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Comment by sremani | Hacker News Reader

Mexican is a nationality. I thought Hispanic was more race/ethnicity.

What do you call a citizen of Mexico?

A Mexican. For instance: Louis CK is a Mexican. Except around people that think the word "Mexican" is derogatory word...in which case you pretend that people from Mexico don't exist because that hurts their feelings.

Yup. It's funny because I find being called Hispanic/Latino in order to avoid calling me "Mexican" annoying. But I would be corrected by some San Francisco diversity leader that being called "Mexican", and now even "Hispanic", should be offensive to me.

I don't find Mexican to be derogatory in and of itself (obviously someone could use it in a derogatory fashion), but I would avoid assuming that any random Hispanic person is Mexican though. Does that mean I'm being "politically correct?"

Should I start calling every Asian person I see Chinese to prove how non-PC and what a "free thinker" I am?

Just calling me Mexican because of how I look is different. But when you know I'm from Mexico and you avoid calling me Mexican because of PC reasons, that's where the problem lies.

What? Is this for real? Is "Mexican" considered offensive? In what context? Like, there's a Japanese gentleman slacking off and someone says "Oh you're such a Mexican". Or more like people from Colombia and Spain are referred to as Mexicans?

As a Mexican living in Mexico, I found this very interesting.

> Is "Mexican" considered offensive?

In certain contexts, yes, particularly, its not uncommon for non-Hispanics to use the term to refer to any person whose features seem to suggest Latin American descent, a practice which can be offensive, for different reasons (some of which I'll note for each category) to all of Mexicans (whose identity it genericizes), Americans of Mexican descent (whose Americanness it erases, making them part of the alien "other" within their own country), and Hispanics who are neither Mexican nor of Mexican descent (whose entire identity it erases.)

(No doubt, some people -- particularly outside of those groups -- who are part of the crowd that treats offensiveness of terms as something independent of context have noted that there are some contexts in which "Mexican" is offensive to some people, and concluded improperly that "Mexican" is, therefore, categorically offensive and inappropriate.)

I wrote almost the same post as yours then refreshed, so have an upvote.

I do want to address one thing:

  it's very common for whites to use the term...

I feel this should be qualified with xenophobic or racist whites, not whites in general. Many of us are quite capable of recognizing that a Latino or Hispanic person isn't necessarily Mexican and use the correct terms when appropriate to use them at all, or inquire if we actually are interested in their nation of origin.

I've rephrased the bit you took issue with a bit differently than you suggest; I agree that it was misstated, but its not, AFAICT, universally motivated by actual xenophobia or racism, and is quite often just plain ignorance by people who wouldn't do it if they recognized that there was a difference.

Fair. There's definitely a distinction to be made between conscious and unconscious behaviors. And telling someone in the latter camp their statement is "racist" or "xenophobic" tends to throw them into a defensive mode, rather than offering a chance for a more constructive exchange. But we also need to help people (particularly white Americans because they don't experience or witness it the same way) understand the concepts of systemic discrimination as well. Where the individual doesn't do or say anything at all xenophobic or racist, but unwittingly still perpetuates the mechanisms that keep the population segregated (by location, by opportunity, or other means).

Difficult conversations to have, these days in particular.

I agree, though I find people commonly reference various nationalities as if they represented a "race" of peoples. I'd also point out that "Hispanic" is an even less genetically precise term than "Mexican".

Mexican is not precise at all. What the hell are you talking about?

I agree, I'm only pointing out that in terms of genetics, the term hispanic is even less precise because it is commonly used to describe any person that originates from a region where Spanish is predominantly spoken (i.e. covering a much broader range of peoples without regard for genetics).

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