Who Is Hispanic? : An Individual Of Cuban

When it comes to identifying the Latino’s population by a type of skin color most would consider themselves as Caucasian while a few identify themselves as Black. Many others associate themselves with indigenous race while others are increasingly identifying themselves as “other”. Their origins range from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba and Guatemala. Notable differences among the Latino groups center on the aspects of language refinement, educational status, cultural values and attitudes toward mental health treatment (Brice, 2001).

The term Hispanic means people who come from a country where Spanish is spoken. And the term Latino means someone who comes from Latin America.

Being Hispanic to me means traditions. It means my home and my loving family. Being Hispanic also means being hard working. I was born in a humble small town in Michoacan, Mexico. My parents decided to come to the United States looking for a better future for our family. They had to leave the land that had watched them grow in order to come to an unknown land, where the future was a giant blur. But what they didn’t leave behind was their love for their native country. I grew up in a household where Spanish was only spoken and tortillas were always at the table. I grew up loving authentic Mexican food and speaking Spanish fluently. When I was in kindergarten my teacher was afraid that I would be behind the rest of my classmates. My parents couldn't help me learn English since they didn’t know it either. I was fortunate to have a kind teacher who was willing to tutor me for free everyday after school. By the end of elementary school my English improved. As I grew

Hispanics or Latinos are defined as a people of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American, or other Spanish speaking culture. This term “Hispanics” was created by the U.S. federal government in the early 1970’s to refer to Americans born in a Spanish speaking nation or with ancestry to Spanish territories. Hispanics people are vibrant, socializing, and fun loving people. Among various facts associated to this culture is that they have a deep sense of involvement in their family traditions and cultures.

Today, the Hispanic population has grown tremendously over the years. We have watched the Hispanics community growth rate grow faster than any other racial and ethnic group in the nation. The Hispanic culture and community has populated all around the United States, introducing new traditions and customs. I was traveling to different to city in the States, I notice the wide spread growth of Hispanic communities, For Instance in Miami the Cuban and El Salvadoran culture is heavy populate in the area. In New York the Puerto Rican culture is dominating through out the several boroughs. I have come around town and Hispanics are known for their good food, which tends to have more diverse people try new cultural customs. Hispanic or Latino

Hispanic heritage is an important concept that surrounds my entire life. I have lived in Puerto Rico during my whole childhood. This culture has been important in my life because it helps define who I am and how I view the world. Both of my biological parents are Dominican, but I lived with my mother and step-dad in Puerto Rico. It was not until I moved to the United States that I began to become more aware of different ethnic groups. The United States has been called the “melting pot” society. Newcomers to this country were expected to adapt their “old world” values and culture to fit the values and lifestyles of the “new world” (An Overview of Diversity Awareness, n.d.).

Does it matter what we are called: Latino or Hispanic? Does it change who we are as people? To an extent, most people do not know the difference between either. Typically, people group both terms as one singular item. However, Hispanic and Latino racial classifications are more than a broad category for people from Spanish-speaking countries. The words connote and represent a history of colonial terminology that based its success on the failures of innocent, historically peaceful, cultural groups. Hispanic and Latino terminology are political and economic in every sense. This paper will show that colonial leanings to control and govern people’s lives have yet to culminate, even though the era of imperialism ended a century ago. The United States, although far from its heyday as the singular house of power, still manages to achieve control and influence over the imperialized minds of groups of people, specifically Hispanics and Latinos.

Currently within the United States one of the fastest growing minority population (Schwartz & Scott, 2012) is the Latinos. In 2010 Census Bureau Brief ( Ennis, Rois-Vargas, & Albert, 2011) it stated how an estimated 15 million Latino individuals were living within the United States, which is approximately about 16% of the entire U.S. population. There is one big problem with addressing the Latino population, and that is the family patterns are either misrepresented or not properly understood, due to the label of Hispanic and Latinos being placed together. These two groups may share the same spoken language of Spanish and have similar cultural ancestry but the diversity among Hispanic and Latinos (Schwartz & Scott, 2012) make generalizations about their lifestyles difficult. The term Hispanic came to be used in the 1970’s by government officials (cdc.gov, 2011) in trying to provide a diverse label on this population that had connections to speaking Spanish and the Spanish culture. Latino became more of a termed to be used when distinguishing between Mexican (Hispanics) and Latinos who descendants from Latin America such as Cuba and Puerto Rico.

