Before 1970, the US Census Bureau classified Mexican, Cuban and Puerto Rican immigrants as whites. Each community of Latin American origin would go by their nationality and by the region where they lived in the United States. But all that changed in the seventies, as activists began lobbying the US Census Bureau to create a broad, national category that included all these communities. The result was the creation of the term “Hispanic”, first introduced in the US Census in 1970.
The story of hispanics:
What were "hispanics" considered before the Civil Rigthts movement?
- Nobody before the 1970's was ever "Hispanic" or "Latino". No one was ever called "hispanic" and no one ever identified as "hispanic". The concept that all spanish-speaking or spanish-surnamed people constitute an ethnic group did not exist.
- Mexicans, Puerto-Ricans, and Cubans were unrelated immigrant groups who did not identify with each other and were never statistically grouped. Nearly all (90%) were considered racially white, with the exception being those that were obviously of african ancestry and were considered black. No one was "latino/hispanic".
How did they identify?
- They identified as white. In the context of the segregated South, Mexicans and Cubans in particular always insisted that they were white. They also did not identify with each other at all; a Mexican had nothing to do with a Cuban.
Did Hispanics experience discrimination?
- There were never any laws, ever in U.S History, in any state, that discriminated against or excluded Mexican Americans, and much less "Spanish" people or Spanish-surnamed people. Stories of legal segregation/exclusion are almost completely invented. No, the people we call "hispanic" today were never subject to Jim Crow or any other discriminatory race laws from the past. They were always permitted to go to white-only segregated schools, they could vote, hold public office, fought in white units of the army, could marry other whites, and they were not on the back of any buses.
- The discrimination that they did experience was defacto (not legally institutionalized). Legally, they had all of the rights of other white people, but socially they were considered "other" white people for being culturally different.
Examples of "other" white groups:
The Irish
Jews
Italians
Polish people
Mexicans
Cubans
Puerto Ricans.
- like the Irish and like Jews, Mexicans faced a fair amount of day-to-day discrimination and in certain social contexts some people did not consider them white. However, this discrimination was random and not consistent; officially they were always considered white and not distinguished from "Anglos" or other European nationalities.
- Cubans, Puerto Ricans and other unrelated Spanish speaking groups faced little discrimination. There are very few anecdotes. Cubans were unquestionably white, and Puerto Ricans didn't live anywhere that was legally segregated.
Did Hispanics play a role in the civil rights movement?
- No.
- Mexican organizations always distanced themselves from the black civil rights movement because they did not want to conflate themselves with minority groups. They fought their own battles, and their argument was always that they were white. In every court case that involves Mexican Americans, the argument was that discrimination against Mexicans was wrong and unlawful because they were of the white race. That isn't a civil rights argument.
How and why did they become minorities?
- After the civil rights movement, after all the legal battles had been won, things changed dramatically. Suddenly, being white wasn't a privilege anymore. What's more, the government was giving out money to "discriminated minority" groups (blacks). This is when Mexicans started saying that they were not white.
- Their argument was that even though they were always officially white, and even though they had always identified as white, they weren't treated the same as other whites and therefore were deserving of these new benefits.
- The first non-white identity Mexicans created was "Chicano", an identity that emphasized their indigenous ancestry. Before the civil rights movement they insisted that they were Spanish, to affirm their whiteness. "Chicano" activism began in the late sixties, emulating the black civil rights movement.
- They lobbied local goverments to get Mexicans classified as non-white, and became minorities overnight. Many people in the South West were confused when this happened.
Then what?
- They wanted federal minorities benefits. But when they went to Washington to demand this, they were told no for two reasons:
1) They were white.
The federal government still classified them as whites, and told them that the new programs were not intended for white people.
- First they lobbied the Feds to create a new non-white "mexican" category for them (ironic since 20 years earlier there was an attempt to make a mexican category that they protested), but the feds refused.
2) They were a regional group.
They were told that since Mexicans were concentrated in the South West, they were a regional issue and should take up their problems with local governments.
The Solution (the origin of "hispanic"):
- A group of people sat down and brainstormed, and came up with a solution. They decided to project themselves as a national group by claiming that all spanish-speaking people were really one ethnic group. Some woman, Grace Flores Hughes, coined the term "hispanic".
- They started to communicate with Cubans in Florida and Puerto Ricans in New York about creating this new National Hispanic group, but early attempts were not successful. Prs and Cubans both stated that the groups didn't have anything in common. Puerto Rican activists were focused on the independence movement, and Cubans were focused on foreign policy with the Castro Regime. Neither groups cared much about immigration or the plight of Mexican migrant workers.
- Despite early failures at unifying the disparate immigrant groups, they were persistent. They started to collaborate with local media ("Univision"), to spread the word about "hispanics". Univision was once strictly a Mexican television station, but then changed into a "hispanic" station so they could attract more viewers nationwide and get more advertising dollars. Local organizations also changed their name from Mexican to "hispanic".
- The activists groups started lobbying the federal government to create a new "hispanic" category, claiming that they were being underrepresented and were deserving of federal benefits.
But what is a hispanic?
- The architects of "hispanic" identity created a deliberately ambiguous definition of hispanic, one that minimized their differences, so that they could contrive the largest possible numbers and demand the most money.
- To legitimize this new idea, dishonest "hispanic" historians started to write a revisionist "hispanic" history, by going back in time and labeling anybody they wanted "hispanic" (anybody with a spanish name) even though that is not what they were considered before then. They contrived the narrative of "hispanics" as a downtrodden minority group with 400 years of history in the U.S. This is the history that we hear today.
- Univision helped to promote the concept of hispanic identity through its programming.
The Government conceded.
- After years of lobbying on the behalf of "hispanics", president Nixon gave in to activists groups and officially signed an order creating the category. In exchange, the "hispanics" promised that they would be a huge demographic voting block that would support him politically.
- The census bureau created the category that was to begin in 1980.
- Millions of people, who had previously only identified with their nationality (and racially as white), suddenly became "hispanic" over night, still not understanding the term. Cubans were still saying things like "What is a hispanic? What do we have to do with Mexicans?!"
- Through the media, they continued to promote the concept and convinced people to identify as "hispanic" in advertisement and telethons.
1980 was the year people officially became "hispanic".
- This is when Americans first started hearing the term, and it did not become commonly known until the late 80's
It's like "Hispanics" always existed