#WhatLatinoMeansToMe

As you may know, September is Hispanic Heritage Month. On some social networks, one of the trending topics is #WhatLatinoMeansToMe. I figured that I would write about this and what being Latino means to me. First off, I have been asked many times what I prefer; Latino, Hispanic, Mexican, Spanish. I myself don't focus on labels. Speaking in a literal sense, I am Mexican. I am Latino. I am Hispanic. I am not Spanish. Only reason I am not Spanish is because I am not from Spain. Latino means a person of Latin American origin or descent. Hispanic means a Spanish-speaking person living in the US, especially one of Latin American descent. I qualify under both since I am from Mexico and I speak Spanish. I really don't understand why some people prefer one term over the other. Only situation I can think of would be if you were from Brazil. Brazilians speak Portuguese so that means they are Latino. Like I said I am not big on labels. What Latino means to me is diversity, color, passion, and hard work. Latin culture is so diverse that you get a great range when it comes to characteristics. You can literally meet a person who is blonde, fair skinned, and blue eyed who only speak Spanish. Just as there are many fair skinned people, our culture also has darker shades that could be mistaken for African-American. For example, Dominicans, Cubans, or Puerto Ricans. Just as many stereotypes are on point, many of them are far from the truth. Just like Americans, each country has regional accents. Many times we use these accents to identify where a person is from. It's like how people from the north can easily identify someone from the south or someone from the north east and vise versa. Many are passionate and joyful. Many are hard working people who's only goal in life is to be able to provide a comfortable life style for their family. Just like every culture, we have people who ruin our image. Like I said, all cultures have people who ruin it for the rest. That's where all the negative, racist comments come from. When you here any insult about your race, or cultural background it's always based on the negative side of that race, culture. 
Love, family, passion, and perseverence are also things that Latino means to me.