AuburnLatina

I was born in NC, first off, and I am not sure what to really put down in terms of race, you see, my mother is a black Puerto Rican born & raised in the south bronx (Nuyorican) and my father was born in ecuador to a Ecuadorian mother and a Puerto Rican father, and moved to Queens, NY when he was 2. He is of mestizo descent (I guess?); I consider myself "mixed" in terms of race, and in ethnicity Puerto Rican overall, but I do want to recignize my ecuadorian roots from my fathers' side. On the Common App, do I put Puerto Rican (does that mean of descent of actually born in PR?) or other Hispanic/Other to identify my Puerto Rican and Ecudorian heritage? I am very confused about this! Please correct me if I'm wrong!

entomom

Hello AL and welcome to CC!

PR means of PR decent (and likewise for any other countries).

Are you sure you're not looking at a past CA which includes various categories of Hispanic (MA, PR, other)? The 2010 that I've downloaded shows only: Are you Hispanic/Latino? Yes/No Please describe your background. After that it goes on to list races (mislabeled 'ethnicity).

My suggestion would be to mark Yes to Hispanic; for background put PR & Ecuador. Then mark Black/AA, background PR. Then you need to talk to your dad and confirm that he is descended from the original peoples of Ecuador; also find out if he mixed original peoples and white. Then you can mark the box(es) that apply: NA or Other PI, background Ecuador; White, background Ecuador.

There was another poster who was apparently seeing something different on the CA, perhaps the electronic version??

azwethinkweiz

Yes, the electronic version is a bit different. I'm fairly sure you only have to put your country of origin if you check off "Other," and you would only click "Other" if that particular country didn't fit in any other category provided (if that makes sense).

So, if the above information is applied, I believe you'd click:
Yes for Hispanic/Latino(a)
Puerto Rico
South America

American Indian or Alaska Native (including all Original Peoples of the Americas)
Other: Mestizo

Black or African-American
Other: Puerto Rico

Like entomom said, confirm your Mestizo background and if he is mixed white/mestizo. If that is the case then you would simply check off "White-->Other: Ecuador" in addition to the other ones.

It was a bit confusing for me as well! I have hispanic roots in Trinidad as well as Panama so I checked "Other" (and typed in Trinidad) and "Central America" for those countries respectively. Then for race I checked off Asian-->China, and White-->Europe + Middle East. But you don't need to specify each country unless the little blank box shows up.

Good luck!

entomom

Thanks az! Just for my future reference, what are the categories given under Hispanic in the electronic version of the CA?

azwethinkweiz

ah, so once you check "Yes" for "Hispanic or Latino (including Spain)", these boxes come up.

Central America
Cuba
Mexico
Puerto Rico
South America (excluding Brazil)
Spain
Other----blank box comes up if checked ("if Other please specify").

It pretty much works the same way for the race question is well, in terms of blank boxes coming up. You can check off as many boxes that pertain to your background if you like though, which is nice.

entomom

Thanks, I appreciate your help!

AuburnLatina

Thank you so much for the help!

entomom

You're welcome, good luck!

samclare

My H is Ecuadorian so our kids are "hispanic" following US definition. Since they lived significant portions of their lives in Ecuador and we speak spanish at home, I think they self identify as hispanic. JUST DONT ASK MY HUSBAND...he is Ecuadorian and speaks spanish and strongly believes that "hispanic" is some weird concept invented by race obsessed bureaucrats in the US to identify anything that doesn't fit nicely into an English speaking/caucasian box. For race he would probably put down white as do our children due to lighter skin and ango features. BUT, is he of native american descent? ...absolutely and he would be the first to say so! we have the family photographs that show tremendous diversity in the family, and there are many Europeans in the family mix too. We even did that really neat National Geographic project (genographic project) and found that the male chromosone from my husband leads straight back to south america. Interestingly, our kids share the same Haplotype as close friends who are adopted from Ecuador but while our kids look "white" their friends look very amerindian. So what do my kids choose on these forms? they put down what they "feel" they are and how they feel perceived by strangers--white and hispanic. Their friends will probably put down amerindian and hispanic. Some Ecuadoreans show their african heritage and would probably choose black and hispanic.

Just be prepared for the reaction of some Ecuadoreans when you ask if they are part amerindian! My mother-in-law is in total denial and believes that she is descended from Italian and Spanish royalty. Indio is still a dirty word in much of Latin America.

justchuck

My wife is from Chile. There is definately a stigma attached to anything "indio".
My mother in law traces her roots to Spain and Italy also. I think this is a source of pride for both of them.
My wife also thinks the whole "Hispanic" thing is a category created by beaurocrats to categorize people. She says in Chile, all people are Chileans. There is no further breakdown by race. It really should be that way here, no more African-Americans, Italian-Americans, Greek-Americans, etc. It only serves to divide people. Everyone should celebrate their culture and preserve it however they want. But we should all be just plain Americans.