If you are a family with multiple cultures represented, a family that has immigrated to a new country, a mixed race family, an interfaith family, una familia multilingüe, an adoptive family, an expat family, a host family, holidays are a balancing act of choosing “which,” “how,” and “when” to incorporate the different traditions and customs.

In our family, my husband is from Mexico, I am from the U.S., and we have two biological daughters, and two sons who are adopted from China and Ethiopia. Out of serendipity, many important holidays from our four cultures fall within a 3-month period.

From November through January (and sometimes February!), our multicultural family celebrates Día de los Muertos, Thanksgiving, St. Nicholas Day, Día de la Virgen de Guadalupe, Las Posadas, Noche Buena, Christmas, New Year’s (both “western” and “Chinese/Lunar”), Genna (Ethiopian Christmas), Reyes Magos, and Timkat (Ethiopian, “Epiphany”) and a few birthdays. Whew! Just typing it out, I’m already making lists in my head of things I need to do and plans I need to organize.

At the beginning, when our kids were younger, we would haphazardly put things together at the last minute: “Isn’t tomorrow Reyes Magos? Should we get the kids something?” or “Let’s go out for Ethiopian food for Genna today.” We didn’t put a lot of thought into teaching the reason behind the traditions, or explaining why the holidays were celebrated and their cultural importance. In fact, because we didn’t have a plan, we would completely skip holidays sometimes!

When our older kids were about 6 or 7, my husband and I decided to make the traditions more intentional. Family traditions are a key component to healthy family relationships: they strengthen family bonds, teach our children our family values, give our kids a sense of identity and security within our family, and instill pride in our children as they develop their cultural heritage. Think about it: the traditions we make with our children create special memories that most likely, they will pass on to their children.

Traditions do not have to be complicated, take a lot of time, or cost a lot of money, but I would argue that they should be deliberate and repeated consistently in order for them to truly become a part of your family culture. In my type-A world, the first thing to do to get organized is to make a list.

And so, on a “date night” to the café at our local bookstore, my husband and I sat down with a notebook and made up a calendar of the holidays that we would like to celebrate with our kids and which traditions we wanted to incorporate. We each had a strong view of the US and Mexican inclusions, but China and Ethiopia required us to do additional research (both on-line and asking our Chinese and Ethiopian friends).

Some of the traditions are simple and quite common: hanging our homemade stockings by the chimney as I had always done as a girl; putting up the Nativity scene as a family as my husband had always done in Mexico; making Christmas cookies together. Others involve meshing traditions from two or more cultures: we now set up the Christmas tree while listening to Christmas music from around the world and eating tapas and Chinese dumplings, and this time of year we read tons of books about Christmas in Mexico and in the U.S.

We wrote everything down, even if it was just attending celebrations as a ritual: visiting the Ethiopian church festival for their Genna (Christmas) celebration; partying with adoptive families at the Chinese Consulate’s annual Chinese New Year event; going to our church for their Día de la Virgen de Guadalupe mass (that is always followed by folkloric dances and amazing food!).

It’s been three years since we’ve made the family calendar, and every year it seems we add new family traditions – sparklers on Noche Buena, a new annual museum exhibit for Dia de los Muertos, and we started inviting friends over every January for a rosca de reyes party. For our family, raising our children to be proud of their cultural background is as important as raising them to be bilingual. Celebrations and their corresponding customs are the perfect way to pass on your cultural values and heritage, don’t you think?

What are your favorite holidays traditions? How do you balance the different cultures in your family?

“They put me in special ed when I started school. They thought I couldn’t learn, but it was because I didn’t speak English.”

During a conversation with a friend, he shared with me his experience 30+ years ago in kindergarten. During the first week of school, my friend was taken out of his regular class and placed in a separate, segregated class for students with special needs. As an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher and a parent of bilingual children, I was shocked. And yet, upon research, I found that the tendency to over-identify students who speak a language besides English as having learning disabilities is more common than we’d like to think.

