75% Caucasion, 25% Hispanic -- What race am I?

bchan1
Sat, 10 Jul 2010 14:41:11 +0000

Multiracial students face many questions that pose this sort of dilemma; on the minority specific applications that I’ve seen where specific guidelines are given 25% minority qualifies. My personal opinion is that having a Hispanic last name adds weight to your claim because, regardless of what you look like, with a Hispanic last name you are most likely regarded by others as Hispanic.

The high rate of interracial marriage between Asians and Hispanics has created a group of students that are racially ambiguous - begging the question of whether any racial preference should be given for anything. In my experience socioeconomic status would be a better measure of diversification.

On the subject of race - I know Korean adoptees who don’t consider themselves Asian because they haven’t been raised in that culture. Their Asian friends do consider them Asian because of the way they look. My bi-racial children have been told that they’re Asian by Caucasian classmates and not Asian by some of their Asian acquaintences even though they have been raised with strong influence from both cultures.

Jewel - Do you consider Barack Obama white? Or black? Or is multiracial a separate category in your mind? Just curious.

When my children became aware of race in elementary school we had the opportunity to vacation in Hawaii. It was an especially enjoyable trip because there my kids were surrounded by people of mixed heritage just like themselves. It helped them gain perspective on their state side classmates who perceived more definitive boundaries.

OP - I think many students in your situation probably have inconsistent reports of their racial identity throughout their school years. Go and visit with your guidance counselor to make sure that your school records match what you plan to report - chances are when that data was entered years ago (perhaps over a decade if you’ve lived in the same district) that the options given were more limited since the previous census didn’t give accurate options for multiracial people either.