The Daily Illini Online
published Monday, February 10, 2003

Latino or Hispanic: What's in a name?

Amara Enyia
The Daily Illini

For some Latino students, the question, "What's in a name?" has much significance.

Nationwide, there is an ongoing debate about whether Latinos prefer the term Latino or Hispanic. To some University Latino students, the word Hispanic is offensive.

Roberto Ramirez, a survey statistician for the United States Census Bureau, said there is controversy surrounding the use of the term Hispanic because people don't understand the origin of the word and the way it is used by the Census Bureau. Ramirez said most people see Hispanic as a race when it is really an ethnicity.

"The government will ask someone if they're Hispanic or not," he said. "Then they will ask what race you are, such as Cuban, Mexican, etc."

The University uses "Hispanic" on application forms for admissions to get into the University.

Pedro Caban, University director of Latina/Latino Studies, said the term Hispanic is controversial because it was adopted by the U.S. Census Bureau in the 1970s to apply to people who trace their origins to Spain. He said the term Hispanic was used as a substitute for the terms Mexican-American and Puerto Rican, which originally appeared as specific ethnic categories in the Census. Thus, the term Hispanic does not refer to a specific people — a people with a history, culture and language. He said it was an artificial label created by government officials that was devoid of any cultural or political significance.

Webster's New World College Dictionary from 2000 defines Hispanic as "Spanish or Spanish-and-Portuguese" and Latino as "a Latin American." But a second definition for both Hispanic and Latino in the dictionary is the exact same: "a usually Spanish-speaking person of Latin American birth or descent who lives in the U.S."

A 2000 presidential tracking poll by Hispanic Trends Inc., a national polling firm, asked registered voters which term they preferred: Hispanic or Latino. The result was something of a surprise: A majority prefer the term Hispanic.

Of the 1,200 Latino registered voters polled, 65 percent preferred Hispanic, and 30 percent chose to identify themselves as Latino. Regionally, the results were similar.

Luis Alfredo Narvaez-Gete, senior in LAS, said term preference depends on where people live in the United States. For example, he said in Texas, Arizona and other parts of the Southwest, the term Hispanic is widely accepted. These areas have very large numbers of Latinos. But in the Midwest, the term Latino is preferred.

Sergio Bendixen, president of Hispanic Trends, said he thinks people who refer to themselves as Latino tend to be more liberal and vocal than those who prefer Hispanic. He also said those who prefer Hispanic tend to be second- and third-generation citizens who have assimilated more into American culture.

Alexander Juarez, freshman in engineering, said he always thought the correct term was Hispanic. He said when he tries to be politically correct, he uses Hispanic. But he also said he prefers to be called by the country of his origin — Peru.

"I'm Peruvian, so I get perturbed when people refer to me as Mexican," he said.

Diana Rodriguez, freshman in LAS, said both terms are too broad, and she prefers to be called Mexican.

But Alma Garcia, junior in LAS, said she especially dislikes the term Hispanic because it was "made up."

Gete said Latino was a term Latinos gave to themselves, thus it has cultural significance and power. But, at the same time, Garcia said to only use the term Latino doesn't show enough of what she is.

"I prefer Mexican because that is exactly what I am," she said.

Gete said it is important to have the power of self determination, and people should have the power to call themselves whatever they want. Most students said they preferred the term Latino, but even more said they would prefer to be referred to by the specific country of their origin.

"If I had a choice between Hispanic and Latino, I would choose Latino because it has more value," he said. "But Mexican comes first."

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