“There seems to be a mistake here,” the lady at the driver’s license office said.
“What’s wrong?” my wife asked.
“Your son marked that he’s Hispanic.”
“He is. He was born in Argentina. I’m Argentine.”
The lady looked up in surprise, then blurted out, “You don’t look Hispanic.”
For those of you that don’t speak the language, let me translate. The woman meant, “I’m sorry. I’m so ignorant that I think Hispanic means Mexican.” [Interestingly enough, it was 20 years ago when we had our major run-in with cultural ignorance, and it was also at the driver’s license office. But that’s another story.] If you don’t show features that reflect Aztecan or Mayan blood, then you just don’t look Hispanic to people like this lady.
From what I can tell, this problem is bigger in Texas than in other places. But you’d be surprised how many people tell my wife she doesn’t look Argentine. My usual response is, “Have you met a lot of people from Argentina?” Right now, I have the perfect ready examples. There are six Argentines playing in the NBA (at least in 2007-08). Two of them are blond, with German last names (Herrmann, Oberto). The others have Italian last names (Ginobili, Scola, Delfino, Nocioni). And none of them would fit this lady’s view of “Hispanic.” [If you include the other two Argentines that have played in the NBA, you do get Sanchez, which might sound a bit more Hispanic, but you also get Wolkowyski).
Hispanic is an ethnicity, not a race. Hispanics are as culturally diverse as are English speakers around the world. And my two beautiful kids are Hispanic, more so than many, since their great-grandmother was actually born in Spain. A lot of Hispanics can’t claim that.
Texas DPS, isn’t it time you hired some culturally-sensitive people? Nah… why mess with tradition?