Tek mentioned the North American need to keep whiteness pure
the Latin American means of handling race was to dilute blackness by creating a gazillion racial classifications. Colombia for example had more racial classifications than years of existence (150+) by the time it celebrated the 50th anniversary of its colonization. That's how we get people like Sammy Sosa claiming he's "indio" or see situations like the mass deportations of people of Haitian descent in DR, that built in valve to escape our African heritage.