Misidentifying ELL students and placing them into the wrong class obviously can hinder our children from reaching their potential, but also diverts necessary resources from students with actual disabilities and needs. In my friend’s case: he was bored, didn’t understand his teacher or his classmates, and began misbehaving in class. The school spent a year labeling my friend as defiant and troubled, until finally a new teacher came in who recognized my friend’s strengths and worked with him to help improve his English.

On the flip side, there are true English language learners (ELLs), who do have learning differences that might need attention — whose needs are not met solely in the regular classroom. School sometimes overlook ELL students either because of lack of funding for special education programs, fear of litigation from parents, or lack of knowledge about bilingual students (especially in districts without a lot of ELL students).

From the time we first adopted my son from China at age 3 1/2, he had some difficulties in speech. Different well-meaning teachers, doctors and therapists have mentioned that “maybe” we would want to hold off on speaking Spanish to him until he got English (we didn’t stop) later, in elementary school, others have blamed his difficulties in reading on his ELL status.

Blaming his language background meant that some red flags — that would normally indicate reading issues — were overlooked. Despite my rumblings, my son was not tested for dyslexia or learning disabilities, and not accepted into a special reading program. I was told that his reading fluency (how quickly, accurately, automatically and expressively someone reads) was slow because he was still mastering English (and Spanish).

Fortunately, I am an ESL teacher (though normally my students are older). As his mom, I saw his struggles and recognized that these were not the common difficulties that ELL and bilingual learners experience. With a mother’s love and instinct, and a teacher’s nagging doubt, I pushed and insisted that there was something else going on besides his language learning history. Today, I am happy to report that my son is getting the resources and support he needs from the reading specialist, after assessments have finally indicated that his struggles with reading are not because he is an ELL student.

I have learned many lessons through my journey as both an ESL teacher and as a parent. The number one lesson for parents is to be your child’s number one advocate. You are reading with your children every night, you are helping them with their homework, and you observe if there are tears and impossible challenges in everyday work. If you feel in your gut that your child isn’t “getting” something that they should be able to master after practice — it is your right to request that he or she be tested and resources be made available (even if they are still in ELL classes!). Students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds should receive the support and programs they need in order to be successful learners.

At the same time, if you feel that your child has been misidentified as learning disabled because of his bilingual background, ask how their native language was taken into account during the assessments; ask for a second opinion from a district specialist with experience assessing ELLs; ask for six more months of focused English help before they are tested for a learning disability. Bilingual students who are still working on English and are mistakenly placed in special education programs will have more limited access to rigorous curricula, have lower expectations for academic potential, and will not be spending sufficient time learning English as needed to become fully bilingual.

Disproportionate representation of ELL students in special needs categories is a huge problem and barrier to their success (whether because they are in special ed and shouldn’t be or because they are not getting the specialized services they need). While most schools are trying their best, it is our job as parents to advocate for the best possible learning experience for our kids. As a team, parents and teachers can work together to find the most effective program and environment for our bilingual children.

Do you have an experience being mislabeled or being denied services for yourself or your child due to your linguistic background? How did you over come the challenge?

{Photo courtesy of Becky Morales}

Before having children, I fantasized how easy it would be to raise them speaking Spanish, English and even Mandarin. Although I am not a native speaker, I was confident that my Spanish skills, sheer determination, and obviously my Spanish-speaking husband would propel our household into bilingual bliss.

We began by speaking to our children in (mostly) Spanish, but with both my husband and I working full-time while taking grad classes, their exposure to Spanish was limited. When we adopted my first son from China, our intention was to also integrate some Mandarin: we drove to Chinatown for “Chinese as a Second Language” classes for several years, attending the classes as a family.

Now that my four kids are in elementary school, and English dominates their day (even in after school activities), we look for creative ways to have the kids practice speaking in Spanish, and get a bit of Mandarin as well.

