Way "back in the day" ... (must've been the Pleistocene Period, as I was an undergraduate), I knew a vertically challenged man by the name of Pete Batista.
He was a grad student at the time ... and a former Golden Gloves boxer.
If anyone EVER asked if he was Mexican, he would go, "I'm Cuban, not some f-ckin' spic". This was typically right before he beat their head into an absolute bloody mess.
I guess it's all a matter of perspective.