[Quesita]

So Liana starts preschool in two weeks. For the past two weeks I've been carrying around the official form that I think will follow her through her years in the NYC school system. Her doctor needs to fill out all the stuff about health. I need to fill out the stuff about name and address and date of birth and race.

So one side of the form says "Hispanic yes/no" and I put yes. Then it asks race, and says "check all that apply." After going back and forth, I checked the US Census website, and decided to put "American Indian" because even though she is not a member of a federally recognized US tribe, the US Census does include "Latin American Indian" in that category. Liana is clearly mostly Mayan. Maybe all Mayan. But I really don't think so.

For a long time I've really thought that she has some ancestory from the Garifuna people, who are mostly black (and some Arawak Indian) who populate the eastern coast of Guatemala and other Central American countries.

Her facial features and hair look Mayan. But her skin is darker than most indigenous people. More telling is her body type. She is long and slender, unlike the sort of boxy Mayan body type. She is taller than a friend of indigenous ancestory who is a year and a half older than her.

I've always planned on doing one of those DNA tests that traces ancestory, and if she does have Garifuna ancestory, I plan to acknowlege it. But the forms need to be handed in now, and "maybe" is not an option.

So should I also check "black" under the "check all that apply" option, even though I don't know for sure? I feel that if I don't, I am denying a part of who she is.

[millie58]

Wow!! I wish I could help you. It'll be interesting to see what other folks have to say.

[sbaglio]

Personally, I don't think you can be perfect in an imperfect system. The categories are somewhat artificial, and are general because one cannot capture all the nuances of race and ethnicity that are inherent in situations like that of your daughter.

MY DH is considered Hispanic here in the US. But in his home country, there is no such thing as "Latino", or "black", or "white". There is just too much intermixing to say for sure. He considers those to be Western categorizations. How does one really accurately classify "mestizo" on US forms?

I don't know how classifications that you make now will follow your daughter later on in life, but I personally would not worry too much about it if it were my child. The categories are not perfect, so I would choose what is most true in your mind.

[momraine]

I have the same problem with my child from Poland who is Roma (gypsy). Everyone here thinks he is hispanic based on skin, hair and eye color, but he's not. In Eastern Europe they are considered a different ethnicity.

[LeighM]

I have never filled out the race section of forms for our daughter (She is multi-racial). I you are not confortable feeling it out - leave it blank. We have never had anyone insist we feel out that section of any form.

[Sleeplvr]

It's important to fill in something on those forms. You can change it as you find out more information... Specialized funding could go to that school based on certain ethnic groups and it helps other parents who are looking at school systems decide if it would be a good fit for their kids. That could work two ways... some people will avoid it if there are too many kids of color and others will love the diversity there. When I registered my step-son for school I noticed that his mom had never put a race for him on any of his documents. She has no problem listing her race as white but had a problem with putting a race down for him. Oh well... I left it blank because he wasn't my child and I left it up to my DH to step in and handle it. It got me wondering how many other kids are flying under the radar like that.

Anywho... I know your DD is not a CIB Native American but just wanted to put this out there in case someone has a child who is. I used to work in the educational system and there were special funds for Native Americans... Don't know if you read the news lately but unemployment is 80% on reservations in this country. Very sad...

[loveajax]

I checked both the black and white boxes for DD's preschool forms. After learning some information lately, I have an "inkling" that DD's birth dad may also be asian (he is black), but since he doesn't know and I don't know, I am sticking to what I do know!

[SHD]

Sleeplvr is right. My DD's school collects this information for the exact reasons S describes. When I filled out the online forms for her school it wouldn't let me check "all that apply." When I went to the school to turn in the actual papers I inquired and was told that on the paper form I could list everything. I, like you, did not want to deny all of her race/ethnicity. I felt by doing this it would be like saying she's more one than another. She'll tell anyone in a heartbeat she's "six colors."

Sbaglio is also right. In an imperfect world how do we be specific. My DD is Japanese but this is put into the Asian category. She is also Jamacian, this goes into the AA category, etc.

I agree, do the best you can with what information you have, if something changes so can the forms.

Good luck to you.

[Quesita]

Originally Posted by Sleeplvr

It's important to fill in something on those forms. You can change it as you find out more information... Specialized funding could go to that school based on certain ethnic groups and it helps other parents who are looking at school systems decide if it would be a good fit for their kids. That could work two ways... some people will avoid it if there are too many kids of color and others will love the diversity there. ...

I honestly had not thought of that! So I looked up the school that I would LOVE my daughter to go to k-12, even though there is a lottery to get in. It is three blocks from home, very project based, and the rest of the schools in the neighborhood are lousy. Here are the stats for the school I'm hoping for:

Renaissance Charter School (the) Student Diversity

• Students by Ethnicity
• http://www.education.com/themes/sky/...ght-arraw.jpeg Hispanic 41 %
• http://www.education.com/themes/sky/...ght-arraw.jpeg Black 22 %
• http://www.education.com/themes/sky/...ght-arraw.jpeg White 19 %
• http://www.education.com/themes/sky/...ght-arraw.jpeg Asian/Pacific Islander 17 %
• http://www.education.com/themes/sky/...ght-arraw.jpeg American Indian/Alaskan Native 1 %

Looks great at first glance! Well, it looks like the neighborhood at first glance, and I love the neighborhood.

