Am I Hispanic if I got a Spanish passport?

Hello, An important question for recruiting into IB and other highly competitive finance roles. Of course being hispanic and all that quota jargon is very good for recruiting reasons. If I have lived in Spain over 10 years and recently become a naturalised citizen with a passport. I was born in a 2nd world country, but have a - lets say - meditterean complexion and quite good Spanish proficiency level - so I think I can get away with it. What does WSO think? Reasonable or unacceptable?


Also, bonus question, do you think I can get away with Latino/Latinx as well?

 

Hispanic and Spaniard are completely different things. Hispanics are those that come predominantly from Mexico but can be from anywhere from LatAm. The idea for having the hispanic recruitment pipeline is that, supposedly, those are kids from immigrant parents that have it hard to establish themselves in the US, work blue collar jobs, it's assumed they don't have university studies so if a kid goes to university that's a huge challenge on its own, etc.

How tf are you "hispanic" when you lived 10 years in what, according to worldwide standards, is a 1st world country ranked consistently in the top 50 countries in terms of democracy, security, income, etc. etc. 

just imagine having to go a career event for Latinos as the company's representative and tell some kids from Nicaragua that "yh, it was also challenging from me, I come from the European Union, Spain, do you know it?"

but I get your question, however, for self-respect I wouldn't even pull such move. Accomplishing something through your own merits vs. faking to be something else is always more pleasurable and it also avoids living in constant fear of being exposed or experience impostor syndrome (unless you're a psychopath and don't care how your actions reflect on yourself)

 

I disagree. Now most people in target schools who are using the Latino pipeline are indeed internationals who are full pay and respectively belong to the elite oligarchy of their respective Latino nations. Just by belonging to a EU country, I think it’s quite unfair to dismiss me as a “privileged elite” despite knowing nothing of my background. Hispanic, etymologically speaking derives it name from Hispania that is Spain , surely if my Spanish passport says I’m Spanish I belong to “Hispana”. By your logic, rich privileged African Americans who use the African American DIE pipelines to further themselves have no right to do that, and still they do.. surely I’m justified then in pursuing my own self interest. Look at the following article outlining that most minorities at Harvard are from high income families “https://www.jbhe.com/news_views/52_harvard-blackstudents.html

 
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That just proves how broken and inefficient the system is, but let's disregard the nerd etymological argument and let me lay it down in other words for you, maybe to put you on the right path and push you to do better: Don't you think that deep down your consciousness doesn't know that you were not good enough to get somewhere by your own merits and instead had to appear to be something else to get it? Do you really think that this move will let your self-perception intact? Because it doesn't, I guarantee you. This sounds esoteric, but I can assure you it's not; it has a real impact in your life long-term.

 

Not true. Spain is classed as a Hispanic country. 

Also not sure why you've just said that to be Hispanic you need to be from a poor country. That's pretty racist. Puerto rico's gdp per capita is higher than Spains so are they not Hispanic anymore?

 

No offense, but this just proves extreme ignorance/clueless about reality. The idea behind ticking "Hispanic" when companies push diversity quotas is not based on etymology, history, racism, etc. etc., the question worth asking, even in general for any change implemented by a corporation is "What aim it has and what are the ultimate intentions of it - what we aim to accomplish?". And clearly the intention is not to have more Spaniards than French or Germans, the intention is to offer more opportunities to people from Central America and Latin America in what originally where WASP institutions/banks that discriminated on blacks and Hispanics as those were also huge populations in the US back then but were seen as unworthy to work in the same jobs as white people.

 

Milk the idiotic system for anything you can get out of it. You are a Latinx and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. And so are guys named João Pedro Müller, Marcelo Nakamura and Diego Graf Hitzlsperger. If anyone presses you, your mom is Colombian. God help the Latinxs and their plight.

But honestly, if you have self-respect, probably don't do this.

 

Wtf don’t listen to these people I know like 99% of Spanish people do this shit. You’re technically Hispanic. why don’t you take advantage of something you have access to?

there are literally kids at my school that are like 15% Spanish/Hispanic bullshit and they put it on there. 
 

One time this guy with a white ass name from Greenwich told me “my great grandpa was Argentinian so I did the div program”…. Like bruh but use this to ur advantage

if it asked for latinx that would be tough.

 

My grandma and her entire side of the family is from Puerto Rico and half my family doesn't speak English, I unfortunately have a Irish last name and am white AF.

Parents taught me Spanish growing up so we could fit in at family events and embrace our heritage.

If you think I'm not smashing that Hispanic/Latino check box every time you're wrong. Unless I need to present my green card or LatAm citizenship, I see no reason why I can't cling to the smidge of interesting in my families lineage.

 

In terms of recruiting, it could be seen as a positive, especially if it aligns with the diversity goals of the organization. However, some might argue that being Hispanic is more about cultural and ancestral ties rather than just citizenship.
As for using Latino/Latinx, it's a term that's more about cultural identity and self-identification. If you feel that it accurately represents your background and identity, then you could certainly use it.
In case you're still looking for options, you might consider using an identity validation API to verify your identity, including any relevant aspects of your background for these roles.

 

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