Tuesday,
May 02,
"Latinos" The
Modern Romans, or Napoleon's Propaganda Tool ???
The
ANNOTICO Report
The Romans
history's most successful Latin tribe achieved their greatest height by
embracing many societies. From Britannia to
The concept of
So, it's quite an
historical irony that Mexican-Americans refer to themselves as Latinos, and at
the same time celebrate the overthrow of Maximilian on el Cinco
de Mayo!
By
Thomas Gangale
Tuesday,
May 2, 2006
Last summer, when California Democratic Party chair Art Torres quipped from the
podium, "I've been a Latino for most of my life", he received the
laughter his remark was intended to garner. But afterward, I got to thinking -
he's on to something here. Who are the Latinos?
The concept of
Latin America was born of 19th century French imperialism. When Napoleon III
decided to extend his empire, his government invented the term Amerique Latine as a propaganda
tool. Sure, we've invaded your country and have installed Maximilian as our
puppet, but it's OK because we are all Latins. So,
it's quite an historical irony that Mexican-Americans refer to themselves as
Latinos, and at the same time celebrate the overthrow of Maximilian on el Cinco de Mayo!
In any case,
today the term Latin America commonly refers to the Americas south of the Rio
Grande, including Portuguese-speaking Brazil, and French-speaking Haiti and
Guiana. Louisiana and Quebec are generally not included, because they have
never been independent countries and are geographically separated from other
Romance-language regions of the western hemisphere, but linguistically, there
is no reason not to include them. So, all dem Cajuns
are Latinos, too, ah yeah! And the Quebecois, eh?
Who else are
Latinos? Well, let's consider who spoke Latin before anyone else did: the
Italians. Sure, no Italian state ever established a colony in the New World,
but an Italian did "discover" America to begin with, and the Americas
are named after another Italian. Certainly millions of Italians emigrated to the Americas, particularly to the United States
and Argentina. I am an Italian-American, and I have many Argentine cousins.
There is also a strong Spanish-Italian historical connection; because a Spanish
royal family ruled southern Italy for several hundred years, I have Italian cousins
named Lopez. And unlike Dan Quayle, I can even speak a little Latin. Italus sum, ergo Latinus sum.
Can one take the
question of who is a Latino too far? I don't think so. Rather, I believe
the mistake is in defining "Latino" too narrowly.
The Romans
history's most successful Latin tribe were an
exclusive society for several centuries, but they achieved their greatest
height by embracing many societies. From Britannia to Mauritania to Arabia to
Armenia, people proudly called themselves Romans, and many of them spoke Latin,
so in a sense, they were Latinos.
Art Torres is
fortunate to have been a Latino for most of his life. I have developed my latinitas much later in life. I celebrate el Cinco de Mayo, or Quintus Maius,
and I do so not only because it is a celebration of latinitas,
but because "more importantly" it is a celebration of libertas.
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