Race & Ethnicity

Question 8 of my Census form asks me if I am of Hispanic/Latino/Spanish origin, to which I respond affirmatively.

Question 9 asks for my race: White, Black, American Indian (identify tribe), Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Other Asian (Identify race) Native Hawaiian, Guamanian, Samoan, Pacific Islander (identify race).

My birth certificate states that the race of my mother is White, that the race of my father is White. I guess that would make my race White. But White comes with many connotations and history and I have never identified as White. Toasted yes, whole wheat maybe, but not White. Latinos are an ethnicity identity and come in different colors and races. So I scribbled the most accurate race with which I could identify: Mestizo, the mixture of Indigenous and European. Maybe Mestizo will be on future forms.