I didn't feel attacked at all; I just wanted to point out that whiteness is actually more...complicated than what you're saying. Not sure how they do it anywhere else, but latin-americans are lumped into their category here, down to the paperwork concerning job applications and government assistance: white, black, asian, etc. all have "non-latino" within parenthesis, whereas "latino" is its own racial category.

"Ethnic" whites weren't considered white in the past (conservative irish-americans and italian-americans love pointing this out to dismiss racial issues), but they are now. White latinos aren't white here because they're not considered to have fully assimilated into WASP culture like the other "ethnic" whites did.

So, yeah, passing for white gets you some benefits in regards to privilege; as far as "engaging with whiteness" goes, I think it's more of an individual thing; a lot of white latin-americans that were born here aren't used to being told that they're white, they don't consider themselves as such; there are white-passing (or just plain white) latin-americans that engage with whiteness as well, but I can't say that it's a conscious choice on their part.

I am reluctant to call it "white", though; since that construct is cultural as well as racial.