• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Inter-racial dating

#121
jrthebassguy said:
In my area, white/hispanic marriages are quite common and accepted for the most part. My girlfriend is the product of an interracial marriage - half white, half mexican. By and large, nobody has a problem with us. I've only ever heard one off comment about it, and it was from somebody who doesn't matter so it didn't bother us in the slightest.


However, white/black relationships still seem to cause a stir. Here's a strange social experiment to study - my cousin recently came out as lesbian, and she has a black girlfriend. Some people disapprove of her sexuality but are ok it's mixed race, some people are ok with her sexuality but not necessarily her girlfriend's race. :rollno:
Click to expand...

Again, Hispanic is not a race. It is not a skin color. Your Hispanic girlfriend can be white, or brown, or black, or yellow, or red, or... Why is this so hard to grasp? Especially if you're in a relationship with someone who is Hispanic it's especially ignorant to say things like "I'm white, she's Hispanic."
 
#122
matante said:
Spaniards are Hispanic. The Latin word for Spain was "Hispannia". This is what the Romans called it. The Romans also called Britain "Britannia".

So Hispanic literally means Spanish just as Britannic means British.

In the US the word Hispanic refers to someone who is from or descended from a Spanish-speaking country, so yes, Spaniards are Hispanic. Though some people here mistakenly think Hispanic means "Mexican". :hmm:
Click to expand...

That was precisely my view.
But then when I was in the US (lived in DC for a year) it seemed people did not include Spaniards in Hispanic, which seemed rather odd to me.
 
#123
matante said:
Again, Hispanic is not a race. It is not a skin color. Your Hispanic girlfriend can be white, or brown, or black, or yellow, or red, or... Why is this so hard to grasp? Especially if you're in a relationship with someone who is Hispanic it's especially ignorant to say things like "I'm white, she's Hispanic."
Click to expand...

I've found that often people confuse "Hispanic" with what is really known as "Mestizo". (which is some nations is a perfectly fine term, others, not so much - sorry if anyone takes exception to that!)
It can be confusing, because Mestizo folks are predominantly Hispanic, but not all Hispanics are Mestizo. then, in some Latin American countries, Mestizo can simply mean mixed race, in others it's specifically a Euro-Native mix. My wife is Chinese, white, and native Costa Rican but where her family is from, she's not considered Mestizo, but is considered Hispanic.
You really can't fault someone for getting confused! :)
 
#124
mcnach said:
That was precisely my view.
But then when I was in the US (lived in DC for a year) it seemed people did not include Spaniards in Hispanic, which seemed rather odd to me.
Click to expand...

A lot of people just don't know, especially on the east coast where there are fewer Hispanics. They think the terms Hispanic and Latino are interchangeable and don't understand the difference. The difference is that Spaniards are Hispanic but they are not Latinos, as that refers only to people of from Latin America. And for the record, in Spain Latin America is often referred to as hispanoamerica.

Also, in reference to your first post, Mexico is in North America, as are Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, etc... South America starts with Colombia. I notice a lot of British writers think that South America is anything below the U.S.
 
#125
Relic said:
I've found that often people confuse "Hispanic" with what is really known as "Mestizo". (which is some nations is a perfectly fine term, others, not so much - sorry if anyone takes exception to that!)
It can be confusing, because Mestizo folks are predominantly Hispanic, but not all Hispanics are Mestizo. then, in some Latin American countries, Mestizo can simply mean mixed race, in others it's specifically a Euro-Native mix. My wife is Chinese, white, and native Costa Rican but where her family is from, she's not considered Mestizo, but is considered Hispanic.
You really can't fault someone for getting confused! :)
Click to expand...

You have it all wrong. Hispanic refers to the language, not the bloodline in any way. It has nothing to do with being of Spanish descent. You can be 100% black and if you come from Cuba you are Hispanic because you're from a Spanish-speaking country. Every Costa Rican is Hispanic regardless of their ancestry Chinese or African or whatever.
 
#126
matante said:
You have it all wrong. Hispanic refers to the language, not the bloodline in any way. It has nothing to do with being of Spanish descent. You can be 100% black and if you come from Cuba you are Hispanic because you're from a Spanish-speaking country. Every Costa Rican is Hispanic regardless of their ancestry Chinese or African or whatever.
Click to expand...

Actually, I have it all right. :) Did you actually read my post that you quoted? Or are you too, confusing Mestizo with Hispanic?
 
#127
Relic said:
Actually, I have it all right. :) Did you actually read my post that you quoted? Or are you too, confusing Mestizo with Hispanic?
Click to expand...

You wrote the following:

"It can be confusing, because Mestizo folks are predominantly Hispanic, but not all Hispanics are Mestizo."

If you know what Hispanic means, you know a person cannot be "predominantly" Hispanic. You either are or you are not. Please explain what you meant there.
 
#128
matante said:
You wrote the following:

"It can be confusing, because Mestizo folks are predominantly Hispanic, but not all Hispanics are Mestizo."

If you know what Hispanic means, you know a person cannot be "predominantly" Hispanic. You either are or you are not. Please explain what you meant there.
Click to expand...

