RateItAll: The Opinion Network

yeah what randyman said! he put it rather nicely. My fathers family is german/austrian descent. my moms on the other hand from the best we can deduce has roots in Puerto Rico and Trinidad.She was adopted as a child,so tracing back proved to be a challenge.I had to do this for a school project,it was quite interesting.

My history class for told me about this part of my heritage. Thank you Cortes.

I went ahead and gave myself a five and here's why. Latin or as I understand it here to mean, Latino or Hispanic, is by default is not pure. My own heritage is proof of this. I am Mexican by way of Spanish and Indian, but I also have German and French (from both parents) in me, as many Mexicans do. Some Mexicans and other Latinos have Arabic blood, the majority of it Lebanese (think Salma Hayek), many have Italian, but they are 100% Mexican. It gets complicated. Look at it this way, you can be a mixture of anything and still be 100% American. To complicate matters, Cubans Puerto Ricans and many South Americans are somewhat racially different than Mexican due to African-American roots. All are united by the Spanish language and yet they are not so united. Being pure Spanish might not really mean being so pure, if you consider the Basque, which are Spanish (This might be part of my Spanish heritage) yet culturally different than the rest of Spain. Then you have to consider the Romans and the Moors, both of whom left their mark on Spain. So well, I might be a mixture of many things, I am 100% Latino as well as 100% American (I had to throw that in). Hence, the five. Update: I can't authenticate this in my own family yet, and I am researching it. Part of my fathers side may or may not be Sepherdic Jews. Many Spaniards hid their Jewish oeigins for fear of persecution and/or death. They outwardly practiced Catholicism, and privately held to their Jewish beliefs They were called maranos (pigs) by the Spaniards, at that time. I always remember my father bringing out Matzo bread near Christmas time and some Jewish wine, it was almost a ritual with him.. He did this without fail every year. So you see, you can even be Jewish and still be Latino.

Does being 25% Mexican count?

I guess that "Latin" is meant to include Italian as well - if so, this definitely is the category I belong in. Italian on both maternal and paternal sides, as far back as I have been able to determine.