Census Stats Show Identity Issues Among Latinos

By Michael Lopez

Let's be honest, those ethnicity boxes on the Census forms are not an easy sell. Can you really summarize your entire culture in just one word? Black, White, Hispanic, Pacific Islander…Though the government would love to use that method to keep things that simple, ethnic backgrounds require a lot more consideration.

What if you're biracial? What if you're "None of the Above?" Or what if you're a Hispanic who would like to be classified as something else? Interestingly, new stats have shown that quite a few Americans fall into that latter category. According to reports, many Latinos are now checking the boxes that say "White" and "Native American."

As far as the Native American classification goes, that may be somewhat understandable. Nearly every Latin American country has indigenous people and most families can directly trace their heritage to a particular tribe.

And judging by the Census stats, thousands already have. Since 2000, the amount Latinos who identify themselves as Native American has jumped from 407,000 to over 685,000.

Mario Garza, founder of the Indigenous Cultures Institute, has encouraged American Latinos to seek out their roots and take a stand for Native American rights.

"The Spaniards tried to destroy our civilization and history, outlawed our ceremonies, yet we are still here," Garza said. "With a bigger group of Native Americans, we have a better chance of getting federal recognition and grants."

It is also interesting to note how many Latinos label themselves as white on Census forms. The most common areas where this is occurring are California and Texas, which have seen a six percent bump in the amount of "declared" white Americans.

Theories for this shift relate to an increased amount of biracial Latinos. Data has shown that in multiracial families, children tend to classify themselves more as white than Hispanic. This is partially due to the fact that Hispanic is not a race. Perhaps if the Latino Census boxes were broken down a little more clearly, things would be different.

Robert Lang, a UNLV sociology professor, believes that in many families, the boundaries between white and Hispanic are continuing to blend. He also predicted that America’s concept of the two ethnicities will be vastly different within the next 30 years.

"What's white in America in 1910, 2010 or even 2011 simply isn't the same,” he said. “The definition of white has always been expansive. I could see the census in 2030 or 2040 dropping the differentiation between Hispanics and whites."

Let's hope those Census writers get the message soon and start creating more appropriate ethnicity boxes to reflect the changing faces of America.

How do you identify yourself on the Census form? Sound off in the comments or @MTV3.

Tags Blogger: Michael Lopez, Census, Cultura, Education, Indiginous Cultures Institute, Mario Garza, Native Americans, Robert Lang, U.S. Census