Why do Hispanics/Mexican Americans/Latinos have to be classified as Caucasian/white on government forms we fill out when other races/ethnicities have their own categories?
In: Other
They do not. Some are white, some are not, and forms leave that as an option. Some are descended from white Europeans (often darker-but-still-considered-white Spaniards), some are descended from African people, some are descended from indigenous people.
It would be like if American was a racial category. Americans come in all races.
So yeah… it is stupid on one hand, on the other hand Latin people are treated racially distinct in American society so it can be a useful category for understanding racialized inequalities and other effects.
Latest Answers