Quote:
Originally Posted by Ch2tf
Again, your lack of reading has you missing the original point made and you seem to missing the fact that I, among several other posters, have clearly stated that in our PERSONAL experiences "Spanish" was used to describe/identify Latinos before we entered college, and upon entering college Latino became the more commonly heard/used term. Which is why in my response to Serenity (at least I think it was her), I stated the decade in which the organization was founded (the 1980s) "Spanish" was a common descriptor for latinos, particularly in the North East. No one made the claim that latino was a "new" term established circa the turn of the century, but that we didn't witness it's usage until then. If your experiences are/were different, great, those are your personal experiences, yet it still does not negate what everyone else has said.
Locals is the key word in the paragraph. You are currently in Texas (according the location you filled out in GC) and what it is in Texas is not always what it is in Boston, NYC, or Jersey City, etc. You are trying to extrapolate what you know from Texas, to the entire US/other regions of the country. There are undoubtedly similarities, as there are undoubtedly differences.
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<-----thank you!
you are right...my comment attempts to extrapolate what you referred to as "what you know from Texas to the entire US/other regions of the Country"..now let's see, isn't that kinda of what you did in your original post by saying that:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ch2tf 
I would speculate the use of "Spanish" in the above quote was appropriate at the time/in the place that it was originally written. I'm from the northeast and prior to going to college (1999/200) "Spanish" was commonly used as a descriptor by both Latinos and non Latinos. In fact, I never really heard/used the term Latino until I entered college. The use of the term Latino is still debated in some areas with some people preferring the use of Latino over Hispanic and vice versa (I'm currently searching for an article I read on this topic a while ago). I know people who still describe themselves as Spanish. To each their own I guess.
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Look, I think in the end we both can probably agree on lots of things. But my main issue with your original post is that while there were many folks who used spanish as a descriptor for themselves and allowed non-hispanics to do so as well (be it for whatever motives) the larger majority knew that there was something better (albeit, mostly innacurate) to describe themselves.
Anecdotal experiences such as "carlito and juan jose del monte in my 2000 student school called themselves spanish," are welcome, but should not be accepted as proof of a trend in the use of ethnic qualifier. That's why we pay people with tittles to spit out numbers, HISTORY books and studies.
Let's also remember that this hodge podge of opinions is only relevant in the grand U.S of A. Out in LATIN-america, this spanish nomenclature thing is a non-issue. (as in Español means Spanish language or Spaniard and we just don't do that yo..lol) Hence my level of disbelief that with the constant inflow of hispanic immigrants through this nation, there would be an acceptance of this term.
I tried to understand you better by finding out where you grew up (not that I care about where your hood was or want to steal your identity) but perhaps just dropping something like "I grew up in the Craddle of America" would have given me a clue and more insight on your opinion.
Never said that you were incorrect. Is being "right" a default setting? and is the purpose of an exchange of opinions/ideas to prove the other "wrong"?
But hey, in the end...what they hey...dismiss what I said as just my opinion.....is the closing of the mind that's prevalent nowadays anyways.