• We travel abroad during the summers, and enroll the kids in day camps or hire tutors to teach them games and songs. Playing with their counselors and other campers their age has been a wonderful experience, and their learning and appreciation of Spanish has grown tremendously.
• Skyping with our relatives in Mexico, and letting the kids see and talk to their cousins, grandparents, and tíos has been a wonderful way for our kids to speak Spanish in a comfortable and loving environment, and their excitement is palpable. They love showing off new soccer skills or art projects!
• Bringing culture and language into our home, we have hosted 2 exchange students: one from Ethiopia (per my Ethiopian’s son’s request!) and currently one from Taiwan (next will be one from Latin America!). Our students have taught us phrases, nicknames, and cultural bits and shared holidays with us and we have really enjoyed the experiences. Even if you can’t host for an entire semester, check with your local university to see about hosting a student for the weekend or just an evening- the students love getting invited into your home for a cultural exchange!
• Specifically hiring babysitters that speak the target language is something we have only just started to do (and constantly ask “What took us so long!?”). We ask that when she is here with the kids, that she only speak Spanish: playing board games, watching movies, and reading bedtime stories all en español.
• Make some new friends: almost every weekend we get together with a group of families in our area who all speak Spanish with their kids. Although recently we’ve noticed the kids speaking some English with each other, it is a supportive group from all over Latin America and Spain and we share the same goal of raising bilingual kids. Meet like-minded families on meetup.com, at a bilingual storytime at the library, through a Spanish-speaking church service, or through the grapevine.

{Image courtesy of Becky}

Editor’s note: We continue with our week of Sylvan Dell Publishing Spanish-language book reviews. Check out the book review below and don’t forget to enter our GIVEAWAY for each book reviewed, but also the GIVEAWAY on Friday for a one year subscription to the Sylvan Dell eBooks iPad app Fun eReader!

BOOK DESCRIPTION/REVIEW

In ¿Hay alguien en casa? by Marianne Berkes, Zara Zarigúeya is looking for a home where she can raise her expected baby possums. The reader learns that some animals are diurnal (awake during the day), while others are nocturnal. Each animal has a different type of house that is perfectly suited to them: the bees living in the colmena so they can take care of their queen, the nido of the birds, high in the trees to protect the babies from predators. In the end Zara does find a home perfectly suited for her in time for her babies.

This was a wonderful book for my nature-loving kids, and compliments their lessons in school about animal homes. Whether in English or Spanish, I especially appreciated the vocabulary presented because even the newer terms were easy to understand with the colorful illustrations and detailed text. My four children (ages 5-9) and I highly recommend this book for elementary-aged kids.

BOOK DETAILS

Title: ¿Hay alguien en casa?

Author: Marianne Berkes

Illustrator: Rebecca Dickinson

Ages: 4-10 years

Publisher/Year: Sylvan Dell/2013

ISBN: 978-1-60718-7141

Price: $17.95

Website: Sylvan Dell Publishing

The Giveaway!

We are giving away one copy of ¿Hay alguien en casa? to one lucky winner. All you have to do is leave us a comment letting us know why you think your child will enjoy this book.

You can also enter to win one of the other three Sylvan Dell Publishing books we’re giving away, plus an annual subscription to its Fun eReader for iPad and computer devices. To enter each one, visit this link.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My kids sat at the kitchen table, in the house we rented in Mérida, México for the summer, so excited for their first clase de español. Although my kids understand Spanish completely, we love spending the summers in Mexico to get them to practice more speaking, enrich their vocabulary, and immerse them in the culture. Other summers we have enrolled them in cursos de verano, and they love the day camp atmosphere and meeting new friends. On this trip, however, we decided to hire a teacher to give us language and culture classes.

