Can anyone explain to me a racial issue?

Question

I see everywhere they ask about ethnicity, they put as categories:

white (not hispanic)
black (not hispanic)
native american (not hispanic)
asian (not hispanic)
two or more races (not hispanic)
hispanic (regardless of race)

Why is that? I would have guessed that your race is your race regardless of the language you speak, Why make hispanic a race, when it has nothing to do with it?

Do you stop being what you are if you speak spanish or what?
It makes no sense, I think

Answer 1

Hispanic is not a race. Hispanicity is an ethnicity/culture shared by spanish speaking people in North America. Black, white, and asian, however, are races.

Answer 2

Hispanic isn't a language (spanish), it's a denotation of origin. White (non-hispanic) is denoting that you come from a european background, minus spain.

Almost the entirety of South America is considered hispanic, with many different cultural origins, (African slaves being brought to Brazil, etc.) Hispanic (regardless of race) is to clarify what ethnic group you wish to group yourself with.

Answer 3

I am Spanish but have white skin... I cant write down 'white' when i know my ethnicity is Spanish!... I will like for the Census, United States, Colleges, work places, etc to have a good idea of the amount of ethnicity/races/ different cultures/different languages there is in this country.

Answer 4

Main Entry: His·pan·ic
Date: circa 1889
: of, relating to, or being a person of Latin American descent living in the United States; especially : one of Cuban, Mexican, or Puerto Rican origin

Answer 5

The whole thing is basically political. It's all for statistics to keep track of different groups.
We are all of one race....the human race. The are no races withing human beings, just cultural and physical differences.

Answer 6

I just put Other. Everyone's got a littler something else in them and I don't think it's right to make us categorize ourselves.