Hispanic refers to Hispania, the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula.

Thus, Spain and Portugal are the two original Hispanic cultures. Any culture that has Hispanic roots (i.e. most countries south of the US) is also Hispanic.

Anecdotally, a friend of mine was a first generation Spanish immigrant, and won a college scholarship aimed at Hispanic immigrants.

That's the point. Americans don't usually call Spaniards and Portuguese "Hispanic" any more then they call a Blond haired, blue eyed person born in America, but who's parents were born in South Africa "African American", which is to say rarely and usually in a comedic or anecdotal manner.

When he's referring to "Hispanics and African Americans" he is trying to refer to specific "racial" (insomuch as the concept exists) groups.

Yes, and nfg and I are trying to point out the downsides of using the term "Hispanic" when you mean "Latin American". The terms aren't interchangeable, even though people might try to treat them as such.

It might be an academic distinction to you, but it isn't to everybody. On the flip side of your example, while teaching in an inner city, I broke up a fight that started because a kid called a Haitian "African American".

You and I are agreeing while we explain this state of affairs to nfg, which is why I've been upvoting you.

It's far from an academic distinction to me, and that fight could have just as easily occurred if an African American had been called a Haitian, or any number of similar errors...