'Hispanic' Or 'Latino'? Polls Say It Doesn't Matter — Usually : Code Switch : NPR: Carlos Mencia is well-known for his standup humor, which is slyly good-natured and often focuses on race and ethnicity. The 46 year-old Mencia has had a successful series on The Comedy Channel (Mind of Mencia) and draws huge crowds when he tours the country. When he was starting out in the business, he spent a lot of time on college campuses. And he learned pretty quickly that how he talked about the ethnicity he thought he shared with his audience could get him into trouble.
He told TV host Katie Couric about the scoldings he'd get as he thrashed around trying to find a name for the politicized students who'd come to see him.
"I said 'Latinos,' and they said, 'We're not Latin!' " he told Couric. "And then I said 'Chicano,' and they said, 'We're not of Mexican descent.' So I said 'I don't know what to say — Hispanic?' And they said, 'There's no such country as Hispania!' " He's chuckling now, but the memory was still clearly frustrating. "How am I supposed to describe us?" he wondered.