The first class was mainly talking, letting the teacher get to know the kids and their language abilities. They played games, read stories, sang songs, and she asked them question upon question about their home, friends and school. I was so excited to hear them chattering away! At the end of class, Miss Lulu sat me down and asked me bluntly if anyone ever correct their errors: “Noté que han desarollado unos… hábitos malos en cuestión de gramática” (“I noticed that they have developed some bad habits in their grammar.”)

Uf… I was a little speechless at first. “Um, no tanto.. de vez en cuando…” Never wanting to interrupt a story or thought, and definitely trying hard not to embarrass them, I was usually so happy to hear them speak to me in Spanish that I let errors go. Maybe because we are on the go, or maybe because we are so used to hearing them- both my husband and I are not really accustomed to correcting these same mistakes that they continue to make.. But looking back to how many times they have repeated the same errors over and over, left me rethinking error correction. I had unwillingly let them burn these phrases into their little bilingual heads:

Soy más rápido de Toñito.

¿Puedo tener agua?

Yo me gusta esta quesadilla.

Voy a la baño.

I cringe as I type these, yet not a day goes by without hearing these. I hear how Miss Lulu corrects these easily in class — with no humiliation.

“En español, di ‘soy más rápido QUE Toñito,’ mi amor”.

”Repite: “¿Me das agua por favor?”

Obviously there’s a time and place for correction, and no reason to make hesitant speakers even more self-conscious. Especially for my more sensitive kids, if I were in public, I should make note and remember the lesson for later. We talked about the need to model proper Spanish — or at least give the kids exposure to different native speakers so they aren’t only getting input from me!

Another great strategy is that Miss Lulu has been singing plenty of songs, and playing lots of silly games (that I am attempting to learn!) that practice certain grammar points with endless repetition. One game, where everyone has to escape el lobo, has the kids describing what the lobo is doing in the morning.

“Me estoy bañando”.

“Me estoy vistiendo”.

She also has been using the specific phrases in context during their conversations, practicing both grammar and introducing new vocabulary at the same time. For example, we had a lesson in tropical fruits.

A mí me gusta la pitahaya.. ¿a ti te gusta?

A mí me gustan las huayas… ¿a ti te gustan?

Before this summer, correcting my kids’ mistakes in Spanish simply was not on my radar. Now that I’ve seen different strategies that work, and now that my children’s Spanish really has reached a new level of fluency, I am going to try to start breaking these habits before they are further cemented.

What are some mistakes that your kids have adopted or acquired? How have you been able to break bad language habits?

{Image courtesy of Becky Morales}

Editor’s note: We continue with our 31 Days of Reading in Spanish. Check out the book review below and don’t forget to enter our weekly GIVEAWAY of $100 worth of books in Spanish!

BOOK DESCRIPTION/REVIEW

How many times have your kids wished to be older and have more privileges? How often are they envious of an older sibling that is capable and allowed to do more things?

In Gwendolyn Zepeda’s award-winning bilingual picture book Los Tamales de Ana/Growing Up with Tamales, Ana is the younger sister who is always wishing she were just like her older sister Lidia. Every Christmas the girls are assigned jobs to help make the tamales: mixing the masa, spreading it on the corn husks, filling and rolling the tamales — and every year Ana envies what her sister is able to do.

We see Ana getting older as the years pass, turning 10, 12, 14, and 16, and Ana sees Lidia always two years older, and always able to do the more difficult tasks.

Sweet Ana does not get discouraged and knows that when she grows up, she will make the tamales by herself and get to deliver them to all of her family and friends.

Los Tamales de Ana is a delightful story and combines the holiday tradition of making tamales as a family with the wishes of a little girl who can’t wait to grow up. I can’t wait to take this book out this December when we are making our own tamales!

    BOOK DETAILS

    Title: Growing Up with Tamales/ Los Tamales de Ana

    Author: Gwendolyn Zepeda

    Illustrator: April Ward

    Ages: 3-7 years

    Publisher/Year: Arte Publico Press/2008

    ISBN: 9781558854932

    Price: $20.22 on Amazon.com

I recently read a fascinating study about how dinnertime conversation supports literacy development. Although the study was conducted in English, the fundamental findings seem to apply in all languages: family mealtimes were more often a predictor of academic and social success than even time spent studying, or participation in sports or church.

