I am not Spanish, not Hispanic, not Cuban or anything like that

        At present, Brazil has a population of about 190 million people. Of these, more than half are white (which includes Portuguese, Italian, Polish etc... individuals), just fewer than 40% are mixed black and white and less than 10% are black. Approximately 80% of the population ascribes to the Roman Catholic faith. This is due to the intense Portuguese occupation of centuries ago. These European settlers taught the indigenous tribes Catholicism, built churches and established traditions and customs that originated in this church. Also due to the mass Portuguese settlements during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, Portuguese is the official language of Brazil. With such a heavy european influence in Brazilian culture, they can have light skin, hair and eyes. Mixed with the indigenous tribes genes, the Brazilian peoples can have an appearance ranging from white skin, brown skin to black skin and eyes from blue, hazel and brown. Their hair also varies since african hair is distinctly different from european hair. 

Brazilians in the U.S typically identify themselves with white or black races, rather than hispanic or latino. Researchers note that Brazilian immigrants tend to identify according to their pre-migration ethno-racial schemas. Mirroring 1990 census data, when asked to identify racially, Brazilians largely report that they are ‘Brazilian’ or ‘white’. (marrow 440) In Brazil your race is determined by your socioeconomic standing, so a black man who is a politician and very wealthy would most likely be considered white despite his skin color.

Brazilians are very reluctant to be considered hispanics, or to be associated with Mexicans or mestizos in any way. Indeed, the prevailing sentiment shared by most Brazilian immigrants in the US mirrors that of 17-year old José: ‘I am not Spanish, not Hispanic, not Cuban or anything like that. I am Brazilian’.  (marrow 440)  Many Brazilians avoid the american stereotype of the mestizo, dark skin and dark eyes because they do not want to be associated to being Mexican. Brazil’s heritage is very different from Mexico’s, Brazil has more of a european influence and has a very diversified culture. Brazilians take such a strong stand again being called hispanics because of what hispanic stands for: “Congress’s inability to state what it means by terms such as ‘Hispanic’ or ‘Spanish origin’ has been well documented in the legislative history behind the Civil Rights Acts. When enacting Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, even Chicano representatives used multiple terms to describe the same group in a single paragraph. Nonetheless, a thorough appraisal of the legislative history leads to the conclusion that members of Congress usually meant ‘Mexican American and Puerto Rican’ when they discussed ‘Hispanics’ or ‘Spanish speaking’ people. (1998: 57)” (marrow 455) Today, Brazilians are generally referred to as Latinos, or Latin Americans. However, ‘Latino’ identifications rest on the demand that ‘Latino’ not be homogenized or reduced to ‘Hispanic’ (which respondents believe is someone who speaks Spanish or comes from a Spanish-speaking country).  (marrow 443) Brazil is part of Latin America, hence the acceptance of the  “Latino” label among Brazilians in the U.S. 

Even though some Brazilians have accepted the title as a Latino, many are still Brazilian with white or black heritage and aren’t as much indigenous, latin american as others. These peoples have a hard time classifying themselves in the U.S, many times they will just choose white or black and bypass the hispanic/latino section altogether. Thus, the generational picture of Brazilians’ self-identifications supports a trend in which Brazilians become less rather than more Hispanic/Latino as time passes, precisely by becoming more rather than less American. (marrow 448) 

The term, Hispanic, refers to persons of Latin American, Chicano or Puerto Rican descent who live in the United States. It is important to note that the Hispanic label does not explicitly imply belonging to a particular racial group. In fact, Hispanics in the United States are a racially diverse group of people (Rodríguez 2000). Most Mexicans identify with the label Hispanic or Latino, rather than black or white, because they are typically Spanish speaking and of Chicano decent. In Mexico, the predominant faith is Catholicism and has been since the Spanish brought the idea from Europe. The official language in Mexico is Spanish.

Many Mexicans that immigrate to the U.S remain Spanish speaking and have caused some issues with English speaking citizens. Near Miami, FL we saw strikes in a bilingual town, to reestablish English as the single official language in the town. Many of the workers that come up are dark skinned, dark haired, have dark eyes, and speak only Spanish, all of which characterize the Mestizo stereotype. Due to the prevalence of unauthorized entry into the U.S from Mexico, the Mexican appearance has been associated with low wage agricultural workers, and a lower standard of life. The Mestizo stereotype has caused a lot of anguish for Mexican-Americans who have immigrated into the U.S legally and have obtained decent jobs and learned English. Intra group issues arose when well educated Mexican-Americans started getting discriminated against for having an appearance similar to a mestizo; It became the legals vs. the illegals. (Jimenez) Whiteness (anglo) is somewhat ranked by socioeconomic standing based on the premise that blacks are considered to be anglo because of their U.S citizenship. Many Mexicans favor white features, such as blue eyes over brown eyes, so that they can be less stereotypes into being a mestizo and more associated with the anglo race.

While Mexicans are battling with being classified as a mestizo or a mexican-american, the Brazilians are battling being classified with a culture on a completely different continent. Brazilians are from South America, yes it is an America, yes they can technically be considered Latinos, but are they really that similar to Mexicans? In Mexico you have the heritage from indigenous tribes mixing with european heritage, but in Brazil you have a large mixture of european (many countries, not just spain), african and indigenous. The Brazilian people can look like they are white, mestizo, black, or any combination between. Their culture is also vastly different because they speak Portuguese, not Spanish. Brazilians do not like to be called Hispanic because they are not a Spanish speaking country, which partially defines being Hispanic. Mexicans, being from a Spanish speaking country, are inherently accepting of the label Hispanic or Latino. Although, there will always be the issue of Mexican-Americans trying to americanize themselves and distance themselves from Hispanic and Latino roots. Brazilians differentiate themselves from Hispanics/Latinos using the same three logics of Hispanic/Latino identification that often group them together with Hispanics/Latinos – linguistic, geographic, and racial.  (marrow 450) One similarity between Brazil and Mexico is that they both are predominantly Catholic, a relic from the european immigrants.