Submitted 2 hours ago by wendyz@lemmy.ml to [deleted]
Seriously, I’ve been called an ILLEGAL for being from a Spanish-speaking country and coming to the U.S. with paperwork. Also, my friend’s weird dad saw my name on a social media account when my friend was texting me and he said I was a “typical Mexican”. I am a white European Spanish woman, why do people assume I’m automatically Mexican?
Ignorance and prejudice.
Significant portions of the demographic you identified don’t realize New Mexico is in the US, and couldn’t find Canada on a map, and you’re expecting them to realize there’s more countries than just Mexico to the south?
I’m going to go against the grain and point out that these types of people generally live in areas where there are very few foreigners. The closest country with Spanish as their native language is Mexico. Given the lack of diverse exposure to people of different backgrounds, you can see whymany might default to Spanish speakers = Mexicans. That said, they are also likely to be undereducated as well…
The US has been drowning in assholes & idiots for the longest time. Now it’s official, from the top on down.
I mean… is this really not something you can figure out on your own?
first, you’re in a country where this once happened 😬
I am a white European Spanish woman
Race is a social construct, and in the eyes and ears of your friend’s racist dad you are apparently not white (even if he might have classified you as white if he had only your appearance to go by and hadn’t seen your name).
* en.wikipedia.org/…/Definitions_of_whiteness_in_th… * en.wikipedia.org/…/Race_and_ethnicity_in_the_Unit… * en.wikipedia.org/…/Race_and_ethnicity_in_Latin_Am… * en.wikipedia.org/…/White_Hispanic_and_Latino_Amer… * en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Latin_Americans#Being…
I am going to chalk that one up to prevalence. 20% of the US population is Latin*, half of which are Mexican. The brain kind of works like that, we presume the most common in lieu of other information. If most Spanish people they interact with are Mexican, they will presume Mexican. In your case, of course, they additionally held some preconceived bias about what “Mexicans” believe or act like, and seeing that you spoke Spanish and or said things that fit that cognitive model, it strengthened their (likely largely unconscious) decision to pigeonhole you are Mexican.
(Dumb) people have a need to express the differences they see in others. I have some Ukrainian blood and live in a Western European country, and I get a lot of “Where are you from?” ("I’m from here” “Yes but where are you originally from?” “I am originally from the capital of this country, where I was born” “Yes but what about your parents, or their parents?” “Sigh…")
This is a funny question in the context of the sub, because it’s not that the question is stupid, but the answer is.
They’re incredibly stupid. They may not know of Spain, or any Spanish speaking culture. They’re also incredibly reactionary, and egocentric, which means they may not have rubbed the two brain cells together to realise there are other possibilities than what has been parrotted to them for the past few decades.
Stupid. They are very very stupid.
Racism.
Against caucasians? Dudette said she was white.
Archangel1313@lemmy.ca 52 minutes ago
When all you are is racist, everyone looks like a Mexican.