the many diffferent colors of Colombianos

Budd Moena says on Aug 27, 2005, 13:52:

Rainbows of Colombia I sit on the side lines and read the comments. But the more I read the more embarrassed I am to be an American. I would like to travel to Colombia someday but then I would just be labled another old,bald white guy looking for young Colombian women.

morphus says on Aug 27, 2005, 14:33:

i have been called Norte Americano in Colombia. Mexico is in North America. maybe Colombians are confusing me for a Mexican too :-)

Budd, if you go bald, you better go to Colombia. and if you get real old and ugly, i hear South East Asia is good too. once you go bald in the U.S. its all over for meeting an attractive woman. hell, i'm 30s with hair and its almost over :-)

utopiacowboy says on Aug 27, 2005, 19:15:

Excuse me but we have our share of Latin Americans too. Where I live is over 60% Latino. The US is one of the biggest Spanish-speaking nations on earth. So get off your high horse.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

desdeeastvan says on Aug 28, 2005, 00:00:

re: the many diffferent colours of mexicans I hear you man. Everywhere I went in latin america people asked me what state I was from. When I answered that I was from Canada, they asked what state that was.... It became even more confusing when I tried to explain that while I was born in Canada, my parents are from Europe. Or that in the city I life in, more then half the kids in grade school don't speak english, but mandarin and cantonese.

kernow62 says on Aug 28, 2005, 04:13:

In the US my wife has been asked if she is German, Russian, etc. but never Colombian. Apparently many in the US have never thought of Latin people to be particular light skinned. Those that are well-travelled of course know this. I suppose some Latin people could make the same mistake but once she utters a word or two of Spanish she is recognised as Colombian by most Spanish speakers.

aztec says on Aug 28, 2005, 07:10:

Different colors My own U.S. family seems surprised to learn there are blond and blue eyed Colombians. My mother who was in her nineties when she died this year thought most Colombians were black.

This only documents the woefully low standards of our public schools. Unfortunately, we are not taught much about the rest of the world.

carolain11 says on Aug 28, 2005, 07:26:

reality check, everyone I'm not making up this story:

I was born in Bquilla and (to many people) I look jewish, spanish, new yorker (I swear they've told me that), since I've got green, droopy eyes, light skin and very dark hair, a big nose and thick black eyebrows... I was once riding a taxi here in Bogota, and the taxi driver, who was very kind and polite btw, tried to strike up a conversation, when he heard my accent he asked me where I was from, when I said "Bquilla", he was like "No way, but you have green eyes and light skin!!!" I truly felt more amused than upset and replied: "can you believe that!! we even have blondes over there!!!"

the whole purpose of this story is to tell you that it happens not only over there but over here too, I've been told a hundred times here in bogota that I don't look like barranquillera at all, and I think it's plain stupid, even in barranquilla, some barranquilleros themselves will make you feel as if you're not a "real" barranquillero, because you're not dark skinned or have curly hair or dark eyes or a big butt, or all of those together, it happened to me with my neighbors they used to call me "cachaca" all the time!

morphus says on Aug 28, 2005, 09:43:

there are not as many white Latinos migrating to the U.S. they must be living ok in their home countries. most of the Latinos that come to the U.S. are of the darker skin variety. very rarely do you see a white or mestizo Mexican in the U.S. most of the ones that come are pure indigenous. you don't see many Oscar De La Hoya or Julio Cesar Chavez types. at least here in New York anyway. white Latinos enjoy the best of both worlds in the U.S. they blend in with white Americans and are looked up to by other Latinos. i knew a Cuban guy that had blond hair and blue eyes. he looked Irish and spoke English and Spanish perfect. i noticiced the way Latinos would treat him different. they were amazed that someone so white was speaking Spanish probably better than them.

Michael B says on Aug 28, 2005, 11:56:

Real life ignorance This has happened several times to my ex-wife (from Costa Rica) and our children. They will have to fill out some mickey mouse form so that who ever is collecting it can get their PC-minority points. They check the 'hispanic' box, the form collector looks over their form and asks "Are you you sure you filled this out right? You don't LOOK like a Mexican".

Nothing against Mexicans, mind you, I used to live there and darn near married one, the point I'm making is to show the ignorance of people in the US who think that all 'hispanics' are 'Mexicans'.....except Cubans, of course, who all look and speak like Rickey Ricardo.

cachacogringo says on Aug 28, 2005, 12:43:

o.b.w.m iso colombia beauty... yo man, I am a "GRINGO" too and it dont matter what ya got on top..
them women want a man who is honesto, fiel, romantico, duro pero suave, con un futuro ... may i pursuade you to get your passport call up AVIANCA airlines "the airline of colombia" go to Medellin for $350.00 r/t u.s. from Miami and meet you a "R E A L W O M A N"
my wife is from manizales UN PAISA!!! she loves my sons she cooks beter than MOM ETC... for more info w.b.

RolaParaTodaLaVida says on Aug 28, 2005, 19:35:

GringodeLouisia... your point?
Where do you live? in the states...which state?
Where is your family from? What generation are you?

Widen my perspective...boy oh boy if moving from one country and living among a variety of different cultures, religions, languages doesn't count...tell me what does?

