The month of September is Hispanic Heritage Month in the US.
So… What is does Hispanic mean?
It depends who you ask.
If you ask people from Hispanic origin, they will agree that it is certainly not a racial identification. And that it is indeed a name used mostly inside the US. There are no Hispanics in Latin America!
US Hispanics represent 20 Spanish-speaking nationalities; they are Colombian, Venezuelan, Mexican, Cuban, Argentinean and Hispanic Americans, and so on...
There are Catholic, Protestants, Jewish, Arab, Asian, Indian, Black and White Hispanics as well as Brown.
For some it is a shared culture, a community of interests, like language, food, or music; although you will find many nuances and regional varieties across the country and among generations. You will also find that many Hispanic Americans use English as their first language and they are comfortable in both the Hispanic and the North American Culture. But still they self-identify themselves as Hispanics.
It is above all about a sense of identity. A strong sense of identity.