From: pharvey@mipos3.intel.com (Paul Harvey)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: La raza was (stereotypes - and a request)
Date: 30 Jul 92 18:28:31 GMT
	<12569@inews.intel.com> <2A776531.24281@noiro.acs.uci.edu>

In article <2A776531.24281@noiro.acs.uci.edu> 
cortese@skid.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese) writes:

An excellent post on a complicated subject. I don't wish to argue, that would be
stupid. There is so much to learn here. The definition of latino/hispanic is 
even more complicated than the definition of pagan. However, I would like to 
add the following information.

>Most of the hispanics in this country are not of Spanish descent.  Most
>are Puerto Rican, Costa Rican, Cuban, or Mexican, in other words,
>INDIAN.

Puerto Riquenos are mostly of European (Spanish) or African descent. There are 
some surviving Caribe Indios who are mostly found on Dominican Republic and are
called ... I can't remember. Same thing on most of the Caribe isles, the
natives could not survive the powers of the Europeans, this is why they
imported Africans to work as slaves, cuttin' cane. Mexico is mostly a 
combination of European (Spanish) and Native cultures. Mestizos are usually 
mixed blood and live the Western lifestyle, Indios are usually pure Native and
cling to the traditional ways. Mexican culture is a blending of the Old World 
and the New. It does not make sense to speak of Mexico without taking into
consideration both the European and Native cultures. I refer you of course to
the great writer Carlos Fuentes who was once banned from the US, such was the
power and truth of his word. This is something the US should learn someday, for
the same thing applies here. It does not make sense to speak of the US, without
speaking of European, African, Asian and Native cultures. All of equal but
different values. That is the power of la raza. All these different cultures
are truly a blessing of diversity, why do we disrespect them? Why do we aspire
to a melting pot?

>The hispanos who are the most discriminated against are those from
>Spanish colony countries with the least European blood.  A friend of
>mine from Colombia with a VERY indian face said that he even has trouble
>getting scholarships from La Raza because he isn't the "right kind" of
>hispanic; he is VERY Colombian-looking.  (Those of you who know what I'm
>talking about can visualize him; tilted eyes, jet-black straight hair,
>and round face.)  

Yes, there are hierarchy of color and percentage of European blood, but no
worse than as found in the US. I think you are using terms correctly above and
it is obvious to see the problems created. La raza would normally be mixed
blood peoples, Indios would be pure blood. There are problems to work out.
There is no need to have mixed blood to qualify. Certainly pure blood Natives
should be valued and treated as equals, but mixed bloods must not be valued
less, they are the majority. So many problems to work on eh? We can do it
though. Mestizos and Indios, two pairs of opposites, but not so different
after all. And I hope you realize that before you start judging Central and
South America, you look at the US, where the problems are much worse. Tell
me about the problems a US Indio would having getting a scholarship in the US.
How about even getting a job.

>Espanoles are EUROPEANS, and are treated as such.  They have skin no
>darker than any other European culture, on the average.  In fact,
>natives of Galicia and Asturias in the north are more likely to be light
>and freckled. 

Espanoles are Southern Europeans and tend to be of darker skin color than
Northern Europeans. Also, there was a good deal of racial and cultural mixing 
during the times of the Moors.