Octubre / October 2004 Vol. 2 Número / Issue 7
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Letter to the Editor Dear Enrique: Is there a reason why you use the term "Hispanic" instead of "Latino" in announcing the radio program in Spanish that continues its run on the UGA radio station? No doubt you are aware of the tensions that exist around the use of these two terms. My sense is that the more progressive folks use "Latino" while the more conservative ones use "Hispanic." Unfortunately, the use of identity terms is not an idle issue but one which impacts fundamentally on our current and future social institutions. As someone who edits Eco Latino, a magazine that acquaints Athens to the Spanish-speaking community, you might already know that in 1982 the Los Angeles Times, under pressure from the local community, ran an editorial about the term it would henceforth be using to refer to "the Spanish-speaking population." True to its word, since 1982 this major newspaper has been using only 'Latino/a" in its articles and editorials, the term that the leadership of the community had chosen as the identifying term for itself. As you well know, the L.A. community is the largest Spanish-speaking community in the entire country, made up primarily of Mexicans, but also inclusive of Central Americans and people from many other Spanish-speaking countries. Everyone is included in the term "Latino/a." Just about every semester, I ask my students at UGA to note the term that their local media uses to refer to this new population, the fastest-growing in the South. It appears that newspapers and other media in Atlanta and other areas have not committed to either term; thus they vacilate between "Latino" and "Hispanic." From this vacillation, one might conclude that these institutions are fundamentally not yet "in touch" nor comfortable with the demographic changes of the last decade. Perhaps because these changes were rapid and unexpected, our social institutions are a little vague about how they feel about "la raza," and this shows up in the inconsistency of identifying terms which are being used in the media. Yet terms of identity used in a particular moment often wind up leaving their impact over the long-range. Take for example a term I just used, "la raza." In Latin America, "la raza" does not refer to "the race" but to "the people," the indigeneous people of the New World, a notion celebrated on October 12 as "El Día de la Raza" throughout Latin America. For some in this country, however, "la raza" is a left-of-center term of identity which came into popular use during the Chicano Movement in the late 1960s as a way of priviledging the Indian roots of the culture. While that particular connotation may not be currently in vogue, the repercussions of the late 1960s term can still be found at San Francisco State University which houses "La Raza Studies Program," the first academic program of its kind, which came into being under the strong persuasion of the Chicano/Latino Civil Rights Movement. Through negotiations between student activists and institutions of higher education, other programs within the California systems of higher education came to be known with a different and perhaps more "acceptable" name: the "Chicano Studies Program" of the Departments of Ethnic Studies. In Texas, these programs or departments were established as "Mexican American Studies Programs" or "Departments of Mexican American Studies." Similarly, in the East Coast, similar programs were founded as "Puerto Rican Studies" or 'Dominican Studies" to address the needs of local populations. Today, newer programs are emerging at institutions of higher education throughout the country using the rubric of "Latino/a Studies Programs." In Georgia and in other areas in the South, institutions are also beginning to conceptualize their own future educational programs aimed at incorporating the needs of a changing landscape. It is important that from their initial steps, these programs be conceptualized as "Latino/a Studies Programs" and not as "Hispanic Studies Programs." "Latino/a" is a term that more suitably reflects the multicultural perspective of our era, a perspective which addresses many variants and realities, including those of race/ethnicity, class, gender, and language difference. "Hispanic Studies Programs" in earlier days were closely connected to Spanish Departments and their close cultural ties to Spain and its consulates in the United States. Our present social reality has changed and while there is no need to downplay the goals of "Hispania," presently we need to address more closely the culture and the reality of recent transnational migration from Latin American into the South. The more the term "Latino/a" is used by media people, such as yourself, the more we become accustomed to an exciting reality that awaits us in the future. Sincerely, Roberta Fernandez		Editor's Reply Dear Roberta Fernandez, I prefer to use the term "Hispanic" because it relates to our common language "Spanish." The word Hispanic comes from Hispania, therefore, Spanish. It includes everybody who speaks Spanish or comes from a Spanish-speaking country. But it is also true that there are people who are descendants from Spanish-speaking immigrants who don't speak Spanish anymore, but I still group these people as Hispanics. The word "Latino" to me includes other countries such as Italy, France, Albania, Rumania, and others where their current language derives from Latin. They are "Latinos" as much as we are and therefore I rather not use this term. I don't have a problem using either term. Some people make a big deal out of it, but I don't. If someone calls me Hispanic or Latino, either one is fine with me. I am Spanish from Spain, but here in the United States all Spanish-speaking people and their descendants must be put in one group. It is up to everyone to use the term they better identify with. After all, we all come from different countries, therefore we are neither Latino nor Hispanic, we are Mexicans, Argentineans, Colombians, Venezuelans, Spanish, and so on. We don't group people from the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, South Africa, Canada, and so on in the same group just because they all speak English. If a reporter for Eco Latino writes an article and uses the term Latino, I won't change it to Hispanic. If that writer feels more comfortable using the word Latino, I'll respect that decision. After all, by using the word Latino, he/she is referring to the same people I'd call Hispanic...the same group, two different words. Thanks once again and please keep reading Eco Latino. Enrique Carrión Editor
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