Declaring Ethnicity

[Tiberius Jim]

I was just filling out an application and at the end it asked me to choose my race/ethnicity. I would choose "White/Caucasian" while my wife, being Vietnamese and Lao would choose "Asian/Pacific Islander" I've thought about this before, but with us expecting our first child in March of next year, what exactly will he or she choose for this option? Most of the time these are drop down menus or radio buttons with only one selection being possible, which makes me curious as to how someone of mixed ethnicity is supposed to choose.

On a side note, this also made me realize that my child will be the first non-Caucasian in my family in pretty much...ever. The same goes for my wife's side as they have never had anyone outside of their ethnicity int he family. Considering how far back I know my family line goes, that's pretty awesome IMO.

 

[Amaris]

I'm waiting for the day "Big Fat Dynamo" becomes an ethnicity, so I can be a god among men.

Anyway, that is something interesting to consider, and now you'll have a new perspective, because your child will certainly share those experiences with you as he or she grows. You've got an interesting future ahead.

 

[RevdKathy]

I'm pleased to say that following a campaign, all our local forms include the option "white, Cornish" alongside "white, British". National ones not yet, but they will soon now we're an officially recognised minority.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

A family - mother is Korean, father is African - who has a channel on Youtube, refer to their two girls as 'Blasian' to signify both of their ethnicities.

Blasian Family Channel

 

[Tiberius Jim]

Yeah, we use the term "Wasian" to describe what ours will be...but somehow I doubt that will be an option on any form.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Yeah, we use the term "Wasian" to describe what ours will be...but somehow I doubt that will be an option on any form.

Yeah, 'wasian' is a fairly new term for me. (I actually used it in a short story for a character who is half-white/half-Taiwanese).

 

[DimesDan]

I'm pleased to say that following a campaign, all our local forms include the option "white, Cornish" alongside "white, British". National ones not yet, but they will soon now we're an officially recognised minority.

I can't tell if you're being serious or not.

 

[RJDiogenes]

"Multi-Ethnic" (or--ack--"Mixed Race") is the fastest growing demographic in the US. Maybe that will be an option by the time your daughter grows up.

Maybe someday nobody will even care anymore.

 

[Trekker4747]

Whatever part of her nationality parentage she most identifies with? I dunno, don't some of these forms have an "other" option?

 

[Green Shirt]

Whatever part of her nationality parentage she most identifies with? I dunno, don't some of these forms have an "other" option?

Is the only "other" option at this time not to answer?

 

[mari]

Depends on your form... I do a lot of surveys online, for some of them it's a radio button and some it's a checkbox. Some of them separate out Hispanic/Latino as an "ethnicity" while still allowing the choice of black, white, Asian, etc. as "races". (So you could be white/Hispanic or black/Hispanic.) Some of them want more detail (country of origin) if you pick Asian. And a few have a fill-in for "other". I think the U.S. census now allows multiple choice.

I had to update forms at a doctor's office this week. They had checkboxes for black/white/Hispanic/Asian/other under "race" and a fill-in under "ethnicity". I left that blank. I'm an American mutt.

I have a lot of mixed-race cousins (big family in general). My Panamanian cousins seem to identify more as white than Hispanic. My black and Dominican cousins seem to identify more as black and black/Hispanic. I think that might be partially because of growing up in a more urban area, and partially because of how they look (skin tone, curly hair), although I've never asked.

We're all pinkskins to the Andorians anyway

 

[Mary Ann]

We're all pinkskins to the Andorians anyway

Good point. On British forms I always end up ticking "White--other", which is the ticky box where white people who aren't British or Irish are lumped together. There's usually not enough space for me to write my double-barrelled ethnicity, Dutch-Canadian, as the fact that there are quite a few multi-ethnic British residents doesn't seem to have sunk into governmental brains (I use the term loosely) yet.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

It can be a complicated question. As the child grows up, what does he or she identify themselves as? How is he or she identified by others and how does that influence the child? President Obama, for example, is of mixed white and black descent yet identifies more strongly with being black, and is generally treated as such first and foremost by others. As your child is going to college, they might want to get a scholarship geared toward students of Asian-American ancestry, so they might identify that way there but another way for something else.