First of all, let’s exchange the term Latino for a much more geographical one; to include as many people as possible. The word Ibero-America is widely used when referring to Latin America in a geographical manner: It encompasses any country that once was a territory of Portugal of Spain regardless of their language. There are more than 800 different native languages in Ibero-America. Saying Latino or Hispanic excludes these ethnic groups. According to the anthropologist Jose Matos Mar, They include the Totonaco (with around 200.000 that live exclusively in México and speak 11 languages) and the Mayans (which inhabit Mexico and Guatemala constituting the larges indigenous group of the region with 6,500.000 members that speak more than 68 languages) (1993 pp. 155-234). Now, we focus on the way Ibero-Americans see each other. Francisco Lizcano Fernandez talks about sixth main ethnical categories, including indigenous

2. Latino – Is a broad term that closely resembles the term Hispanic with the incorporation of Latin American populations of South America. Other Countries and populations of Central America might also describe themselves as Latin American.

The culture I choose to explore is the Hispanic culture. I choose this culture because many of the people I work with and many of my friends identify with the Hispanic culture and I feel it would be interesting to know more about a culture that is so relevant to my life. A few of the big things in Hispanic culture that I found interesting are language, traditions and food. Hispanic refers to a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) (2015) provided an overview of the Hispanic population, in which they reported the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) categorization of the population. Specifically, OMB defines Hispanics as a population which comprises of Cubans, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, South and Central Americans as well as people from other Spanish cultures (CDC, 2015). According to a report compiled by the CNN Library (2015), Hispanics are the largest minority group in the United States. In fact, the size of the Hispanic group in the United States is only second to the size of the Hispanic group in Mexico. The report further explained that there were approximately 54 million Hispanic people in the United States by 2013. The number showed a 2.1% increase in the Hispanic population between 2012 and 2013 (CNN Library, 2015). The total Hispanic population in 2013 constituted about 17% of the United States total population. Gonzalez-Barrera and Lopez (2013) inferred that people of Mexican origin constituted the largest number of Hispanics in the United States. They maintained that there were approximately 33.7 million Hispanics from Mexico in the United States by 2012 (Gonzalez-Barrera & Lopez, 2013). The Mexican-Hispanics population is represented by people who are born in the United States and immigrants from Mexico.

Latino/Hispanic Americans cover a much wider demographic then believed. Latino/Hispanic Americans consist of; Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Guatemalan American to name a few. Latino/Hispanic Americans are the largest ethnic group in the United States. The Latino/Hispanic culture is very different than ours. Their culture differs in economics, politics, family traditions, family structure, religion, education, language, fashion, art, music, dancing, and food. As natural born Americans in the United States it is important for us to learn about the different cultures migrating into the United States. Many United States citizens have a hard time understanding other cultures; being culturally insensitive is a common theme in the United

My Cuban background has had a profound effect throughout my life, despite the negative stigma many people have sadly associated with it. Both of my parents immigrated to the United States when they were young, so I have grown up with stories of how hard my grandparents had to work to adjust to a culture and language they were completely foreign to. Because they had to overcome so many obstacles to get where they are today, they have instilled a work ethic and determination in me that I believe is why I have been so successful in my academics and extracurriculars. I have always been taught that education is the most important facet of my adolescent years, and thus I comprehend its importance and strive for academic perfection. Furthermore, as

America is the home to extensive variety of people, racially and ethnically. There are six transcendent races in the USA: American Indian and Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, Asian, Black or African American, White, and individuals of two or more races. The race characterized as "Some other race" is likewise utilized within the enumeration and different overviews, yet is not official. The United States Census Bureau groups Americans as "Hispanic or Latino" and "Not Hispanic or Latino", "which distinguishes Hispanic and Latino Americans as a racially different ethnicity that creates the biggest minority aggregate in the nation (Edmonston and Passel, 1994).