Ethnic/Racial Group Data

Racial and ethnic categories are defined by the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the U.S. Census Bureau. In the United States today, race and ethnicity are separate identities, and the only ethnic categories are “Hispanic/Latino” or “not Hispanic/Latino.” This practice of separating ethnicity and race, either in general or specifically in reference to Hispanic-ness, has been the subject of criticism by certain groups and members of the public. In the words of the instructions provided by the Census Bureau, today the racial categories in use “reflect a social definition of race recognized in this country and not an attempt to define race biologically, anthropologically, or genetically.” Rather than evaluating claims of racial or ethnic identity, answers depend on self-definition, a change that began in 1970. The Office of Management and Budget dictates a minimum of five race categories used by federal agencies: white, black, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, and Native Hawai'ian or Other Pacific Islander. On recent census questionnaires, respondents have been allowed to select more than one race.

Considering race and ethnicity as completely separate identities is unusually American and has come under criticism by certain groups and members of the public. The OMB's five minimum race categories, while dictated as a minimum set, has had the effect of removing Hispanic or Latino as a write-in race option, to which some had become accustomed. This has specifically been targeted for criticism, as has the lack of an option for Arabs, Persians, and other ethnicities who may not be comfortable identifying as white but do not fall into any of the other provided categories.