[blam]

I've read recently that people who have previously defined themselves as Hispanic are now saying they're White.

Who knows?

[kabar]

The Census Bureau is in the best position to know thru the decennial census and the annual community surveys. I guess you can identify as Hispanic if you get affirmative action benefits and minority business set asides.

We started in the 1970s splitting non-Hispanic whites and Hispanic whites in government statistics. It was a way of providing whites with minority benefits. And there is no real good definition of Hispanic. Here in VA, the Virginia Department of Minority Business defines a minority individual as “an individual who is a citizen of the United States or a non-citizen who is in full compliance with United States immigration law and who satisfies one or more of the following definitions:

1. “African American” means a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Africa and who is regarded as such by the community of which this person claims to be a part.

2. “Asian American” means a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, or the Pacific Islands, including but not limited to Japan, China, Vietnam, Samoa, Laos, Cambodia, Taiwan, Northern Mariana, the Philippines, a U.S. territory of the Pacific, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, or Sri Lanka and who is regarded as such by the community of which this person claims to be a part.

3. “Hispanic American” means a person having origins in any of the Spanish-speaking peoples of Mexico, South or Central America, or the Caribbean Islands or other Spanish or Portuguese cultures and who is regarded as such by the community of which this person claims to be a part.