Spivey,
Let me add my two cents, firstly there is no such thing as the Hispanic Race, term coined by North Americans in the US. There may be an Hispanic Culture.Persons from that culture rarely if ever refer to themselves as hispanics or latinos. Firstly because the largest of the groip Mexicans believe they are descendants of the Aztec's and a little European.They believe they have no African blood.They distinguish themselves from the Caribbean peoples, Islanders and South American Coast as they as well as the Puerto Ricans ,Cubans ,Dominicans,Venuzelans, and Columbians know that they(Caribs and South Americans) have large bloodlines of Africans.
So if we have to use the white American convention of race then Puerto Ricans are some of them white and some of them Black the same with the Cubans and Dominicans with the amount of African blood being the most dominant in the Dominicans ,with the Cubans being next and then the Puerto Ricans. There is very little native American blood in them. The Venezuleans and the Columbians have African Blood a bit of white and a lot of native American.
Because in the Caribs there may be instances in the same family of one child looking like a so called white ,another looking like a mixed indian ,white and African and a third looking like a plain old brown skinned African American, some tend to the classification of hispanic so as not to have the family split apart, not by ouside parties but from within should they accept classification as white ,what happens to no. 3 should they accept classification as negro what happens to the white looking one and if they came from Puerto Rico,etc. how do they accept African American?
Ever hear Caribe musica from NY I know you did?African tones Ever hear Mexican music ,no relation, very little drum at all.Very little percussion.