Census Questionnaire

Colleges & Universities Boston University
1

<p>I know this will seem like a horribly stupid question to you guys, but I actually can’t figure it out. I’m pasting two questions from the census I received. I’m Salvadoran. My mother is from there and that’s where my family has always come from. I’ve always put down Hispanic as race so question five confuses me. I just wrote down I’m Salvadoran in question four…so what goes down for question five? Someone told me to put down “white” but as a first generation American, I don’t feel I fit into that category. I also don’t understand why they asked me if I’m “Hispanic” if that’s not even a race now. I guess it doesn’t really matter, but it’s starting to bug me for some reason. They put down Japanese, Korean, etc as races and it makes me feel like my family’s country isn’t as valid as a race. Or maybe I’m just thinking too hard.</p>

<p>Note: Please answer BOTH question 4 about Hispanic origin and Question 5 about race. For this census, Hispanic origins are not races.</p>

<ol>
<li>Are You of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin?</li>
</ol>

<p>No, not of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin
Yes, Mexican American Am., Chicano
Yes, Puerto Rican
Yes, Cuban
Yes, another Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin – Print origin, for example, Argentinean, Colombian, Dominican, Nicaraguan, Salvadoran, Spaniard, and so on.</p>

<ol>
<li>What is your race? Mark one or more boxes.
White
Black, African Am., or Negro
American Indian or Alaskan Native
Asian Indian
Chinese
Filipino
Japanese
Korean
Vietnamese
Native Hawaiian
Guamanian or Chamorro
Samoan
Other Pacific Islander
Other Asian
Some other race</li>
</ol>

2

<p>Hispanic origins count as white.</p>

<p>put Yes, another Hispanic … for #4
and then White for #5.</p>

3

<p>Well then what is “hispanic?” Why did they ask me if I’m hispanic if I’m supposed to just write in white?</p>

4

<p>Hispanic is a sub-group of white by international standards and traditions. They just want to determine what percentage of white people are Latinos. If they didn’t ask people if they were Hispanic, they’d never know how many of them are out there. Sorry to break the news to you but you’re white hahaha</p>

5

<p>This question just baffled me. But I think it was the way they phrased it. Because they asked me two separate questions and when I got to question 5 I didn’t know what to put down. I even asked my relatives what they put down and they all put something different. And then when I saw “white hispanic” it meant something I didn’t really get.</p>

<p><a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Hispanic[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Hispanic&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I know it’s incredibly silly but I figured I could do no worse than the guy that asked the sex question. Most of the categories under “race” just really confuse me.</p>

6

<p>You can pick any race. There has been a ridiculous amount of press coverage over the issue of race for Latinos; some are quite black and some are quite white in appearance and in how they relate to cultural heritages, etc. Pick what fits you. The census doesn’t care.</p>