The US Census is studying ways of making the ethnicity question more comprehensive for the 2020 Census to compensate for the growing number of people choosing the "Other" option.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tan...nges-in-how-it-asks-about-race-and-ethnicity/

More companies, schools, and institutions will hopefully follow suit by the time your child grows up given the rapidly changing demographic situation in the US.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

This is certainly a complicated issue for many people of mixed ancestry (of which society calls mixed race). I know the traditional answer (regardless of whether you want to go with Southern precision or just a general rule of thumb) is to go with the non-white option. I'm sure there is a backlash to this, but I'm not sure if those who dislike this (honestly racist) procedure have a better option. Certainly, I think your kid could decide when he or she is old enough how to identify him or herself. But, before that point, I'm not sure the answer unless they give the option to choose both. How other people view you I think tends to shape your view as well. President Obama is just as white as he is black. But everyone else will consider him black and he seems to think of himself as black. Maybe that's society's problem, I don't know.

I do have a friend whose mother is white and father is black. When she applied to college, she listed her race as black. Her brother applied to a traditionally black college. He listed his race as white since he might be seen as an underrepresented minority there.

ETA: I typed really slowly and cross-posted with Locutus.

 

[cultcross]

We're all pinkskins to the Andorians anyway

Good point. On British forms I always end up ticking "White--other", which is the ticky box where white people who aren't British or Irish are lumped together. There's usually not enough space for me to write my double-barrelled ethnicity, Dutch-Canadian, as the fact that there are quite a few multi-ethnic British residents doesn't seem to have sunk into governmental brains (I use the term loosely) yet.

The Home Office 'official' set of ethnicities has a lot of... idiosyncrasies. We allow for 'White - Irish' as a separate option but all other white non-British are lumped into 'White Other'. We have 'Chinese' but not 'Japanese' or indeed any other Far East option, and while we make a distinction between 'Indian', 'Pakistani' and 'Bangladeshi', pretty much the whole middle East, North Africa and South America are relegated to the 'Other' bin.

Sometimes I imagine it was written in half an hour by driving around Westminster looking at takeaway shops. We should count ourselves lucky I suppose it's no longer just 'white' and 'foreign' which was the approach in the late 70s.

 

[Mary Ann]

Sounds about right, yes.

 

[Miss Chicken]

What sort of forms are you guys filling out that you have to declare your ethnicity/race on?

 

[Alidar Jarok]

^ Census, for one (don't have to declare, but have the option to declare). I assume birth certificate as well.

The Home Office 'official' set of ethnicities has a lot of... idiosyncrasies. We allow for 'White - Irish' as a separate option but all other white non-British are lumped into 'White Other'. We have 'Chinese' but not 'Japanese' or indeed any other Far East option, and while we make a distinction between 'Indian', 'Pakistani' and 'Bangladeshi', pretty much the whole middle East, North Africa and South America are relegated to the 'Other' bin.

Sometimes I imagine it was written in half an hour by driving around Westminster looking at takeaway shops. We should count ourselves lucky I suppose it's no longer just 'white' and 'foreign' which was the approach in the late 70s.

That's pretty funny. Although, to be serious, there probably is a connection between the takeout places and the categories - basically, the British Empire. If you were part of the Empire, you get a more specific box to check. Seems like a fair tradeoff for imperialism

 

[Green Shirt]

We're all pinkskins to the Andorians anyway

Now if Andorians did all the hiring, it would be a level playing field.

I've noticed that many people feel a child of varied parentage should select their father's race when filling out a form. But according to my wife (who is black, and I am white) the world sees our very light skinned son as black.

No easy answers.

 

[Miss Chicken]

On the Australian census form there is a question asking if the person is Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

There is also a question about the person's ancestry. The options listed are English, Irish, Scottish, Italian, German, Chinese, Australian and other (please specify). You can choose up to two. I just tick Australian as all my great grandparents were born here (of English, Irish and Scottish descent).

As far as I know there is no race question on Australian birth certificates, only parents' place of birth.

On government forms there is an optional question asking if the person is

Aboriginal
Torres Strait Islander
Australian South Sea Islander

but apart from that the only questions are 1) if the person was not born in Australia what country was he born in 2) does the person speak a language other than English at home and if he does does he need a translator.

I have never filled in a form where I have had to identify myself as white.