However, if 41% of the students are hispanic, and only 1% checked American Indian, that means that the vast majority of hispanics in the nighborhood did not take my approach, given that a very large percentage have at least some indigenous blood.

Also, it is interesting that on my form, "hispanic" was a yes/no question, and race came later. In these statistics, "hispanic" seems to be a race. And mention no of mixed race.

So....I'm stressing too much. It is just a form. I'll check Hispanic-yes, American Indian, and Black. And they'll categorize her however they categorize her. Handing in the form tomorrow!

Thank you to everyone for feedback and words of wisdom.

[oceanica]

I was thinking that if I were filling out this paper, I would leave it blank because I wouldn't want anyone to have any preconceived notions about Athena or Kee based on their race. Otherwise teachers/admins might think they were "special needs" (a term used for aa babies placed for adoption and foster care based on race only) or whatever.
I would think that it's none of anyone's business what their race or ethnicity is.
In reality nobody who is going to be teaching or involved with the kid is probably even looking at a form like that.
But in reading your responses I see some good in putting something down.

[sbaglio]

Originally Posted by oceanica

I was thinking that if I were filling out this paper, I would leave it blank because I wouldn't want anyone to have any preconceived notions about Athena or Kee based on their race. Otherwise teachers/admins might think they were "special needs" (a term used for aa babies placed for adoption and foster care based on race only) or whatever.
I would think that it's none of anyone's business what their race or ethnicity is.
In reality nobody who is going to be teaching or involved with the kid is probably even looking at a form like that.
But in reading your responses I see some good in putting something down.

I've left the categorizations blank before, to make a statement.

[MamaS]

Originally Posted by Quesita

However, if 41% of the students are hispanic, and only 1% checked American Indian, that means that the vast majority of hispanics in the nighborhood did not take my approach, given that a very large percentage have at least some indigenous blood.

Also, it is interesting that on my form, "hispanic" was a yes/no question, and race came later. In these statistics, "hispanic" seems to be a race. .

So....I'm stressing too much. It is just a form. I'll check Hispanic-yes, American Indian, and Black.

It is a form for identity not genetic percentages. When I look in the mirror in the morning I say, "Yep, that's me -- old white woman." Not, "Yep, that's me --old French, Norwegian, Scotch-Irish, Cherokee, Creek woman!" So maybe all those Hispanics looked in the mirror and said -- "I'm Mexican, I'm Guatamalan, I'm Salvadoran etc." not "I'm Mexican with blood from an indigenous tribe."

IMHO -- Who we are is much more important than what we are.

[BethanyB]

It is a form for identity not genetic percentages.

Yes. I think you are thinking into it too much. I would just choose Hispanic and leave it at that. Take for instance my cousin. His dad is white, and his mom is Philipino. When people ask him what he is, they are not referring to the possible white in him. They want to know his ethnicity because of his browness and slanted eyes. Biracial would not really tell anyone anything would it? He will tell people he's Philipino because they are looking for that piece of info.

I personally feel it's important to put race because of the reasons sleep mentioned. Race was very important to me when I began looking at houses and particular schools my kids would go to. I needed to look at the numbers because I wanted a diverse place for my kids.

If you go to greatschools.com you can look up your towns schools and not only see their rating by test scores but you can see the schools racial population and compare them to other schools in the area. That was VERY helpful to me and I'm so glad I had that. There are 17 elementary schools in the town I live in. Many of those 17 have an almost totally CC population. The school my kids go to has one of the higher populations of AA kids.

As far as teachers and making judgements. They are going to SEE your kids - so trust they will know what race they are. If they discriminate, it won't be because they read some form in the school's filiing cabinet. It will be because they see your child's face and have preconceived notions.

[BethanyB]

Can I just say though that I did have to fill out some crazy information for my son's Kindergarten registration. They wanted to know if I breastfed my son and if he got prenatal care and all of these other intrusive questions! Does THAT go on his file? LOL! I just checked no for breast feeding and left the prenatal care thing empty b/c my son is adopted and I simply don't know, and I don't think they need to know he is adopted at this point.

[yehudit]

From a Federal Government perspective, people from Latin America are either white or black with Hispanic/Latino origin or ethnicity. Does it make sense? Nope. But that is how the Feds have decided, for now, to deal with it. Many state and local governments use the same systems because its easier than trying to come up with their own. Check this out fr more info: OMHD|Populations|REMP. (Small plug -- I created this web content when I worked with CDC's Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities)