I'm sorry to bother you but I stumbled at your "Hispanic or Portuguese" page and, after reading most of it I would just like to know if the Foundation has an idea on how did the "debate" ended, or at least what is the "trend" regarding classification as used by Portuguese immigrants currently.

My opinion is of little importance, but here it is, and it's shared by

*all* Portuguese *living in Portugal* that I know, and quite a few from the Portuguese communities abroad: the simple fact that there is even a debate is insulting on it's own. "Hispanic" is a catch-all term invented by Americans to classify Spanish speakers, with the probable purpose of measuring the influence of south-american (mainly Mexican) immigration. It has *absolutely nothing to do with the Roman province of Hispania*. As a matter of fact it's funny - or it would be, it it wasn't also tragic - that no right minded Spaniard or even a Spanish-speaking south-american of exclusive white descent would even dream of using the term "Hispanic". It became racially charged by the simple fact that the overwhelming majority of Spanish speakers in the US are of mixed descent. For a Portuguese of white descent - and note that I'm not talking about Portuguese nationality, but being part of the "native" Portuguese population - to put anything else than "White" or "Caucasian" is a clear sign of WASP brainwashing. White, Caucasian, European, whatever you want to call it, is not something owned by Anglo-Saxons and their likes, especially when you consider that the cradle of all European civilization and expansion has been made by Southern Europeans. To say that "were not white because I have brown hair and a tan" is proof enough of the assimilation that some Portuguese people have made of WASP bigotry based on socio-economic discrimination. As for Hispanic, following the same logic a Romanian would classify himself as "Latino", since Romanian is a Latin language. Makes sense? Of course not. It's a non-issue. Southern Europeans are of homogeneous Mediterranean stock, and the fact that Nordicists want to redefine the term "white" is of no concern for the sons and daughters of the countries that gave Europe both their greatest civilizational advances and their world expansion.

I'm extremely sad to see that in order to use "Affirmative Action" and associated nonsense Portuguese people - and also Spanish, Italian and Greek people - resort to this sort of tricks, and by doing it they are not only damaging their own image but, and this is what bothers me, the image of the Iberian countries and all their countrymen. I would not be surprised if some people, in order to gain AA access to universities other perks, start claiming that the Portuguese are Asian or African. It embarrasses me to see my nation origin and history defiled for such petty considerations, that stem from lack of knowledge and self-esteem.

It's not a matter of being better or worse: it's a matter of saying it like it is. "Latino" is *not even used by Italians*, the cradle of the Roman Empire and of Latin.

Sorry for taking your time, but this topic is for many of us insultuous to the extreme, to the point where I sometimes find myself wishing that some people would choose to forfeit their nationality when they embark on this historical revisionism so I - and all Southern Europeans - aren't affected by the external perception that this kind of "positions" provoke.

A final clarification is in order, since this "racial" topics are always prone to misunderstandings: this not not to say that being white is better or worse, it's merely correcting skewed views on Portugal and the Portuguese people. In the same way that I would correct anyone that said that the inhabitants of Angola were Eskimos or the dwellers of Copenhagen Aztecs. There is nothing intrinsically good or bad about the truth, but in this case the campaign that casts a doubt about the "whiteness" of southern Europeans is deeply rooted in an attempt by to deny those that buy into their lies their own heritage and culture and lump all the "wogs" along the rest of the immigrants, diluting their identity and pride.

Frederico Muñoz