Students in U.S. public schools can now write in more than one race except for some "Latinos"

Children of multiracial parents in the U.S. will have now the chance to write in several options to define their race and ethnicity, when filling enrollment forms in public schools. 

However, the Euro-centric term Hispanic is still included.

The Washington Post published today an article by Michael Alison Chandler and Maria Glod stating that now multiracial students in the U.S. will have the chance to fill several racial heritages “in an effort to develop a more accurate portrait of classrooms transformed by immigration and interracial marriage”:

“Starting in 2010, under Education Department rules approved two years ago to comply with a government-wide policy shift, parents will be able to check all boxes that apply in a two-step questionnaire with reshaped categories. 

First, they will indicate whether a student is of Hispanic or Latino origin, or not. (The two terms will encompass one group.) Then they will identify a student as one or more of the following: American Indian or Alaska native; Asian; black or African American; native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander; or white.

For many families in the District, Montgomery and other local counties that have felt forced to deny a part of their children's heritage, the new way of counting, mandated by the federal government, represents a long-awaited acknowledgment of their identity: Enrollment forms will allow students to identify as both white and American Indian, for example, or black and Asian. But changing labels will make it harder to monitor progress of groups that have trailed in school, including black and Hispanic students.”

There is something very important missing here: they are still making the huge mistake of calling Hispanics to the peoples of the Americas. This is the U.S. Department of Education we are talking about. How can you teach our children a fake version of our own human history and culture?

"All students who indicate Hispanic or Latino ethnicity will be counted in that group, regardless of their race."

Hispania was the Roman province including what is today Spain and Portugal. Map from Dearqueologia

I wonder, if the U.S. Department of Education is trying to protect the rights of parents who are multiracial, then why do they keep imposing some children within a fake ethnic background?

We are not Hispanic

We are actually people of mostly Native or Indigenous heritage, mixed with African, European, and Asian, and other ethnicities.

Even if we had some European ancestors, they are not necessarily Spanish people, because in the last five centuries there were immigrants from other nationalities coming to our continent as well.

The "educators" in the U.S. are not unaware that we are not from Spain. They want to impose the term Hispanic, even if it's not our race nor our cultural heritage. We are not of exclusive European origin.

I insist. We are amostly Native Americans and Afro descendants, we are from this continent and our cultural background – and especially our racial heritage is not Hispanic at all.

It's sad to see our children being miseducated. When it comes to recognize people’s true heritage, the U.S. government seem to ignore our roots.

Latino students of Native heritage.
Photo from Consejo Counseling and Referral Service Washington State

Native American students.
Photo from New Mexico Alliance for School-Based Health Care

The U.S. government calls us Hispanic because many of us hold Spanish surnames, which were imposed to our ancestors. Also because some of us speak Spanish.

With that criteria, they should call Anglo to Black people who only speaks English. What about a Navajo person who only speaks English and his/her last name is Johnson? The Washington Post says:

“Racial and ethnic information, collected when children register for school, can inform school board decisions on reading programs, discipline procedures or admissions policies for gifted classes. The government looks at test scores of minority groups to help determine whether schools make the grade under the No Child Left Behind law.”

What about a Black student from Panama, a White student from Spain, and a Native student from Mexico? This is so ridiculous.

In other words, the U.S. Department of Education allows multiracial parents to recognize their children heritage but still they place OUR Latino multiracial children in one fake category. This has to stop.

Peruvian American dancers in San Francisco.
Photo by Susie Poulelis

Hispanics
Photo Wikipedia

Once again, Hispanics are those of Spanish heritage, they are mostly white Europeans, they have a different cultures than Latin Americans.

We speak different languages than Spaniards, we live differently, we follow different religions, our food, customs, and other cultural traditions are not the same. They can be similar, but never the same because we are diverse communities mixed with diverse heritages.

Here are more examples:

Dominican Americans are mostly African descendants
Photo Dominican Parade in NYC

Mexican Americans indigenous students in New York
Photos by NYClovesNYC

Finally, here is a brief conversation I had about this topic with a Navajo (Dine) man, about Native peoples who speak English or Spanish:

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