Funny that you say that.
I am a true “white Hispanic” — don’t speak Spanish, don’t look like a minority, middle class upbringing, never encountered any discrimination — but I have had HR Directors come to my office and beg me to check the racial minority box (which I usually check “white”). I had manager roles at a young age, you see, and they wanted to include me in the diversity tallies.
For over 25 years my bride has been Mrs Tom H and I am certain that, because her married name is Hispanic, her employers have included her in the diversity tallies as well.
I was told (more than 30 years ago) of a case involving a woman who got all sorts of “affirmative action” advantages because of her Hispanic surname. It was the name of her ex-husband (she wasn’t Hispanic), which he got from his father who had abandoned the family when he was a small child—he had been raised by his Irish-American mother.
You sound like my wife.
I advise you to play the game. Abuse it, so it will break.
My wife is honestly 100% Mescalero Apache, born on the reservation. She also happens to be a medical doctor, and slightly to the right of John Birch in things political.
She refused to check anything minority going through school — and found out the medical school changed her records to reflect “Native American” after her first year. Pissed her off mightily.
Now, our kids (who are also legitimately Apache, in that they grew up in Ruidoso, have decided the pressure is such that, if they don’t play the Affirmative Action game, they might have issues.
My eldest son (really my step son) got a lot of grief in the Army for refusing to check NA, and finally did. Pissed him off, too. He thinks he got a legit Bronze Star with a V and a bullshit Bronze Star with a V because the Army wanted to run a story about a NA who got two Bronze Stars.