Differences Between Hispanics And Latinos

Although Hispanics and Latinos do not necessarily share a common cultural identity the United States is often times guilty of assuming that everyone that identifies as Hispanic or Latino falls under the same identity. Hispanics and Latinos who are forced to identify with a panethic name on things such as doctors forms and surveys. A few social forces that influence such generic labeling are national origin, political views, religion and language.
While most people are obligated to identify under a panethnic name many have diverse cultures stemming from numerous countries. Recent surveys show that the majority of people would rather identify with their original country of origin such as Cuba, Mexico or Mexican American. One thing that contributes to this identification preference is if the person is an immigrant or U.S born. Currently in the United States people are not given the choice to identify
Spanish and Portuguese are just a couple of the possible languages people that identify as Hispanic or Latino could speak. There are also many dialects that could differ between specific cultures and groups. By supposing that everyone can speak Spanish people that speak all different languages are stereotyped and forced to identify as Spanish speaking, despite the fact that may not actually be the case. The United States needs to do a better job of asking the individual person about what languages they speak and where they come from before thinking that they speak Spanish.
While it is great that our country is filled with many people from all around the world the United States needs to do a better job of allowing people to maintain their true identity instead of broadly categorizing people of similar cultural identity. The people that live in this country all bring something unique and that needs to be recognized and