Decoding Identity: Othering in the Census

Renée Bartlett-Webber | News Editor

The 2020 Census revealed challenges in categorizing race for the Hispanic population with “some other race” as the second largest racial identity. 

​​Lidia Serrano is an English as a second language student at Santa Monica College (SMC) and a proud Salvadoran. She identifies with the term “Hispanic,” as both her race and ethnicity. She said it would be hard to answer the race question on the Decennial U.S. Census with the options that were available in 2020. “I’m not any of the ones you mentioned, I would put ‘other.’”

The term “Hispanic” is defined as “a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race” according to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which sets the standard definitions for race and ethnicity for all governmental agencies. “Hispanic” defines a person’s ethnicity but has nothing to do with their race in the eyes of the government. 

The 2020 Census categorized racial identity using the following six options: White; Black or African American; American Indian or Alaska Native; Asian; Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander; and some other race.

The form allowed for respondents to write in their identities under each option, which provided a view into varying perceptions of how individuals identify and how the government categorizes race and ethnicity.

“Some other race” was the second largest racial category after “White” with 50 million (15%) people in the country and more than 12.5 million (30%) in California. Nine out of 10 people in this category claimed racial identity that falls under “Hispanic.”

In addition to the variations of how Hispanic people identify their race, the term “Hispanic” has developed various meanings across the country. For example, those who identify their ethnicity as Hispanic and write-in “Brazilian” are usually reclassified as not Hispanic in the Census because they do not originate from a Spanish-speaking country. However, an error in the 2020 census that did not reclassify this group revealed that 416,000 Brazilians identified as Hispanic, according to a Pew Research study. That’s more than 75% of the total Brazilian population in the U.S.

 The 1980 Census was the first time “Hispanic” was put on the form for all respondents. Before that time, people from Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico were classified as “White.” Latin American advocacy groups lobbied for the terms inclusion in order to achieve more resources and representation. The term took hold as Spanish-language TV channels such as Univision and Telemundo began advertising the census, emphasizing the importance for all “Hispanos” and Latines to participate in the Census.”

 In preparation for the 2020 Census, the Bureau tested many different versions of the race and ethnicity questions and proposed a combination of the two to decrease the number of people falling under “some other race.” Under the Trump administration, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) did not change their 1997 definition, which sets the standard for all governmental agencies. They have, however, begun initial proposals for combining ethnicity and race questions and plan to finalize new criteria by the summer of 2024. 

“This is a red flag. It's been a red flag that's been around for a very long time,” G. Cristina Mora, a sociologist at the University of California, told NPR. She said she is concerned that growing the “some other race” category will obscure the true understanding of racial justice within the community. 

The census determines how to allocate billions of federal funding and redraw congressional, state and local districts. It is mandatory for all to respond to the census, but many minority populations were undercounted. Latines were undercounted at a rate 4.99%, three times more than in 2010. 

SMC student Emelio Cruz, said “I’d make another [category]” if he saw only the five race options that were on the Census. “[Hispanic] is a race for me, I think it depends on the person but for me, I think it is but I understand that other people don’t think so. I respect that.”

Several SMC faculty were contacted for this story but declined to comment or did not respond in time for the publication of this article.