In the last census something like 80% of mainland Puerto Ricans put white for race. Most of the rest put indian although there is a question to whether or not the indians were killed before they had any children with the conquerors. I must say that not 80% of mainlanders are white, which tells you something about the stigma there.
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It does tell something about the stigma there, and sadly that sort of latent racism is pervasive throughout latin america. Many "white" hispanics/latinos(pick your term) undermine their indigenous roots or all together deny any heritage that would be associated with the "indios". The fact is that a social hierarchy exists that is based on the pigment of your skin, and or the degree of your perceived "europeaness". I have traveled to peru, ecuador, chile, argentina, and mexico. You will find the same thing, extreme disparity in wealth that correlates to racial ancestry and skin tone, "Whites" generally are wealthiest, mestizos are next, followed by indigenous groups last (to a much lesser degree in argentina & chile, because of predominantly european ancestry).
I tend to reject any sort of definition of what it truly means to be hispanic, but to me language and identifying culture are the two defining factors. I wouldn't consider a pure mayan from mexico as hispanic, firstly because he/she would probably speak mayan, and secondly they would identify primarily with their indigenous traditions, which are unique in of themselves. The same would go for a pure quechua speaking indigenous peruvian. But to an American what would they be? Probably hispanic. In the same sense, I feel purely indigenous peruvian or indigenous mexican can be considered hispanic if that is the culture and language they have adapted to, which many have.
Yes, there are many "white" cubans, peruvians, mexicans, puerto ricans, colombians, ect, and many live in the US. There are also many mestizo/primarily indigenous hispanics as well (primarily mexicans, in CA, TX, NM ect) No one group owns the identity "hispanic", but due to their vast numbers, the identity of hispanic has become synonymous with the migrant worker/laborer/illegal alein, which more often than not happen to be dark skinned. But this does not make them more or less hispanic.
As one who proudly shares both white and indigenous roots I promote any pride in hispanic culture, and embrace all my latino/a brothers and sisters no mattter their skin color.
So there you go, that is my spiel on race,color,and hispanic/latino culture, and I know it probably doesn't belong in this forum, but who cares?
PS: I forgot to mention afro-latino's, they also exist in practically every latinamerican country, including peru.