Regardless of family demographics, teenagers in the U.S. who eat with their families five times a week or more have higher rates of academic success, and lower rates of alcohol and drug use.

Obviously families who eat together are more likely to spend time keeping an eye on their kids and their activities and friends, but there seems to be more about family dinner conversations that help keep kids out of trouble. When we engage our kids in meaningful conversations at dinner, we get a glimpse into their world, their opinions, and their fears. Parents don’t only learn more intimate details about our kids and their friends, in family chats we have the opportunity to:

• teach them social etiquette
• show how to debate a topic
• practice expressing their opinions, telling stories, and understanding
• see other perspectives
• learn new words/concepts

One of the greatest benefits of mealtime conversations is the language development. As the parent of four kids ages 5-8 (who speak English all day at school!) I am always looking for more ways to get my kids speaking in Spanish. My husband and I sat down and came up with 56 questions to stimulate conversation in Spanish. The questions ask about wishes, likes/dislikes, opinions, friends — great for parents and kids to answer together and hopefully get everyone involved.

Here’s how you can participate: print out the list, cut apart the questions and fold them up. At dinner, have family members take turns picking out a question and answering it. For the little ones who can’t read yet, let them pick out a question and have an older sibling or mami or papi read it. Don’t worry about grammar or mispronunciations — enjoy the moment and focus on the content of what’s being said. Turn off the TV, relax, laugh and have fun!

For a printable version of the 56 conversation starters in Spanish click here.

How often does your family get to sit down and eat dinner together? How do you get your kids to speak more Spanish at dinnertime?

{Photo courtesy of Becky Morales}

References: Snow, C., & Beals, D. (2006). Mealtime talk that supports literacy development. In Larson, R., Wiley, A., & Branscomb, K. (Eds.), Family mealtime as a context of development and socialization (pp. 1-15). San Francisco, CA: Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

el apodo (m): Nombre que suele darse a una persona, en sustitución del propio, normalmente tomado de sus peculiaridades físicas o de alguna otra circunstancia

Although certainly not unique to the Latino culture, los apodos, or nicknames, are ubiquitous in Spanish-speaking countries whether it be on the playground, within families, or of course, in professional sports. These clever and silly names are an inherent part of Latino culture, yet usually misunderstood by outsiders and miscategorized as offensive.

As the definition states, los apodos are oftentimes taken from a particular physical characteristic. The first time I heard someone being called “Gorda,” I was completely taken aback and my eyes shifted around the conversation, expecting an awkward silence from the offended party. Instead we carried on talking, and I filed away my questions for later.

In Spain, I asked my host-mom why they called her “Gorda,” when she was actually very slim. “Oh, están bromeando.. me lo dicen con cariño,” and she brushed it off. I wasn’t convinced and silently vowed that no one would ever call me gorda no matter how much “love” was added. But was she really OK with the name?

I later lived in Ecuador and lived with a family where nicknames abounded. The son-in-law was “el Chinito,” a daughter was “la Negri,” and I was “la gringuita.” Again, coming from the U.S., the names sounded harsh. Yet for the six months I lived with the family, I never learned their real names because literally every single person called them by their apodos, and I learned to follow suit.

Finally I met my husband, and he explained the nickname phenomena to me:

“We like to laugh at ourselves, and don’t get offended easily. But also, los apodos are a gesture to show inclusiveness into a social group. They become a part of the group’s identity and cohesiveness, since the type of apodo varies based on the social group. For example, on my swim team I was “cebrita” (little zebra) because of a black and white Speedo I had, but with a different group of friends I was “flaco.”

