Post: #1

I was watching a YouTube clip where George Lopez gave Jessica Alba her DNA results, like a 'what race are you' thing. I'm from England, so I wasn't familiar with George Lopez, I just stumbled on to the clip when looking up something else.

However, what really alarmed me was her reaction at being told she was something like 85% 'European' (white) and only 15% 'Native American'.
A) Why was she so alarmed, as its obvious from looking at her and B) Why was she so ashamed (you can see in her reaction) of it?

I get some of it, she doesn't want to be 'white' in the WASP sense as that represents 'the man' and isn't cool or whatever, but the audiences reaction to her being 'white' was very sort of anti-white as well. What bothered me though, was this: Aren't Americans taught history about their own continent? North and South... Mariah Carey was the same on the same show asking about where 'the Latino' part of the result was. Doesn't she know that most Mexicans are mestizos etc? The ignorance was laughable. Then you've got people like Christina Aguilara calling herself a "woman of colour"... what on earth is she on about?

Anyway, I'm just curious as to what American readers think as this whole Hispanic/Latino thing is a very North American thing, it just doesn't mean anything in Europe. Like Oscar De La Hoya, he doesn't classify himself as 'white' even though he wouldn't look out of place at all in Madrid or any Southern European city.

Post: #2

Link for the video?

Are you from England?

Oscar de la Hoya is not considered white in England. I dont know why you think he is white. Why would he say that he is white when he is not white?

Post: #3

you dont get it man. im amercian - half irish and italian and i live in mexico. im very american as my great grandpa fought in the civil war. you want to look at latin america the same way england look at their own country? shit you guys hate on scotish and irish who look like you and speak english. you are unable to understand the american experience which is not just the usa but every country south of the border.

Post: #4

Suspicious early post.

Post: #5

Video:





Her results make sense:

• Larry David 37% "Native American" and Jessica Alba only 13%?
  
  Methinks this is due to inflated Native American DNA estimates, a problem which has plagued this particular test. As far as I know Larry David is Jewish in ancestry, so I would expect a much higher "European" component.
  
  Alba is apparently half white Canadian and half Mexican American. A figure of about 1/3 Amerindian ancestry has been estimated for a sample of US Hispanics from New Mexico which would seem consistent with Alba's estimated ancestry estimate.
  
  All in all, I would say that these results tend to confirm that while the AncestryByDNA test tends to provide reasonable admixture estimates (within its statistical limitations) for actual admixed persons, it is less valuable for non-admixed individuals who are not a good match for the four chosen ancestral sample groups.

http://dienekes.blogspot.com/2010/02/lar...ssica.html

Larry David as 37% Native American is very likely completely false. He seems to have come from a Jewish family that immigrated here in the early 20th or late 19th century.

A lot of it is just pandering to an audience. Mestizo girls need a hottie they can live vicariously through. If a hottie is 100% white, with no Mestizo ties, she'll get written off as 'just another white girl.' But if she has the slimmest () of Mestizo associations, it's "Hola Senorita!" They'll even look past the fact that the role model is in fact all white.

A male example: Jorge Ramos, Mexican journalist, who people take to be a voice of Hispanics (i.e. Mestizos):



who looks a bit like...

Post: #6

Yeah I'm English. Oscar De La Hoya would be considered white in Europe as a whole. Because he is. I would estimate him having at least as much European blood as Alba, maybe slightly less, maybe slightly more. If people are going to say a legitimate African guy is black, but so is Rihanna then obviously De La Hoya is white. It wasn't a race debate anyway, I was just curious to understand why there is no clear consensus that 'Latino' isn't a race. That's like saying Lionel Messi (v.good soccer player, look him up) isn't white even though both his parents are Italians but he just happened to be raised in Latin America. LATIN America! Anyway, link is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tBTqgeMZ0s

Post: #7

(01-01-2013 04:31 PM)houston Wrote:  Suspicious early post.

I know why you'd say that, but I've been lurking for ages and was something I thought I'd get out the way as it baffled me.

Post: #8

(01-01-2013 04:31 PM)houston Wrote:  Suspicious early post.

Agreed.

Post: #9

basilransom - I tried quoting you and then deleting most of the content
as its a ball-ache to scroll through when its just a quote! However, it wouldn't let me post it so I'll just have to get your attention by using your name...
Thanks for replying to me and not just assuming I'm race-trolling.

Post: #10

Hispanics(in America at least) tend to be very ignorant about race from any hereditary perspective. Their definitions are very nebulous and tend to see "Latino/Hispanic" as being their "race". And that race in their eyes in non-white because they associate whites with being only English speaking Anglos and Nordics. IOW, to be white is to be a gringo. I know Hispanics that have skin as white as white Anglo and they still think of themselves as "people of color", whatever that means, just because they are from Mexico and speak Spanish. It seems to fly over their heads that Hispanic/Latino is not a race and is more a linguistic definition.

Part of the reason for this is the ideology of mestizaje, "we are all mestizos".

And to add to Basil's point, here is a picture of Rodolpho Acuna. He's the most prominent Chicano Studies professor in America:

Post: #11

(01-01-2013 04:47 PM)speakeasy Wrote:  Hispanics(in America at least) tend to be very ignorant about race from any hereditary perspective. Their definitions are very nebulous and tend to see "Latino/Hispanic" as being their "race". And that race in their eyes in non-white because they associate whites with being only English speaking Anglos and Nordics. IOW, to be white is to be a gringo. I know Hispanics that have skin as white as white Anglo and they still think of themselves as "people of color", whatever that means, just because they are from Mexico and speak Spanish. It seems to fly over their heads that Hispanic/Latino is not a race and is more a linguistic definition.

Part of the reason for this is the ideology of mestizaje, "we are all mestizos".

Right, I think I'm beginning to understand. But that is what I was confused about, because say if I went on holiday to Spain... Many of them obviously look more Mediterranean than me because they are and I'm not. But its not like we see each other as different races. Just different nationalities within Europe. Its just I'm going to South America later this year (Chile-Argentina-Columbia-Brazil) and I know many of them there DO consider themselves white.

Post: #12

(01-01-2013 04:24 PM)pitt Wrote:  Link for the video?

Are you from England?

Oscar de la Hoya is not considered white in England. I dont know why you think he is white. Why would he say that he is white when he is not white?

It doesn't matter what anyone thinks, its obvious he wouldn't look out of place in any Southern European country. He looks like a lot of the football players who play for the national teams of Italy/Greece/Spain/Portugal.