How will the Census classify Latinos?

I will be curious to see the form the Census Bureau mails to me a little more than one year from now, to see exactly how the federal government tries to reflect the reality of the growing Latino population.

Some people will focus their attention on the bottom line number – either in hopes that it justifies their belief that Latinos are on the growth or that their numbers have been exaggerated in recent years.

BUT I AM more curious to see the ethnic and racial classifications that arise from the 2010 Census. Officials have hinted they will make modifications to the system they used in 2000, which managed to tick off many Latinos because they thought the set-up did not reflect the reality of the modern-day Latino population.

Nine years ago, the Census Bureau provided us with a form that required everybody in the country to answer “yes” or “no” as to whether the term “Hispanic” could be applied to them.

Then, everybody was asked to pick from one of five racial categories, or “other.”

Most people in the United States who picked other did so because they perceive themselves as biracial, and they did not like having to pick a single racial category. But for those people who answered “yes” to being Latino, they objected to the idea that Latino/Hispanic is not considered a racial category, in and of itself.

IN THEORY, THAT is correct, since the ethnicities that comprise “Latino” have been influenced throughout the centuries by so many races. Latinos are the original multi-racial group, and any Latino who tries to deny that is being less than honest.

A new study by academics at the University of Washington shows that most Latinos do not think they should have to pick from white, African-American or American Indian (which were the top three racial categories in the United States, according to the 2000 Census). For the record, in 2000, 48 percent of Latinos classified themselves as “white,” while 42 picked “other.”

Census officials say they will try to create more specific breakdowns for ethnic origin, then racial classification, in an effort to reach a more accurate statistic of the way U.S. residents in the 21st Century perceive themselves.

I’m curious to see what breakdown they attempt to come up with. I’m sure that no matter what they come up with, they will manage to tick off somebody.

THE SIMPLE FACT is that we as a people do not agree on what characteristics ought to go into classifying people. For some (myself included), it is the ethnic origins that are interesting. For others, it is the broader racial categories.

So trying to reach simple categories in which people can be classified is hard when we don’t really agree on what the categories ought to be.

And I’m already waiting anxiously to see just how close to reality federal bureaucrats come when they release the questions to be asked of the public when the official population count is done as of April 1, 2010.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The Census Bureau continues to try to figure out an accurate way to classify (http://www.nwcn.com/statenews/washington/stories/NW_032909WAB-study-census-race-SW.828387c0.html) the different types of people who live in the United States.