Are Latinos Becoming a “Third Race”?: Legal Status and Immigrant Racial(ized) Identity

• In Event: 384 - Regular Session. Race and Ethnicity: Racialization across Diverse Groups

Abstract

In recent years, scholarly debates have emerged over the social positioning of Latino immigrants in the U.S.’ evolving racial order. Some contend that the boundaries of whiteness are expanding to include Latinos as an “honorary white” racial group. Others suggest that experiences with racial discrimination are leading to the emergence of a white/non-white hierarchy in which Latinos occupy a racialized group status, similar to blacks. Much of this debate hinges on contradictory evidence that Latino immigrants are either engaging in social distance from blacks, or identifying closely with them. Drawing on 45 interviews with recent and long-term Mexican immigrants in Los Angeles, this study examines how immigrants construct meaning about their racial position vis-à-vis blacks and whites in the U.S. I find that race in the host society is interpreted through comparisons to the origin country. Moreover, legal status and anti-immigrant discrimination, whether perceived or experienced directly, are important in shaping immigrant understandings of their status in the racial hierarchy. These findings suggest that Mexican immigrants are neither moving closer to blacks nor whites. Rather, they appear to identify as a distinct “racial” group marked heavily by a precarious immigration status and blocked access to rights associated with citizenship.

Author

• Sylvia Zamora, University of California-Los Angeles