On the US census do you think Latino should be a race?

Latino is a race so it’s acceptable. As acceptable as any other, anyway.

@Acrylic How is Latino a race? Are you using the word Latino to include everyone from Latin America who comes into the US? National backgrounds from Asia, Russia, Italy, France, Germany, Israel, and so on. Are you including indigenous people to Latin America? I was wondering if people use different definitions for “Latino” or even the word “race.”

I’ve worked with people of originating from a lot of different nationalities and races. To me it isn’t about their appearance/race. To me the most distinctive feature about people is their native language and culture. Sometimes that means you need to get to know them.

There is a lovely Hispanic family that lives next-door to me. The first time I looked at the lady I didn’t know she was Hispanic, but culturally and language-wise they are definitely Hispanic. It’s a wonderful thing!

The census form doesn’t make room for this distinction, but to me sometimes that’s the only obvious difference between people.

La·ti·no
/ləˈtēˌnō/

noun
(especially in the US) a person of Latin American origin or descent, in particular a man or boy.

@snowberry The current census form absolutely does make room for that distinction. It doesn’t ask languages, but it asks race, and national origin all separately. Hispanic is a separate question from race.

@Acrylic What about the founder of Kind snack bars who was born and raised in Mexico City and his family was Lithuanian and Jewish and after living through the Holocaust they migrated to Mexico. When he was a teenager they moved to the US from Mexico. Or, all of the people of German descent living in Argentina? Is their “race” Latino if they migrate to the US?

I found this paragraph quite telling: ”The combined question model doesn’t actually call Latino a race. The question asks about a person’s race or origin, so they just put them together. It has white and black and it has an option for Hispanic or Latino origin, and it says “check all that apply.” And that’s an important component because for some people it’s a race and for others it may be an origin. Somebody may think of themselves as racially black and ethnically Hispanic. This gives them the option so they can mark, “I am black and I am Hispanic.” If they feel like Hispanic/Latino is their sole identification in those categories, they can just mark that.”

It indicates to me that identification depends more on culture and socialization than actual factors of origin. My nephews have a father of Cuban ancestry, with an obviously Hispanic name, but have never been exposed to anything that could be associated with Latin culture, as they were quite young when the marriage ended. One is dark complected with dark hair and eyes, the other is very fair.
Determining how to answer that must be interesting for them. I am now prompted by this Q, @JLeslie, to ask them.

I have no idea how they would figure in any demographic assessment.

GQ

Here is a copy of the census form from 2020.

I have found that “white” Americans with ancestry from Europe who have been here for a few generations don’t even really digest that Hispanic/Latino was not listed as a race, and that countries from the Middle East like Lebanon and Egypt are actually listed as examples under white for national origin. These people who I have asked either didn’t read it, or read it and the information quickly became lost like they never read it, rather than being held in their memory.

The link I gave in the OP goes through the history of how the census has changed over the years for trying to capture information regarding Latin Americans, and as @canidmajor pointed out, the article also mentions studies that have been done regarding how Latinos answer depending on the choices they are given.

It’d ridiculous, I know @JLeslie. My spouse and I are white, we adopted a kid with black biological parents who were going to abort but we made an offer worth their while to deliver baby. Anyway, we’re raising our child as a child, nothing more. We had kid in a public school, and the public school teacher said that we shouldn’t be raising the student so white, but black. We have no idea how to raise white, black, or otherwise. Anyway, he said that we’re raising an oreo, a person who is black on the outside and white inside. I told his that he’s ridiculous, and we’re raising a child, nothing more. We informed the principal of these outrageous racist remarks by that teacher, and she did nothing about it. We eventually put our kid onto a private school that saw our kid as a kid, not some racial statistic. Kid is doing awesome, will be studying History at Taylor University this upcoming fall. Not white history. Not black history. American history as well as English and literature. That’s the plan, anyway. So, when the census comes, we check “other” race and write in American, because that’s what we are, American. It’s been hard raising a child not ours biologically and who looks very different than their parents, but it’s been worth every bit. Race, or at least skin color, is irrelevant around here. As far as your example, they should all check “other” as well.

What I found the most interesting is how the demographics on those that check “white” varies by region. This idea of whiteness as a strategy.

Yesterday I was talking to someone of mixed race. And they said they vary their responses based on context.

What’s troubling (though not surprising) is the idea of whiteness as belonging.

Look at when new categories of race pop up relative to racial tension in the US. Driving the need to redefine “not white”.

How long and complicated would the form have to be to identify all possible races and subsequent variations? Best to leave it up to the person in question to identify themselves.

Or not.

I think censuses should not ask about “race” at all.