A fellow student at university always wore a sweater to school, so he was known as “Suéteres” (and still is to this day). Another guy liked to eat Cheetos, and voilà: he instantly became “Cheetos” from that day forward. “Jarocho” was the student from Veracruz, and “Topeka” was a blonde guy from Quito, who looked like a gringo from Topeka, Kansas, but spoke not a word of English. An engineer (ingeniero) becomes “Inge,” a licenciado becomes “lic,” a teacher “el profe.”

One of the most famous apodos right now is the soccer player from Chivas and now Manchester United, “El Chicharito.” His dad — also a famous soccer player — had green eyes, and earned the name “El Chícharo” (pea). Once his little son began to play, they transferred his father’s nickname to him.

After understanding their use, I’m a little envious that I don’t have a cool nickname! I’ve been trying to get my husband to come up with one (besides “gorda” because I still can’t get past it ) — at least if not for me, then for my kiddos.

What are the creative nicknames in your family? I love hearing los apodos, and the history and context behind them — share your favorites in the comments!

{Image by  MrGuilt}

Editor’s note: We present you another informative post full of helpful tips on things to keep in mind if you’re thinking about immersion travel. Today’s post was written by Becky Morales, one of our regular contributors, who spends summers in Mexico with her four children and who participated in our SpanglishBaby Google+ Hangout on immersion travel earlier this week. 

Have you ever thought about taking your kids abroad for the summer, as an intensive language experience? Not only would they be immersed in day-to-day language, but also they would have the incredible opportunity to learn about the culture firsthand. Planning a summer abroad and preparing to travel with young children may seem like a daunting task to undertake; while it does take a lot of work, an organized plan can help make it less overwhelming.

The first step in planning a summer abroad is to determine the location. While some of us will automatically stay with family members or friends, others might choose a completely a new location. Through word of mouth and research, narrow your choices down to a country, region, or city. We normally go to Mexico City to stay with relatives, but this year we chose the Yucatán peninsula, because there are so many places nearby we would like to experience with our children.

Next, decide if you’ll stay with friends or relatives, pay to have a homestay (living with a local family), rent an apartment, or hop from hotel to pension around the region. Think creatively about lodging:

• Would you ever consider house-swapping? There are web sites (such as HomeLink, HomeExchange, or Intervac Home Exchange) for families who would like to swap their house with someone in another country for a set amount of time.
• Check expat forums on-line, or yahoo groups dedicated to specific locations for house-sitting opportunities, especially during holidays and summer when expats frequently come back home. We found an amazing opportunity to housesit a mini-farm near Alajuela, Costa Rica. Our children were too young at the time, though I would love to do so in the future!
• Look up a local real estate agent for monthly rentals. Though uncommon in the US and some areas abroad, there are some areas where families can rent apartments by the month.

Whatever you decide, consider your transportation, and factor in public transportation into the budget. For special, longer trips we have rented a car for the day — but mostly we use taxis and local buses while abroad.

Before going abroad, decide if your or your children will be taking classes, volunteering, or just doing some slow-travel. During the summer — but remember that summer in the US is not always summer break in other countries — there are many day camps and summer schools that might interest your children.

Many of these cursos de verano are not on-line and must be found once in country. Fortunately, it isn’t always necessary to register the kids months in advance as is customary in the US. When you get to your destination, look at health clubs, park districts, community centers, dance studios, art studios, martial arts gyms, soccer camps- the possibilities are endless.

If volunteering is your goal, check out nonprofits in the area. We have visited orphanages, brought donations to schools, and this summer we’re excited to go on sea turtle patrol and participate in beach clean-ups. Volunteering gives your kids another perspective, develops empathy, and helps kids feel they are a part of something bigger.

Finally, in the months before we travel, we take out tons of guidebooks from our library to research what we want to see and do when we get there. Over dinner, our family discusses exciting day trips or cool places we want to visit while we’re there. We want to balance the different types of “field trips” because- frankly- kids get bored if you pack in all ruinas or all museos. Variety is the key: ecological/natural sights like bio-parks, river tours; places to see wildlife like reservas or snorkeling; cultural sights like a visit to a Mayan village; historical tours of an haciendas for example; pueblos, beaches, or ruins.

