Friday, November 21, 2008

What are we?

I have a question...I think it's a legit one. You know when you're filling out paperwork for school, or the doctor, or even census forms it asks what your ethnicity is. It gives several options to choose from and for obvious reasons I always pick the "Mexican/Hispanic" option. But then it asks what your race is and it only gives you 4 options: White, Black, Asian, or Other. Why is that? And how does someone of my ethnicity answer that? I mean, I'm none of those...I guess I would be "other" but I just find that wierd. Don't you? What am I?
Oh, one more thing..for my kids ethnicity are they Caucasion or Mexican/Hispanic? White Daddy, Mexican Mama...I know what I always mark but what would you consider them?

5 comments:

Jolene said...

I think the answer is - what do they consider themselves to be?
I went to college with a girl who's father was black and her mother was white - her parents divorced when she was young and she grew up with her mother and her white step-father and considered herself white (funny thing about those forms - not a lot of room for melting pot children)

Alli H. said...

You and I have a similar issue. My family is from the Caribbean. My kids are Jamaican and Caucasian. I usually just leave it blank. When other people see my kids with me they take it upon themselves to mark them as "Black". When they see them with my hubby they mark them "?"

Who knows I just would leave it blank. Hopefully the forms will improve in the future.

Janalee said...

I heard that you mark the race that the father is, just like the kids take his last name, they take his race. So I always mark Hispanic.

mother of seven said...

I agree. I love to mess with them and put Chinese for my kids!!! Cuz they are 25% what about German or Irish? Why do they not care about that!!!

mother of seven said...

How about MUT?