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Where is Hispain?

What is it with labels today?  Whether I’m filling out a form or application for something, or just get introduced to someone by a friend, the question always arises, are you Hispanic? 

If there is one person not to ask is if I’m Hispanic.  First of all, I was born in Texas.  I’m a Texan and an American of Latin descent.  Ask me if I’m a Latino before you ever ask me if I’m Hispanic.  Why should someone born in the good ole U S of A who served proudly and patriotically in the U.S. Army, active-duty, for over 8-years and served over 8-years in the Federal civil workforce for the U.S. Air Force be labeled Hispanic or anything else?

Sometimes when someone asks me, are you Hispanic, my answer is, “No, I’m a Texan and American of Latin blood with a Mexican and Spanish descent, but are you white?” (Insert any color you’d like here, green for Martians if you’d like.)  I’m not racist nor am I trying to sound like one, so when you read the statement above, please understand, I say it sarcastically when someone asks me if I’m Hispanic to make my point. 

First, there is no country on the map called Hispain, there never was, but you never know.  There is a Hispaniola, the second-largest and most populous island of the Antilles, located between the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico and according to Wikipedia, there was an ancient Hispania.  Speaking of Wiki, they define Hispanic as:

 “Hispanic (Spanish: hispano, hispánico) is a term that historically denoted relation to the ancient Hispania (geographically coinciding with the Iberian peninsula: modern day Spain, Portugal, Andorra, and Gibraltar) or to its pre-Roman peoples.

The term is now used to convey the culture and peoples of countries formerly ruled by Spain and still have a large Spanish or Spanish descendant presence and usually but not always, speak the Spanish language. These include: Mexico, Central and South America, the Greater Antilles, the Southwestern United States, Florida, the African nations of Equatorial Guinea,[1] and Western Sahara, and the northern coastal region of Morocco.[citation needed] Traces of Hispanic culture may exist also in Asia-Pacific nations and territories of the Philippines, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Despite their many similarities, Hispanics do not compose a homogeneous people or culture.

Now think about Wikipedia for a second, it’s an open book updated by anyone, ugh let’s say a world-wide-web population that is not homogeneous.  But for them to describe Hispanics as people from all those countries that were once ruled by Spain, then they better ask themselves why Texas has had six flags in their history and no, it’s not because we have the Six Flags over Texas theme park. And for those that don’t know their history, Texas was a republic (country) before it became a state.  And if Wikipedia’s definition of Hispanics were true, then everyone in Texas is a Hispanic. 

Hispanic is just a label and don’t even get me started on are you Mexican-American?  I’m a friggin American and I served my country patriotically for 17 years in Federal service and the oath we took was “to protect the United States Constitution against enemies both foreign and domestic.”  I’m an American, Texan and a Latino.  Yes, Latino sounds better than Hispanic. 

I dare you, I double dare you to say something, all the best, rg sends!

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