November 9, 2003
Going Beyond Black and White, Hispanics Choose ‘Other’
The New York Times
By MIREYA NAVARRO
Patria Rodriguez, an advertising sales director for a women’s magazine in New York, takes after her father. With light brown skin and thick,
curly hair, she says she resembles the actress Rosie Perez, but some people have asked her if she is Italian, and others have told her she looks like the singer Sade.Like many Hispanic Americans, Ms. Rodriguez does not think of herself as black or white. “I acknowledge I have both black and white ancestry in me, but I choose to label myself in nonracial terms: Latina. Hispanic. Puerto Rican. Nuyorican,” Ms. Rodriguez, 31, said. “I feel that being Latina implies mixed racial heritage, and I wish more people knew that. Why should I have to choose?”