ABSTRACT
“Race” is a social construct used in the U.S. to establish categories of persons for specific purposes. It is used primarily to refer to differences in skin color but it is considered a crude measure of difference in terms of distinguishing categories such as black and white (Lauritsen 2005: 84, 85). Since 1790, a census of the population has been conducted every ten years and this has necessitated the creation of racial categories to which persons of various ethnic backgrounds may be assigned. The U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration employs five race categories as follows:
White: people having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East or North Africa, including those who indicated their race as white or as Irish, German, Italian, Lebanese, Arab, Moroccan or Caucasian representing 72 percent of the population;
Black or African-American: people having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa (including people who identify themselves as Black, Negro or African-American or reported as African-American Kenyan, Nigerian or Haitian) and representing 13 percent of the population;
American Indian and Alaskan Native: people having origins in any of the original peoples of North, Central and South America who maintain tribal affiliation or community attachment (or reported their enrollment) or principal tribe such as Navajo, Blackfeet, Inupiat, Yup’ik or Central 104American Indian groups or South American Indian groups and representing 0.9 percent of the population;
Asian: people having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia or the Indian subcontinent including Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam and representing 5 percent of the population;
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders: people having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa or other Pacific Islands and representing 0.2 percent of the population;
Some Other Race: for those persons not able to identify with any of the above categories – most people responding with this category identified themselves as “Hispanic” or “Latino,” multiracial, mixed, interracial, who represent 3 percent of the population. “Hispanic or Latino” refers to a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race (U.S. Census Bureau 2010). Federal agencies are required to use a minimum of two ethnicities: Hispanic or Latino and Not Hispanic or Latino. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, “Hispanic origin can be viewed as the heritage, nationality group, lineage, or country of birth of the person or the person’s parents or ancestors before their arrival in the United States. People who identify their origin as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish may be any race.”
(Humes et al. 2011: 1, 3–4)