@LATINAS, why is chino not a racist word?

Hola muchachas,

I’ve had a long history with the Spanish word “chino” and it's hard for me to not consider this word racist. Recently I’ve been doing some research on the word “chino”. In most of the Spanish speaking world, chino means both Asian and Chinese. Asiático seems to be too formal in some Latin countries, so chino is more normal. The interesting thing is that for other races, Spanish speakers don't use a single country to refer to a race, only Asians get that special treatment. Although, I suppose east Indians get called "Hindúes" regardless of their religion. I remember I met a white woman and she said, "We're having Hindu food" and I wanted to say, "Is there any Christian food?" Maybe that white woman wasn't racist after all. Now I know Latinas here are more racially sensitive and maybe this forum isn't the best place to ask, but I’m more interested in opinions of why it’s NOT racist. I want to hear the opinions and get a better understanding of why you don’t think it’s racist. If you do think it’s racist, can you explain why other people don’t generally consider it racist? Are there any Spanish linguists here that can explain the history of the usage of chino or personally introduce me to a linguist I can contact? I can only find one book about this but it’s related only to Mexico. Send me a private message if you think you can help with my research. People probably don't want to read boring technical linguistics in this forum.

The funny thing is that most Latinas don’t get the joke when I call all of them Mexicans and I get accused of racism. Es sólo una broma! ¡Cálmese!

Yes, this is a real screen cap:




Catchy tune involving the former president of Peru (Trigger warning to chinos: He's Japanese)



Lyrics translation:

This is the dance
this is the rhythm
that everyone loves
the rhythm of the Chinese
he's already on the sea coast
now he's on the mountain range
also on the jungle
the rhythm of the Chinese
and it should be danced like this
and you have to move like this
the rhythm of the Chinese is the rhythm of Peru 2000
and you like it
and i like it
the rhythm of the Chinese is the rhythm of Peru 2000
CHINO
CHINO
CHINO, CHINO
CHINO CHINO CHINO
CHINO
CHINO
CHINO, CHINO
CHINO CHINO CHINO

I love wearing chinos in various colours

Because you're a chino. Nah, just kidding.

I think it’s ignorant, and not racist unless said with malicious intent. They can call me anything they want while they lovin me lol

I cannot speak for all Spanish countries because I am spaniard.
Probably in Spain it is common to use "Chino" when talking about an Asian person because China is the only reference we have on Asian countries. When I was in high school we had World History and Contemporary Art as compulsory subjects. Curiously, the only thing I learned about Asia was the Chinese Revolution. Nothing more about its History or its Art. Apart from that, we must take into account that in Spain there is not the racial diversity that there is in the USA and the few Asian communities that there may be ... are Chinese. I never had a classmate or a co-worker who wasn't white. To put you in a situation, I'm going to tell you something that happened to me with my grandmother many years ago:
I was watching the news with my grandmother at her house, and at that time the girl who gave the news was black (she is the only non-white woman I saw on the news in Spain). Suddenly I see that my grandmother makes a strange face and I ask her:
-What's up granny?
- Err ... nothing .... but .... that girl speaks Spanish very well.
-Of course grandma, she is Spanish.
My grandmother's eyes widened and she said:
-Spanish??? But if she's black ...
-Yes, grandmother, that girl was born, raised and studied in Spain. It's like you and me

My grandmother was born in 1919 ... and I don't think she ever had contact with anyone other than white in her life. In her case I don't think there is racism ... just ignorance She was not "offended" that this girl spoke Spanish so well, she was surprised. I think she was never considered that a Spaniard can be of any race.

Hmmm I grew up around Latinos my whole life but I've never felt it was racist, maybe because they were my friends

Tpham91 wrote: Hmmm I grew up around Latinos my whole life but I've never felt it was racist, maybe because they were my friends

Yeah, I find black people randomly asking me on the street “yo u chinese?” to be more offensive than the chino thing. It’s the tone and intent that matter to me

way to gather the latinas of heyai, space. smart.

Latin Americans don't consider this racist, so what you expect?

defunct_user wrote: Latin Americans don't consider this racist, so what you expect?

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True that they don’t consider that gesture racist. I still like latinas hahah