No, a person can't, but a smaller segment of a larger group of PEOPLE can, right? Hence "predominantly".
So let's say you have a population of native peoples some mixed, who speak a native language and follow native custom. Are they Hispanic?
How about mixed race Brazilians - what are they? They don't speak Spanish, they would speak Portuguese if not their native language. In Hispanic American countries, they're still referred to as Mestizo, but are they Hispanic?
 
#129
Relic said:
No, a person can't, but a smaller segment of a larger group of PEOPLE can, right? Hence "predominantly".
So let's say you have a population of native peoples some mixed, who speak a native language and follow native custom. Are they Hispanic?
How about mixed race Brazilians - what are they? They don't speak Spanish, they would speak Portuguese if not their native language. In Hispanic American countries, they're still referred to as Mestizo, but are they Hispanic?
Click to expand...

You're making it more complicated than it is. It's like you're saying "French people are all Europeans but not all Europeans are French? Oh i'm so confused!"

If you come from Costa Rica you are Hispanic. Period. It doesn't matter if your parents are Chinese or you live in the jungle and speak an indigenous language. You are a citizen of a Spanish-speaking country in hispanoamerica and you are therefoe an hispano. Mestizo or not, indigenous or not, has absolutely nothing to do with it. You're mixing apples and oranges.

Brazilians, of any race, are not Hispanics because Brazil is not a Spanish-speaking country. Haitians for example are not Hispanic because they speak French (sort of). Their neighbors in the Dominican Republic are Hispanic because it's a Spanish speaking country. It's that simple.
 
#130
matante said:
Again, Hispanic is not a race. It is not a skin color. Your Hispanic girlfriend can be white, or brown, or black, or yellow, or red, or... Why is this so hard to grasp? Especially if you're in a relationship with someone who is Hispanic it's especially ignorant to say things like "I'm white, she's Hispanic."
Click to expand...


Apparently you missed the part where I said she was half Mexican, not "half hispanic"
 
#131
jrthebassguy said:
Apparently you missed the part where I said she was half Mexican, not "half hispanic"
Click to expand...

Yes I did miss that part. That's even worse! :D

You don't see how saying someone is half white/half Mexican doesn't make any sense? You really don't see that?

I'll give you a hint: There are Mexicans who are 100% German descent. Others who are 100% Japanese descent, others who are 100% African descent, etc... Mexico is a melting pot just like the other countries in North and South America.

Would you call someone half white/half American?
 
#135
matante said:
You're making it more complicated than it is. It's like you're saying "French people are all Europeans but not all Europeans are French? Oh i'm so confused!"

If you come from Costa Rica you are Hispanic. Period. It doesn't matter if your parents are Chinese or you live in the jungle and speak an indigenous language. You are a citizen of a Spanish-speaking country in hispanoamerica and you are therefoe an hispano. Mestizo or not, indigenous or not, has absolutely nothing to do with it. You're mixing apples and oranges.

Brazilians, of any race, are not Hispanics because Brazil is not a Spanish-speaking country. Haitians for example are not Hispanic because they speak French (sort of). Their neighbors in the Dominican Republic are Hispanic because it's a Spanish speaking country. It's that simple.
Click to expand...

Do you think there are no French people anywhere but France?
What would you call them if they were French but living in Belgium?
I'm not making it complicated, it IS complicated. You're actually making it waaaay too simple.
 
#136
Slightly off topic but something I've wondered is what exactly constitutes an inter-racial relationship. Does it half to be black-white? My last 3 GF's have been Asian, Mexican, and Native American/Spaniard (her description) so would that qualify?

I'm definitely more drawn to dark and exotic women and would date a black girl if there was one interested in me. I never got any harsh looks or anything like that it was more like "what's she doing with him" kinda looks.

If you guys are happy with each other who cares what others think.
 
#137
jrthebassguy said:
Apparently you missed the part where I said she was half Mexican, not "half hispanic"
Click to expand...

Full Mexican
Abraham-Laboriel.jpg


My family has the story of a white great, great grandmother who was lynched for having a Black baby. She was raised by her White grandparents until married off at 13. My parents were raised under segregation so it was never a thought. But by my generation about a third of us are in interracial relationships, mostly with Asians since Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese and Filipinos were more likely to get involved with GIs then Germans by the 1980s in my experience. However one brother went the Nation of Islam route although I do believe they dropped their rules against interracial relationships.

The next generation is starting to have kids and about half of them are in interracial relationships.
 
#138
capnsandwich said:
How come no one cares if a collie and a german shepherd get together and have puppies but it's sooo wrong if a white dude dates a black chick? Never understood it.
Click to expand...

That's because one specie of dog never lynched another specie of dog.

IMO, "races" of humans were devised so one group could consider themselves superior to others and by classifying everyone, which humans love to do, it lets one group describe another group based on some physical trait. People have been conquering each other for tens of thousands of years and it's not over.

Amazing how beautiful the planet is when you can't see all of the people.
 
#140
I'm going to try really hard not to be offended at the above comment, as part of an "interracial" married couple (sorry, but since we are all human here, I don't differentiate). If you want to be involved with someone whose skin color or the continent their ancestors came from is different than yours, you need to do it. Don't be a chicken because of what others with say about you, her, or your kids. It's time to step up to the plate and be a man.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back