Is the Spanish language white? The immigration debate raises vexing issues about how people see race and language

By Gayle Rogers, Pittsburgh Post Gazette

As the immigration reform bill hangs in the balance in Congress, it is worth considering the history — rather, the long histories — of some of the key issues it tackles. One of them is the status of the Spanish language in the United States and its vexed relationship to the category of whiteness, and to the majority white, English-speaking population.

“White” is shorthand for European-American, but of course it is not so simple: The memories are not too distant of the days when people of Irish, Italian or Jewish descent were discriminated against and considered non-white. But trying to argue that Hispanic-Americans are or are not white actually leads to even more problems and contradictions — ones that are bound peculiarly to their language.

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[Photo by carmen.gb]

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