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Census questions on race???

Mike's WifeMike's Wife
in 3rd Trimester

Hi ladies - haven't been on in a while so I apologize if this has already been discussed.  I was left not knowing what to fill out in certain questions on the census form.  

For me: are you of Hispanic origin?  Easy one - Yes, Dominican.  My parents are from there, I was born here.  

Please select your race: white, black, asian, indian, etc, etc.  Huh?  I'm Latin American and I don't consider myself to be black or white.  This was so strange!

For DD: are you of Hispanic origin?  Hmm...well is she or isn't she?  I am but DH isn't so I guess 1/2 of her is of Hispanic origin.  I left it blank.  

This is 2010.  We're a very mixed country these days and I feel like the options don't represent us.  Anyone else have a hard time filling out the form? 

 

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Re: Census questions on race???

  • kataterkatater member
    ITA.  I'm white/northern European mutt, but DH is Bolivian-American.  And his ancestors were indigenous.  So what does he put? For DS? It is so confusing and not reflective of the diversity of ethnicities in the US, IMO. However, DH feels strongly about identifying DS as hispanic (he's bilingual, has an obviously hispanic name, we visit often, his grandparents moved back there, etc), so that's what we are doing.  
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  • sophie206sophie206 member
    Yes, I thought the hispanic origin thing was confusing, too. DH is of hispanic origin, so I answered yes. Then it says hispanic isn't considered a race for the purpose of the census...so is he then "raceless" for the following question? The directions say to answer both questions but there isn't an answer for him for race. So weird!
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  • cdc1982cdc1982 member

    I would just fill out all the ones that apply.  The form says "X one or more boxes".

    For DD, just mark off 1 for hispanic (or the "other box" if you wanna get exact) & one box for whatever else she is

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  • JessgranJessgran member
    Yup, I agree. I have a problem checking off "white." White is a color, not a race.
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  • Jenae&RomaJenae&Roma
    I just marked other and put American....It is a census I am not really sure why they need to know race anyway.
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  • sing4him2sing4him2
    I marked other and wrote in American.
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  • ParadisemoonParadisemoon member
    I had the same problem (see siggy pic) DH is also Dominican.  I called the 1800 #  I got no help at all. Basically the lady said to pick something for DH and DD. I picked they were white. as in, white but not Caucasian. and I put Hispanic for DD. the question asks are you / what is your Spanish ORIGIN. so I figure DD's origin IS in fact Spanish.  Its up to you though. Just don't leave the question blank. you'll be getting a phone call if you do.
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  • Halen0804Halen0804 member
    My DH hates the census' tone of invading privacy.  He is listing our animals: Halen the Dog is Black/ White (mixed), Salem the cat is all Black, and Oreo the cat is black/ white (mixed).  I am fine with this.  More money for our community.  LOL
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  • Pocky873Pocky873 member

    That's horrible that there's no selection for Hispanic.  Ugh, you would think that in 2010, they'd have gotten their act together, especially since they've been going on and on about how important this Census is. 

    People in my circles are going off about how there's no "Taiwanese" and how we should all protest (I myself am not Taiwanese)...yeah, well, other people have bigger problems...at least the Taiwanese can mark off "Asian."  I tried explaining that to my friends, all of whom were like, "yeah yeah, whatever."  Kinda makes me want to slap them, especially after hearing that there's no Hispanic option.

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  • jenkmjenkm
    From the Census Bureau: "Information on race is required for many Federal programs and is critical in making policy decisions, particularly for civil rights. States use these data to meet legislative redistricting principles. Race data also are used to promote equal employment opportunities and to assess racial disparities in health and environmental risks." FYI, you may feel good about writing in that your race is "American" as though you're above identifying as caucasion or whatever, but American is not a race and it doesn't help at all.
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  • Kerianne1176Kerianne1176
    My husband was talking about that yesterday....about how if you have even a drop of spanish blood in you you have to report it. My husband is practically all portuguese and french....but his name comes from spain indicating he does...so it feels a little off for us too.
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  • lesalia217lesalia217

    Hispanic refers to your nationality, but as in race they are referring to things from a biological standpoint.  Most references divide human beings into the biological classifications of Mongoloid (Asian decent), Negroid (African decent), Caucasoid (European and American decent), and I can't remember the "-oid" name for Native Americans.  Sources nick name these classifications as, white, yellow, black and red.  Historically this represents how the human species lived on different continents back in the days of the when we discovered fire. 

    To my understanding, most of the native american cultures in the regions of today's Hispanic decent did not survive.  I though European settlers fought and killed the Mayans/Aztecs.  I was always under the belief that technically most people of Hispanic decent are technically Caucasoid (caucasian, white, whatever). 

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  • edbenbowedbenbow
    Yeah, we had problems too. DH is 1/2 Mexican so I marked "of hispanic origin" but then didn't know what to put under race. It made no sense. I think I just checked "white" because he told me to, but it felt weird. I have no idea what we'll do for LO when that time comes...
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  • Mike's WifeMike's Wife
    imagelesalia217:

    Hispanic refers to your nationality, but as in race they are referring to things from a biological standpoint.  Most references divide human beings into the biological classifications of Mongoloid (Asian decent), Negroid (African decent), Caucasoid (European and American decent), and I can't remember the "-oid" name for Native Americans.  Sources nick name these classifications as, white, yellow, black and red.  Historically this represents how the human species lived on different continents back in the days of the when we discovered fire. 

    To my understanding, most of the native american cultures in the regions of today's Hispanic decent did not survive.  I though European settlers fought and killed the Mayans/Aztecs.  I was always under the belief that technically most people of Hispanic decent are technically Caucasoid (caucasian, white, whatever). 

     Yeah, the thing is the Europeans also brought many slaves with them.  This added another race into the equation.  I believe my ancestors came  from Spain, so I selected white but as others have said, it just felt weird.

    I'll probably be getting a call regarding DD.  I left the Hispanic question blank and then selected white for race for her in the next question.  

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