‘Hispanic’ may be a race on next Census form

There is no denying that the term Hispanic is used to cover a lot of ground. The moniker is often thrown out to label people from Spain, South America, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Central America, and more. And since it was first coined in the 1970’s, it hasn’t always sat well with the Latino community. But now the U.S. Census Bureau may give it even more clout, by officially declaring "Hispanic" a race.

In 2018, Congress will be voting on whether or not to include the “Hispanic” as a race on the 2020 Census form. And that is not sitting well with a variety of Latino advocacy groups.

“Hispanic is not an ethnicity or a race,” San Antonio activist Irma Mireles told MySanAntonio.com.

But in the eyes of the data researchers, it may be the easiest way to classify Latinos. As of right now, the Census “race” category does not specify individuals of Spanish origin. Typical race choices include, “White,” “African-American,” “Asian,” and “Pacific Islander.”

Up to this point, many Latinos would fill in the “White” category to describe their race and Hispanic as an ethnicity. But that wasn’t giving the Census Bureau the accuracy they needed. University of Illinois professor Jorge Chapa actually agrees that the guidelines need to be changed.

“This is how you know there’s a problem, the data on race is not very good when 37 percent say essentially none of the above," says Chapa.

Indeed, research has shown that members in the same family have answered the Census’ Hispanic race question differently due to confusion. And the fact that the U.S. Latino population is now larger than ever, has prompted the Bureau to work on specific alterations.

Nancy Lopez, a director of the University of New Mexico’s Institute for the Study of Social Justice, believes that race needs to be an important clarification on the next Census study. She claims that the more we know about an individual’s cultural background, the better we can assess their experience as a U.S. citizen.

“If we collapse race and ethnicity as interchangeable concepts, we may miss the opportunity to examine whether there are unique experiences among co-ethnics that may occupy very different racial statuses,” she said.

“It will be challenging to capture the two concepts with one question.”

Clearly this is a hotly debated topic and to many, “Hispanic” isn’t the proper way to classify people with Spanish-speaking origins. The good news is that the next Census won’t be released for another seven years, giving those researchers plenty of time to think up the appropriate classifications.

How do you think Latinos should be labeled on the Census?