Thread: Hispanic responses on race give more exact breakdown

Hispanic responses on race give more exact breakdown

By Haya El Nasser, USA TODAY
Updated 26m ago |

Hispanics from states with large and established Latino populations increasingly identified themselves by race — most chose white — rather than the murky "Some Other Race" that many picked a decade before, a USA TODAY analysis of 2010 Census data finds.

By Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle, via AP

Maria Gomez carries her daughter Stephanie, 4, during Cinco de Mayo celebrations last year at Varnett Public School in Houston.
EnlargeCloseBy Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle, via AP
Maria Gomez carries her daughter Stephanie, 4, during Cinco de Mayo celebrations last year at Varnett Public School in Houston.

The shift is important because having Hispanics pick one of the recognized race categories — white, black, Asian/Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native — provides a more exact racial breakdown of the nation's population.

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It also is a sign that the fastest-growing and largest minority population in the United States is adjusting to the way Americans categorize race, some demographers say. If anything, it's an indication that they are at least figuring out that the government doesn't recognize "Hispanic" as a race, but as an ethnicity.

"I don't know if it's assimilation or just learning," says Jeffrey Passel, a demographer at the Pew Hispanic Center.

Census forms ask people who identify themselves as Hispanic to also check what race they are. There are Hispanic whites, Hispanic blacks, Hispanic Asians and so on. Those who don't identify with existing race categories can pick "Some Other Race."

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In 2000, about 42% of Latinos adopted that option, and almost every one of the 15.3 million who picked that "other" category was Hispanic.

So far, the Census Bureau has released 2010 Census data on 27 states, and in more than half, including Texas, California and New Jersey, more Hispanics are choosing a specific race than 10 years earlier.

In Texas, for instance, 27% of the state's 9.5 million Hispanics picked "some other race" in 2010. That's far fewer than the 36% who did in 2000.

Similar drops happened in other states where Hispanics have been a strong presence for a long time — Illinois, Colorado, Oregon and Iowa.

In many states that have a newer or faster-growing Hispanic population, a larger percentage did not specific race than a decade before.

In Alabama, where Hispanics grew 145% to more than 185,000 over the decade, half checked "other." Just 35% did in 2000. In North Carolina, where the Hispanic population jumped 111% to 800,000, half did not specify a race. That's up from 47% in 2000.

National origin is a more important for Hispanics than race, says Roderick Harrison, demographer at Howard University and former chief of the Census racial statistics branch. That's why many write the name of their country next to "Some Other Race."

"It was a way to say 'I don't see myself in this list,' " Harrison says.

The Census adjusted the wording and layout of the questionnaire to allow Hispanics to express their national origin and added instructions to also pick a race.

"It seems to be allowing more to identify as white without feeling that they are ... in denial about their Hispanicity," Harrison says.

"Latinos don't really fit into a black-white paradigm," says Lisa Navarette adviser to the president of the National Council of La Raza, an advocacy group. "We're of all races."

Amanda Keammerer, community relations manager for the League of United Latin American Citizens, an advocacy group, says that Hispanics' response to the Census may be more race-specific because of greater outreach and education.

"I wouldn't necessarily see it as a sign of assimilation," she says. "They're confused because they thought Hispanic is a race."

Some say it doesn't matter much.

"For us, the self-identity of a race is less of an issue than 'Are you Hispanic — yes or no?' " says Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials Educational Fund.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/cen ... 9_ST_N.htm

On the census for RACE? I wrote in AMERICAN and they never questioned me about it.

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

On the census for RACE? I wrote in AMERICAN and they never questioned me about it.

I'M WITH YOU ON THAT ONE, I AM AN AMERICAN PERIOD PUTTING LABLES ON PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY NEEDS TO STOP. IF YOU ARE A CITIZEN OF THIS COUNTRY, THEN YOU ARE AN AMERICAN AND YOUR SKIN COLOR SHOULDN'T MATTER.