So I was listening to NPR and there was an interview with a sports columnist who was talking about Mark Sanchez, the quarterback for the Jets. He said something to the effect that he is good for football because he is a “Latino”. It seemed hard for him to say the word and I was surprised he used that term instead of “Hispanic” which is widely misused by many people. But the next sentence he came back and said how Mr Sanchez would be a great role model for “Hispanics”. I found it odd that he used one term to describe the man himself and then another to describe an ethnic group as a whole.

So why didn’t he just say “Latinos”? Well I have a theory that white people in general don’t know what to say when referring to Latinos. When I was young, I was taught that Hispanic was the correct term to use when referring to anyone coming from central or south america. However, after taking a Chicano studies class at UCSB I learned that it should only be Hispanic if it’s someone from Spain. And even then it is an antiquated term.

I think white people (or Caucasians) just don’t know what to call Latinos and so they just revert back to what they learned as kids. I catch myself saying it from time to time and always correct myself.