White Hispanic and Latino Americans

This article is about U.S. white Hispanic residents. For white Latin Americans, see White Latin American

White Hispanic
Hispano Blanco

File:MarisolDeluna.jpgFile:Raquel welch.jpg File:AndyGarcia1.jpg Notable White U.S. Hispanics: Rita Hayworth · Marisol Deluna · Raquel Welch Robert Menendez · Andy García · Romualdo Pacheco
Regions with significant populations
West Coast of the United States · Southwestern United States · Northeastern United States · Florida
Languages
American English · Spanish · Spanglish
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholic · Protestant, and Jewish minority
Related ethnic groups
White Latin Americans · Spaniards · French-Canadians · Italian · Portuguese · French · Middle Easterners · White people generally

In the United States, a White Hispanic is an American citizen or resident alien of Hispanic ethnicity who is officially classified by the United States Census Bureau, Office of Management and Budget and other U.S. government agencies as a White American, an official U.S. racial category which itself officially refers to people of European, Middle Eastern, and North African origin residing in the United States. For further discussion on the term White American, please see that article.

Hispanicity, which is independent of race, is the only ethnic category, as opposed to racial category, which is officially collated by the U.S. Census Bureau. The distinction made by government agencies for those within the population of any official race category, including "White American", is between those who report Hispanic ethnic backgrounds and all others who do not. In the case of White Americans, these two groups are respectively termed "White Hispanics" and "non-Hispanic Whites", the former being those who report ancestry from the people of Spain or Spanish-speaking Latin America, and the latter consisting of an ethnically diverse collection of all others who are classified as White Americans that do not report Hispanic ethnic backgrounds.

Demographic information

In the most recent United States Census conducted in 2000, 16,907,852 Americans, or 47.9% of the then 35,305,818 U.S. Hispanics self-identified as white, and they constituted the plurality of Hispanics in the United States. Hispanics who reported "Some other race" were the second largest group, at 42.2%. (Followed by "Two or more races" or multiracials, 6.3%; Black, 2%; American Indian or Alaska Native, 1.2%; Asian, 0.3%; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, 0.1%) Respondents in the "Some other race" category of the 2000 US Census are sometimes reclassified as white by some agencies, including the Census Bureau in its intercensal estimates, so that more than 90% of all Hispanics are considered white in those cases.

Most White Hispanics are Mexican American. Proportional to their individual Hispanic group by national origin, however, White Mexican Americans compose around 49% of the total Mexican American population. The second largest number of White Hispanics are Cuban Americans. Composing around 88% of the total Cuban American population, White Cuban Americans are the overall majority of their individual Hispanic group. Together with white Puerto Rican Americans, these three U.S Hispanic groups by national origin compose almost the entire population of White U.S. Hispanics. Spanish Americans (i.e. from Spain), and the great majority of Argentine Americans and Uruguayan Americans, are also white. Spain, a European country, is composed of a white majority, as is Argentina, Uruguay, Cuba and Costa Rica

According to the latest census data, Hispanics of other national origins, such as Chilean Americans and other South American U.S. Hispanics, are also predominantly white contrarily to the actual ethnographic profiles of their individual countries. To the exclusion of Guatemala, Bolivia, and Peru (which have Amerindian majorities or pluralities) and the aforementioned Argentina and Uruguay (both of white majorities), the countries of Hispanic America are of mestizo and/or mulatto majorities, where the white populations constitute minorities of different sizes, such as Venezuela and Chile where the minority is large, or Honduras and El Salvador where it is small.

Representation and debate

White U.S. Hispanics tend to be overlooked in the U.S. mass media and in general American social perceptions, where being "Hispanic" is often incorrectly given a racial value, usually mixed-race, such as mestizo, or mulatto.

Others accuse the U.S Hispanic media (and Latin American media also) of hiding its black and indigenous population, amid claims that telenovelas or soap operas do not reflect the color spectrum of Hispanics, as they contain a disproportionate ratio of white, often blonde and blue-eyed, actors. (Although White brunet[te] actors far exceed the blond[e] actors). However, others point out that it is the English-language media that perpetuates a stereotypical view of Hispanics that is not in agreement with reality. Since the early days of the movie industry in the U.S., when white Hispanic actors are given roles, they are usually cast as non-Hispanics. These include such actors as Puerto Rican Americans Jose Ferrer, Benicio Del Toro and Frankie Muniz, and Cuban Americans Andy Garcia and Cameron Diaz. For example, most Americans may not be aware that American movie legend Rita Hayworth was Hispanic — her birth name was Margarita Carmen Cansino — or that all-American Gilmore Girl Lorelai Leigh "Rory" Gilmore is played by Hispanic Alexis Bledel. Those who claim that Hispanic Whites are not allowed to play Hispanic roles in the U.S. say that this unfairly leads the masses of viewers to the false assumption that there are few, if any, White Hispanics. Further, many White Hispanics are categorized as non-White and misunderstood by the media as having some innate knowledge of indigenous culture, e.g., in terms of customs, food and music, which is an individual inclination and not necessarily confined to Hispanics in general.

Opposition to categorizing Hispanics and their respective national ancestries separately from other ancestries in the U.S. has been increasing, as it is seen by some as forced ethnic isolation.

Notable White Hispanics

• 
  Alexis Bledel Argentine/Mexican Parents.
• Christy Turlington Salvadorian mother
  Christy Turlington Salvadorian mother
• 
  Migdia Chinea Varela
  Cuban Parents
• 
  Cameron Diaz
  Cuban-American father
• 
  Gloria Estefan
  Cuban American
• Maurice Benard Nicaraguan/Salvadoran American
  Maurice Benard
  Nicaraguan/Salvadoran American
• Christina Aguilera Ecuadorian American father
  Christina Aguilera
  Ecuadorian American father
• Jessica Alba Mexican American father
  Jessica Alba
  Mexican American father
• 
  Cote de Pablo
  Chilean American
• 
  Michael Lopez-Alegria
  Spanish American
• 
  Isabel Allende
  Chilean American
• Julie Gonzalo Argentine American
  Julie Gonzalo
  Argentine American

White Hispanic Ancestry

White Hispanic ancestry comes from one primary source:

• Spanish

Other nationalities that have contributed:

• Italians
• Portugese
• Germans
• French
• British
  • English
  • Scots
  • Welsh
• Irish
• Swedes

Middle Easterners are Caucasians by race. Here are those who have contributed the most:

• Lebanese
• Palestinians
• Syrians

See also

Column-generating template families

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Column templates

Type	Family	Handles wiki table code?†	Responsive/ mobile suited	Start template	Column divider	End template
Float	"col-float"	Yes	Yes	{{col-float}}	{{col-float-break}}	{{col-float-end}}
	"columns-start"	Yes	Yes	{{columns-start}}	{{column}}	{{columns-end}}
Columns	"div col"	Yes	Yes	{{div col}}	–	{{div col end}}
	"columns-list"	No	Yes	{{columns-list}} (wraps div col)	–	–
Flexbox	"flex columns"	No	Yes	{{flex columns}}	–	–
Table	"col"	Yes	No	{{col-begin}}, {{col-begin-fixed}} or {{col-begin-small}}	{{col-break}} or {{col-2}} .. {{col-5}}	{{col-end}}

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External links

• Separated by a common language: The case of the white Hispanic