget where you come from, and it's sad if you're ashamed of it and not proud."
tragan@santacruzsentinel.com
What it means
Mexican National: Those born in Mexico and have Mexican citizenship.
Chicano: An anti-government term that grew out of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and is intended to find another label to replace 'Hispanic.'
Mexican-American: Born in the U.S. to Mexican parents.
Hispanic: Government term created for the U.S. Census in the 1970s to identify Spanish-speaking people or those of Spanish origin.
Tejano: Mexican from Texas.
Californio: Old term used to describe the Mexicans who once lived in California in the 1800s.
Latino: Spanish for anything Latin or based in the Latin language. |
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