by Daniel Cubias
Imagine my surprise.
I’m a huge baseball fan, and I take pride in knowing some of the more arcane figures and obscure facts in its history. So when I recently read a list of top Latino players in baseball history, I expected to see names such as Clemente, Marichal, and Pujols. But then I saw…Ted Williams…what?
Yes, the Splendid Splinter, arguably the greatest hitter who ever lived, was half-Mexican (on his mother’s side). And despite my love of baseball history and awareness of Latino culture, I had no idea until that moment.
That counts as two strikes, called, on me.
But Williams isn’t the only incognito Hispanic out there. Recently, Being Latino had to point out that Cameron Diaz is, in fact, Latina (her father is Cuban). And despite the well-publicized fact that Martin Sheen’s family name is Estevez, there seems to be constant perplexity over the man’s ethnic makeup.
Sometimes, the old-time celebrities, like Williams, stun us with their ethnic sleight of hand. For example, Sammy Davis Jr. was, in addition to being black and Jewish, also Latino (his mother was Cuban). Clearly, he was the first multiculturalist.
The truth is that we can’t always identify fellow members of la raza. It’s not like there are secret handshakes and passwords involved (although that’s an intriguing idea…).
As such, we might overlook our fellow Hispanics who don’t have tanned skin, black hair, and brown eyes. In some cases, we might feel deceived.
Still, let’s remain courteous. There is no need to march up to NFL quarterback Tony Romo (half Mexican) and ask him what he’s hiding, or confront actress Madeline Stowe (half Costa Rican) and demand that she be upfront with us.
Keep in mind that it works the other way too. Please don’t feel embarrassed that you thought Alicia Keys was Latina (she’s not). It happens to the best of us.
In any case, all this conjecture over who is secretly Hispanic brings up metaphysical questions and complex emotions. What are the signifiers of Hispanic culture? What constitutes authenticity? Do people have an obligation to display ethnic pride? And of course, who is a “real” Latino?
Those are tough ones to answer. But while pondering these issues, just keep one thing in mind: Vanna White is a Latina (her dad was Puerto Rican).
Now doesn’t that just blow your mind?
To learn more about Daniel, visit Hispanic Fanatic.
______________________________________________________________
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of
the author and should not be understood to be shared by Being Latino, Inc.
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
About Daniel Cubias
Vanna White…and me…incognito Latinas.
I am with you on the surprise …and I know what it is like to freak somebody out.
Interesting thing about “passing”…
A GREAT POST. It was a different time when these stars like Williams and Sammy couldn’t feel pride. What is interesting about Davis’ mom is that Sammy always said she was PRican and not Cuban since he felt her Cubanness would hurt his career.
I like this article. ‘Hiding’ seems to be in conflict with the US black-white continuum. In the way that Alicia Keys could be mistaken (mixed of black & white) speaks to me, that overwhelming non-hiding comes in the context of being just that, mixed. Now, many are not 100% pure of course of anything, and laws have a huge influence on the markers that constitute identity. So for those who may not be tan enough or a bit too tan – invisibility happens. We get in the habit of saying someone looks Latin@ but what does that mean? We have a gaze about who is/isn’t especially givin a certain context. This also overlaps to Chinese-Latin@s, where folk in the US largely don’t know exist. This could be homegrown US Latin@s and other Americans who don’t know. We just have to remember that Latin America is huge, composed of continents, we’re just as diverse as those in the US. We have ethnicities, cultures, races & mixes thereof that may or may not exist in the US (e.g., Creoles in Louisiana). Colors range, languages vary – monolingual, bilingual in Spa or Eng. An English monolingual, darker skinned, afro-latin@ will more than likely not strike the gaze of Latin@, but African-American, even if both parents are from Latin America. We’re diverse. Whereas a more visibly/lighter mixed Latin@ who is English monolingual, will more than likely get approached in Spanish even if they don’t speak it. Or they will automatically be assumed to be Latin@ than their darker skinned/kinkier haired counterpart.
thats amazing. u all hear that part of George lopez stand up where he claims River Pheonix is latino lol
Before anyone gets mad, let me just say that I am latino, half Dominican and half Spanish. Martin Sheen (Estevez) is Spanish, not latino. Spain is in Europe. We share a same language and a very interconnected past, but Spanish, is not latino. It’s like saying the French are African because so many countries in Africa speak french. Or that the Portugese are latino, because the same language is spoken in Brazil. Or even that Italians are latino because Latin actually, refers to Italy more than to any other country, and therefore, Ethiopians, because they were colonized by Italians are also latino?
Good column, and add Reggie Jackson to your list. His Mom Clara was listed as ‘Spanish’. Reggie never mentioned his Latino side, maybe it was because when his folks split up he went with his Dad and 3 other siblings left to live with his Mom. One of my nuyorican buds asserts that she was Puerto Rican but I don’t know.
You are either dumb,or an anti white racist! Spain sent millions of her people to colonize and settle in the new world. Most of us latinos have white spaniard blood in our veins. Most of us look spanisk REGARDLESS of oour racial mix. Its interesting how you stupidly tried to stack the deck in your favor by REVERSING ethnic cultural-racial origins, saying quote….”Its like calling Portuguese /Spain latino because spanish and Portuguese are also spoken in Europe. ” Wrong! Its the other way around. We are hispanics because we INHERITED(and modified) the culture and racial characteristics of Spain! Indians were not olive,tanned, or brown,as most Hispanics are…they were “red” men!