Who are the Hispanic/Latinos?
It is a great error to assume homogeneity among Hispanics. Hispanic/Latinos have diverse origins. Hispanics come from more than 21 different countries. While there is much that Latino culture shares in common, the diversity of origin means there is also great cultural diversity that ministry emphases must take into consideration. The label Hispanic was created by the US Federal Government in 1970 in an attempt to provide a common denominator to a large, but disparate, population. The term is not used in everyday parlance by Latinos, although most people understand its intent. Hispanics are not a racial category and may, in fact, be of many-usually mixed-race backgrounds. While each of the Hispanic subgroups in the US has its own distinctiveness, there are a number of commonalities which serve to unite the larger group: the common colonization experience under Spain, the stress on the importance of a large, extended family, the cultivation of personal relationships and alliances, defini
