The Pew Research Center is getting into some weird racial stuff.
The group published a survey this week disassembling the racial identities of Latinos.
Pew found, among other things, that when asked to state their race or origin, most Latinos prefer to say “Latino,” “Hispanic,” or their home country. The study’s respondents also say strangers would describe them as “Latino” when “walking past them on the street.”
The survey then takes a turn for the weird when it gets into the business charting the distribution of skin color among U.S. Hispanics. In researching Latino identities, Pew presented survey respondents with a chart, which depicts a series of hands of varying skin tones, each one bearing a specific number.
FDW_1A2XsAYQjWB.pngUsing the hand chart, Pew asked, “Which of these most closely matches your own skin color, even if none of them is exactly right? (If this question makes you uncomfortable, you may skip it.)”
The question makes me uncomfortable, and I am not even Latino.
For purposes of researching Latino identities, Pew grouped Hispanics into two categories.
“The ‘lighter skin’ color group consisted of those who chose the four lightest skin colors (80%), while the ‘darker skin’ color group included those who chose the six darker skin colors (15%),” it reported.
It added, “Among Latinos, those who rated their skin as lighter were more likely to be older than 50 (35%) than those who rated their skin as darker (23%). Latinos with lighter skin were also more likely to be women (52%) than Latinos with darker skin (42%).”
As a quick aside, it’s worth noting that certain Latinos who may be a three on Pew’s skin tone sale in March, which was when the color survey was conducted, go to a five or six real fast in the summer. Skin tone isn’t static. What, then, is Pew trying to determine here, especially when its results will likely change dramatically depending on the seasons?
We’re getting into a really weird area with this stuff, ranking Latino identities based on the color of skin. What next? A graph charting the skull sizes of the different races?
I’m being a bit hyperbolic, but I’m also a little serious. That Pew thought this color chart was a good idea, as opposed to a creepy deep dive into racialism, is mind-boggling. Pew may not have intended any harm with its chart on Hispanic skin tones, but it’s difficult to imagine a world in which it won’t be weaponized for political purposes by the same race essentialists who say Asians are “white adjacent.”
Let me put it this way: The next time a Republican candidate is carried to victory by Hispanic voters in a close race, there’s a 100% chance Pew’s chart will be trotted out by angry left-wingers to claim the Hispanics who pulled the lever for the GOP are actually reactionary “whites.” Because if there’s one thing the race-obsessed crowd loves, it’s determining who is and isn’t a member of a minority group.
Hispanics have gravitated toward the Republican Party over the past several years, and we saw how liberals reacted in 2020 when Latinos handed Florida to then-President Donald Trump. The next time a Republican wins a major election due to support from Hispanic voters, I promise you the Left will argue it’s actually further proof the United States is a white supremacist country. Hispanics, you see, aren’t real minorities. They’re whites. Just look at this chart Pew published!
This will happen. I promise you that. Take it to the bank.