Are you planning an immersion travel trip this summer? What other planning tips do you have for families?

{Photo courtesy of Becky Morales}

One day when I was teaching ESL, I was working with a group of students from Mexico and Central America. Pencils scratched the paper, the energy was electric, the excitement palpable: we were filling out their applications for a program at a community college that would allow them to take a class over the summer.

And the, we got to the demographic section:

“Miss, am I white, black, Asian, or American Indian?” asked a young girl from El Salvador. The group burst out laughing and some said she should write in “brown,” while others told her to check the “Hispanic” box. I read over the sheet… The EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) that collects federal data on race and ethnicity in the workforce uses five racial distinctions: American Indian or Alaska Native; Asian; Black or African American; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; and White. Separately, they include one ethnicity category: Hispanic or Latino.

I didn’t know which race the students should mark, so I called the college later that day for clarification. The person who answered told me that the students should choose from the choices given. I explained that the students were from Mexico and Central America, and didn’t feel they fit into any of the categories. In a hushed tone, she told me “if they’re not black, have them mark white and then Hispanic for ethnicity.”

When we reconvened, the students were outraged:

“How can you tell us we’re white when our whole lives in the US we’re told we’re not!?”

“Teacher, look at my skin!!! Does it look white?”

“I’m marking American Indian. México es parte de las Américas, no?”

“I’m not putting anything for race!”

The race conundrum is not new, and it’s not going anywhere. Many Latinos view this categorization as a question of culture and language, not of race. A percentage of the population will leave the race box blank, while some will check the “other” box. Others ask “why is it important for the U.S. government to know the racial background or ethnicity of their citizens?”

It all comes down to money: $400 billion of federal money (from our taxes) that needs to be allocated annually, based on population demographics to pay for schools, transportation, public health and other vital social programs, such as English-language education and job training. When people do not check a box, a computer “guesses” their race, based on the neighborhood and other factors.

In 1977, the federal government declared “Hispanic” would be considered an ethnicity, not a race. They decided that citizens could identify with being “Hispanic” or “not Hispanic” and after identifying themselves as one of the five recognized “races” white, black, Asian, American Indian or Pacific Islander. (note: though indigenous people are genetically related- from the northernmost point of the Arctic to the southernmost point of Argentina- the American Indian box was reserved specifically for the 564 tribes residing in the U.S. that are federally recognized).

Multiple ethnic groups felt misplaced: which box should a Bedouin from North Africa or Egyptian check? Where did a Peruvian of Quechua descent fit? (the U.S. Census said both should choose “white”). What if your mom was Japanese, and your dad was Jamaican? (at that time, the U.S. Census said “pick one”).

For the first time, on the 2000 U.S. Census, multiracial people were allowed to check more than one race, and about 3% of the nation did so. In fact, multicultural families are one of the fastest growing demographics groups in the nation, as interracial marriage is growing.

In the same census, about 18 million Latinos (around 37%) checked the “Hispanic” box and when asked about race, self-identified as “some other race.” Some other race… In fact, Latinos have a mixed heritage that might include European, indigenous, African, and Asian ancestry.

Latinos were perplexed again by “race” choices in the 2010 census: White, Black, American Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Native Hawaiian and Samoan. With these choices, where did Latinos fit in?

Now, for the 2020 U.S. Census, the Census Bureau is thinking about combining ethnicity and race questions into a single “race or origin” category. If so, “Hispanic” may be a choice. While some groups argue that “race” is invented by man, a social construct, others are thrilled the Latinos are being considered and included. As a multicultural family, we will be marking several boxes on the next census, though knowing that we are all truly one race: the human race.

What do you think about the possible changes to the census?

{Photo by  moodboardphotography }