The New York Times ran an interesting article, January 14, 2012, concerning the Latino inclination to reject race as an identity in favor of culture. Many feel that the racial mix of their ancestry is just too complex to categorize. Furthermore, their sense of identity comes from a shared language and immigration status, not from skin color, which varies extensively. Many light-skinned Hispanics, viewed as non-white here, identify as white since they come from countries where they were considered white. Black Hispanics, on the other hand, may reject the identification as Blacks with whom they do not share a common culture. Although there are 15 choices of race on the last census, more than a third of Latinos chose “other.” Really, this is a problem only for political groups, who naturally want the highest numbers they can get so as to maximize their influence.

It’s easy to see that this disinclination to identify through race is the wave of the future. Racial mixing will continue until everyone will be desensitized to it, and we will look back on this concern as a relic of the past. All that remains to be seen is how long will it take.

topics: culture