Charlize Theron considers herself white because she is white not mixed-race like Kyle is. If she was mixed-race like him, I imagine she would consider herself to be a poc regardless of where she was born. If Kyle won't be seen as mixed-raced Latino, why do that retcon in the first place. And you sound a little emotional, so please calm down. We're just talking here.
They would probably say all their characters are diverse for different reasons. We've seen Batman speak like a dozen languages -- and unlike Kyle, he probably speaks them fluently, lol.
My new head canon says Kyle used the power of Ion to download Spanish to his brain...
Argentinian here.
In general, we have such a huge amount of Spanish and/or Italian ascendants (among others), that we don't see ourselves (generally) as POC. I have seen Americans confused by this: I specifically remember one instance when an American friend of mine (many many years ago) made a drawing of me as a Green Lantern, and him knowing I was from Argentina, but not knowing my facial features or skin color (this was during the early Internet age), he drew me black. I remember another instance, quite recently in fact, where a POC writer publicly discussed the support of his POC editor. The POC editor turned to be an Argentinian friend living in London, who revealed to me he was confused -and amused- at being called a POC.
Personally, I was born and lived in Argentina for 30 years, before moving to Tallinn (Estonia, in the Baltics). My great grandparents were Italian and Spanish, and I could (and do) pass as Spanish (except for the accent). I am definitely not considered a POC here or anywhere I have traveled.
Even though Kyle is my preferred GL, I still struggle to call him POC, and him being half-Mexican doesn't change that.
Great insight, SebastianS! Thank you for sharing that.
As shoehorn retconny as it is, I'm generally in favor of Kyle's stapled-on Latino heritage. 'Cause let's face it, DC really missed a golden opportunity to add some diversity when they originally created the character.
"Okay, we've gotten rid of Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps, so it's time to create an all-new Green Lantern for a new generation of 90's readers. Let's put on our creative caps and think outside the box, people. Maybe some sort of in-over-their-head Peter Parker type?"
"Great, I've got just the thing - how about a twentysomething white guy from New York City?"
"Peter Parker was supposed to be a metaphor, Ron."
"Ooh, then you're probably not going to be happy when you hear what I've got in mind for his girlfriend."
I've grown to like Kyle over the years (mostly thanks to Grant Morrison), but man, that rollout was, um, bumpy.