Latinos in Census 2010 -- Question # 9

[Arlington 5]

I have linked below an interesting article about Question #9 on the 2010 Census. The bottom line is that the professor suggests checking the "American Indian" box (along with others, if applicable). This is not something necessarily approved by the U.S. Census Bureau, but having discussed it with my wife, she chose to follow the suggestion. The article suggests:

In 2000, the Census Bureau finally recognized a Latin American Indian category, but it did not create an educational campaign to go with it. The bureau now recognizes peoples who are traditionally viewed (using arbitrary criteria) as indigenous in Mexico, Central and South America, but it does

not

recognize those who are considered "mestizo" –- peoples who are at least part, if not primarily, native. The mestizo category, borne of a dehumanizing racial caste system in the Americas, is also a troublesome category, yet it is how most people of Mexican and Central American descent identify, comprising approximately 75 percent of all “Latinos/Hispanics.”

The Indigenous Institute promotes its idea as a means by which Mexican Americans or Latinos/Hispanics can honor their indigenous ancestry. If this option is widely embraced, it remains to be seen how the bureau will count this information. The same question arises if people choose the American Indian category and write in “mestizo.”

Traditionally, the bureau has taken a narrow view of who is indigenous, because the “American Indian” category was designed not to ascertain the indigenous, but to count “U.S. Indians.” If a more expansive view is embraced widely –- as advocated by the institute -– it would result in an increase from 5 million (the 2009 census estimate) to perhaps 30 to 40 million people. (Not all of the nation’s close to 50 million Hispanics/Latinos can or would claim indigenous ancestry.)

If done correctly, the institute’s suggestion need not negatively affect the allocation of resources to specific tribes. Neither should the way people identify be subject to government approval. Yet, the ramifications of exercising such an option should indeed be studied.

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=1207ef2c27b88e64e432f9fbb18bc6d1

[Indy90 21]

Yeah race can be quite complicated, especially in Latin America. For example, I know people in Ecuador who are the children of American's who own oil companies. Could they say that they are Latino if they were born there and grew up there?

Does your wife identify with one of the indigenous groups in Ecuador? My wife is clearly mestiza, but there is clearly a difference between her and some one in the United States that can actually identify what tribe they are from; everyone of her ancestors has probably been mestizo for at least the last several generations, but it is hard to know because she has know idea about her roots beyond what her grandparents can remember from memory.

[Mononoke28 135]

I think it's a personal decision. I personally believe that almost everybody in Latin America has a trace of some other race but no one knows for sure. It comes down to what you consider yourself, pretty much what you see in the mirror. There are a lot of people here in the US who are 1/8 Native American and even African American but they say they're white, and who's to say they're wrong? They're not.

Whenever I fill out any kind of application I write down that I'm Latino/Hispanic and mark white as my race because that's what I consider myself and what I see in the mirror.

Diana

Edited March 19, 2010 by Mononoke28