Census Race Change For Hispanics Sparks Criticism

Some Latino civil rights groups are questioning the U.S. Census consideration of designating Hispanics a race of their own, fearing the loss of national original designations. I don’t think there’s any consensus on that.” Scholars oppose “Hispanic” being considered a race Fordham University law professor Tanya Hernandez, author of the new book Racial Subordination in Latin America, is among the scholars opposing the proposal to join race and ethnicity as a “Hispanic” category. “Census data is used in very important ways, for example to monitor compliance regarding civil rights and racial disparities,” says Hernandez, who fears that eliminating existing racial categories would have a negative impact. “To understand why a Latino, Asian and white person can have the same income profile but still have different access to a mortgage, for example, you need to examine racial categories.” Government officials say that the change is being considered because Latinos are the ones who most often check the “some other race” category or do not answer the race question. “Some respondents view their Hispanic origin as a race,” says Nicholas Jones of the U.S. Census Bureau.