The Race and Ethnicity Dilemma Of The US Census

By José Francisco Ávila
Oprima para leer en Español 

Over the past month, I have attended various webinars, meetings and conferences about the United States 2020 Census, supporting efforts to raise awareness, and strengthen participation to ensure a successful completed count.While most of the attention has centered on the inclusion of the Citizenship question, my objective is to make sure that that marginalized communities in hard-to-count districts can fully maximize their participation in the 2020 Census. One of those communities, are the Afro-Latinos.

The Census Bureau reports that in the 2010 Census, 2.5 percent of the 54 million Hispanics in the U.S. also identified as black – a figure that many say is an undercount. Part of the problem is the erroneous assumption that Latino(a)s are a homogenous racial group. However, according to the US Census, Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish is an ethnicity and people who identify their origin as such may be of any race.

The U.S. Census Bureau collects data in accordance with the 1997 Office of Management and Budget (OMB) standards on race and ethnicity. It requires federal agencies to use a minimum of two ethnicities: Hispanic or Latino and Not Hispanic or Latino.

The first Census response category is intended for respondents who do not identify as Hispanic. No, not of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin. The question on Hispanic origin will include five separate response categories: 1. Mexican, Mexican Am., or Chicano”; 2. “Puerto Rican”; 3. “Cuban”; and “Another Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin and 5. An area where respondents can write-in a specific Hispanic origin group.

The questions planned for the 2020 Census and American Community Survey, include the question on race “What is this person’s race? Mark  one or more races AND print origins to indicate what the person considers himself/herself to be” . The respondents will be able to write-in detailed information about their race.

The categories on race are based on self-identification and generally reflect a social definition of race. OMB requires five minimum categories: 1. White, 2. Black or African American, 3. American Indian or Alaska Native, 4. Asian, and 5. Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. An individual’s response to the race question is based upon self-identification.

Afro-Latino(a)s, refers to Latin American people of African ancestry who are from or whose origins are in Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. They hail from countries associated with Spanish, Portuguese and French colonialism; therefore, they include Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil) and Kreyòl (Haiti) Speakers. More commonly, when referring to cultural aspects of African origin within specific countries of Latin America, terms carry an Afro- prefix followed by the relevant nationality, Afro-Honduran, Afro-Mexican, Afro-Colombian, etc.

During the 2010 Census, in an effort to achieve an accurate count of Afro-Latino(a)s, the nonprofit Afrolatin@ Forum produced a series of public service announcements that called on Latino(a)s of African descent to identify as both Hispanic and Black on the 2010 form.

Our objective is to make sure that that marginalized communities in hard-to-count districts can fully maximize their participation in the 2020 Census. One of those communities, are the Afro-Latino(a)s, or American people of African ancestry.