The terms "Latino" and "Hispanic" are often used interchangeably. In fact, we, at the Fronteras Desk, have done so in our reporting. But we recently embarked on an investigative journey to figure out what
The terms "Latino" and "Hispanic" are often used interchangeably. In fact, we, at the Fronteras Desk, have done so in our reporting. But we recently embarked on an investigative journey to figure out what those terms really mean, and which term most accurately describes the population we often assume it does.
It all started with a story my colleague Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez did a few weeks back – about a survey by the Pew Hispanic Center that found three-quarters of Hispanics/Latinos don't identify with either term.
Listener James Rogers, who's background is Brazilian, wrote in to say Hispanic and Latino don't mean the same thing.
“The story presupposed that the categories Hispanic and Latino only include Spanish-speakers," Rogers told reporter Devin Browne at his office in Phoenix, "and there’s a lot of Brazilians who would define themselves as being Latino, as well.”
Brazilians, of course, speak Portuguese. And as Rogers pointed out, there are more Portuguese speakers on the South American continent than Spanish speakers. Plus, there are more than 1 million Brazilians living in the U.S., according to the Brazilian government (the U.S. government says the number is closer to 400,000).
Rogers doesn't consider himself Hispanic, but he does fancy himself a Latino.
“I think the term Latino describes me because my ancestry is from Latin America,” he said. In fact, the term Latino is generally considered a shortened form of "Latin American."
Ok, point taken: don't marginalize the Brazilians.
That got us thinking, who else might we be marginalizing when we lump together Latinos or Hispanics?
As good American journalists, our first stop was the Associated Press Stylebook. Here are the entries for the terms "Hispanic" and "Latino":
Hispanic A person from – or whose ancestors were from – a Spanish-speaking land or culture. Latino and Latina are sometimes preferred. Follow the person's preference. Use a more specific identification when possible, such as Cuban, Puerto Rican or Mexican-Amer