Really? They didn't let her mark the Hispanic box? I am from Argentina and am purely of European descent, so I am pretty white as well. Still, when I lived in the USA, I actually got in trouble for marking myself as Caucasian instead of Hispanic! Of course, that was only after they looked at my name and passport, otherwise they didn't even realize I wasn't American :/

They would tell her she SHOULDN'T check the 'hispanic' box. Not that she COULDN'T. Her last name was hispanic, so there were never any administrative problems, I think, just problems with what people told her. They assumed a lot solely because she had pale skin. She always was a girl of good humor, though, fortunately, and took it all in stride. She even joked about it. Once she joked about how she was going to see how a teacher would react if she tried to mark herself as 'Pacific Islander' or 'African American' instead. She never went through with it, though, so I've always wondered.

I see. And yeah, I am not surprised people assumed so much just because of her skin. People seem to forget that Spanish-Speaking countries were European colonies too :P As for what your friend wanted to do... That certainly would have been interesting. :)

waouh : you have to put your ethnicity in official documents ?

My husband has always been an 'other'. He's Chinese, Samoan, and a mix of European nationalities. Our sons are pale, light brown haired, and have green eyes but they're a quarter Samoan.

81 - Hispanic is not a race, though. It's an ethnicity.

#80, Spain is in Europe. Therefore Spanish people are Caucasian Europeans. There are Spanish people of all skin tones and coloring. As #93 said, Hispanic is not a "race".

#93, I wouldn't call it an ethnicity either... Spain and all "Hispanic" countries have tons of different ethnicities and mixtures. The denomination "Hispanic" just lumps them all together, so it's not really an ethnic group. What it is more is a group of people from or descended from Spanish speaking countries. That's about it, because "Hispanic" countries are so different from each other

Eh, to me, Latino or Hispanic are sort of a generalization of saying you originated in Latin America. I dunno. I apologize for my ignorance, though! :)

141 - You're aware that 'Hispanic' comes from the ancient 'Hispania', which includes Portugal as well, right? So, it's not just from countries that speak Spanish. I think it's pretty widely accepted that 'Hispanic' is an ethnonym. Having said that, ethnic groups can also be divided in sub-ethnic groups, which explains the differences among countries.

That's called "willful ignorance" and it's a learned trait. Some people just want to stay stupid all their lives, unfortunately.

Let me add my apology as well as a fellow american sometimes i wonder if there really is anything left to be proud of this country