Census revises what “Hispanic” & “Middle Eastern” mean

1 Comment

1. So bummed I missed this discussion live. As a hispanic "brown" man, this issue has been a talking point close to my heart for a long time. Ironically, I just came off a conversation with friend on the far right of the spectrum where the only common ground we could find was in the identity dysphoria we both experienced when filling out government forms and the fact that despite being "white passing" he still experienced a degree of uncertainty and confusion at not being able to call himself Hispanic outright and NEEDING to select a racial category that did not fit his personal identity. It was a bizarre moment of clarity that I think may have softened him to other moderate liberal perspectives.

   As a side note, this friend was also very responsive to the subject after I pointed out government censuses and surveys are how money is allocated, so if the second largest population in the US (hispanic) can't accurately report our identity, it is a means of misallocating funds away from our communities and ignoring us. This was complimented by the fact that the municipality we live in intentionally avoiding annexation of our hispanic dominate neighborhood (the city curves in a horse around it on official maps) while annexing in all the major businesses in the area, causing a sales tax resource drain from the community that even further drains funding for services out of the area.

   All this to say, seeing this specific headline made me smile ear to ear. Thank you for being the bearer of good news Joshua.

   Reply