My point of view comes from being an immigrant at the age of 9 and living in white America for 23 years of my life. My early years consisted of going to school with mostly Italian/ Americans, Irish/ Americans. The kids were not immigrants like myself, but tenth generation Americans. Some of their family history goes back 100 years. Back then their relatives experienced fitting in to America and learning English.
That’s my point. I am not taking away anything from any other Latinos in America or Insulting any Americans, but my point was from appearances many make the judgment that we are all from one country. They call America the Melting Pot. And it could be seen as such from a distance, but we are not all blended as well as we may think. It is a great learning experience to come in the U.S and learn the culture of “Americans� as well as from other countries that also share the American dream. But its still evident that being Latino in America is still far from being understood and respected to its full potential.
I am very proud to see every day more and more Latinos involved in bigger things in the business world and beyond.

Miguel says on Aug 29, 2005, 09:55:

Rola Since GringodeLouisia's Louisiana is being pounded by huracan Katrina, I pray he is safe somewhere and not currently able to reply to your post.
Your comment about latinos not being understood or respected "to it's full potential" we can debate. I am sure our native blacks have a little input, as well. The "melting pot" does not melt as well as it used to...

cam0940 says on Aug 29, 2005, 10:16:

Rola What you have to realize, and other Colombians that are no longer in Colombia, is that you aren't the majority anymore. So, in the context of this discussion, you're a lot like regular Black folks in America.

Give you an example, one PBH poster wrote that she didn't see a Black person until she was 18. Am I to blame her if she doesn't understand or respect being Black? All she has to go on is media, maybe if she read something somewhere, but most likely what's she's heard from the people she DOES interact with.

Apply that to Colombians. You all have written about how few and far between Colombians are outside of Colombia. There's an active thread even now trying to find out where you all are. So if the people in your area--if the only latino people they've ever had contact with are Mexican, can you really blame them for not understanding or respecting what your heritage is about? It's a little unrealistic.

What you can do is, when you come into those situations, represent Colombia well. After they interact with you, your impression unfortunately is probably going to speak for a whole people. That's also unfair, but that's how it goes. So five years from now, this person you interacted with is in a conversation and someone's alleging that all Colombians are murdering drug dealers. Thinking back on the time he/she interacted with you he/she can say "Well, I don't know, I met this girl named Rola once and she seemed nice enough." And that's how you change public perception over time.

caslug says on Aug 29, 2005, 11:16:

ROLO Pls Clarify.. "But its still evident that being Latino in America is still far from being understood and respected to its full potential." - Rolo

What do you mean by understood? That fellow americans should be able to tell what part of latin america you're from? That's asking too much of any citizen, heck most americans probably can't even name our 50 states! Let alone foreign countries!

What do you mean by "full pontential"? That latino american should have all available options open to them in education, business, or other venture? Well, for most part(if not all) they have those options available currently. They are in every facet of US society from government to entertainment and in many top positions, just like other american groups.

As for not a lot of COL in US, you're correct. But that has everything to do with history and geography. Mexico is next door, so poor mexicans can simply walk across the border to the US, they have been doing it for 200 yrs now. It's ALOT harder for POOR COL to get to the US, it's a LOONGG WALK or SWIM.

RolaParaTodaLaVida says on Aug 29, 2005, 16:34:

MUST READ THIS ARTICLE people judge by what they see... there is a certain stigma that is set at first sight. see anything relating to "Farmingville, Long Island New York" and what goes on their with the "day workers". While they try to find work, they stand on the corner of parking lots and although some may act immature others are there waiting to find work for the day. While people drive by they see this men as a waste of time. They never know where they came from and what their story is.

MUST READ THIS ARTICLE
This has gone to the extend that a Latino family was sleeping one night and their home was set on fire by American teenagers. Why?...because ? read the article
http://forums.yellowworld.org/archive/index.php/t-8529.html

RolaParaTodaLaVida says on Aug 29, 2005, 16:37:

Yes, if one person doesn't change another’s point of view things will never change. And I can say I have tried and have made change in many of my friends and co-workers point of thinking about immigrants and Hispanics in America.
The comment about "full potential" is that Americans look at the work that most immigrants have to do to survive in the U.S.A but without knowing that they may have been teachers, doctors, dentist, college educated, and so on. Because of the language and a variety of regulations some end up working in housekeeping or other blue color work.
And that maybe just one of many things that immigrants have to struggle to in order to receive respect and appreciation.

To ask anyone to be open-minded is not asking too much. Asking for everyone to be aware of everything is a bit too much. Not everyone would actually even enter a website like this one. Some people might not even eat different foods. and yes you are right some Americans may not know things like Alaska is a state or that Canada is a next door neighbor and a country in itself.

Believe me... living in the states I can understand the struggles but I can never say I know fully what another group has gone through. My stress or discomforts does not compare to what any African American or Jewish American (plus many other races) have and is going through at many points of time. But with all of that said I have been called a spic...indirectly

A group of co-workers were talking about a warehouse manager and that he was a real "spic". They were talking to me and then realized and said ..."oh but I didn't mean anything towards you, you know a "spic" not you"
Some how they thought it was still ok to bad mouth a Latino to me because I wasn't what they thought a "spic" was. I told them I didn't agree with them and no matter what that stereotype affect anyone in Latino community.