Ethnicity

Since being laid off in November I have been applying for jobs like crazy and at the end of nearly all online applications there is a brief survey. This survey usually consists of a few different things; ethnicity, race, gender, veteran, disability, etc.

If you haven't seen my name and my picture yet, take a look. I clearly have no Latino ancestry...which is why all of my friends here in the US make fun of me so much. When I fill out these surveys at the end of a job application I'm just not sure what to pick; should I choose to not disclose? Should I put that I'm white, non-hispanic. Should I say I'm hispanic, but fear if the HR person sees that and sees me and my name they will think there has been some mistake?

The very last survey I finished I chose not to disclose, just to mix it up a little. But the introduction to the question had this as an explanation:
Ethnicity
Hispanic or Latino: a person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.

I like how this says culture, regardless of race. According to this I can claim to be Hispanic or Latina. Now my friends back in Mexico would never argue this, but my friends, family and acquaintances here in the US laugh at me when I say that I have Mexican, Hispanic or Latin ethnicity. And although my ancestors came to the US 100+ years ago from Norway and Germany; I know zero German and zero Norwegian. The only traditional food I can make is lefsa; which I learned from my aunt who has never stepped foot outside of the US.

This is me just killing time between job hunting. Any thoughts/opinions on this?

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by JP on January 16, 2009 at 11:44am: Krista, I know how it is. I am mixed race with Latin, Gypsy (Romainian) and whatever added to the ingredients. When I fill out those surveys, I get all proud and mark: Hispanic. But, then the other mixes jump and say, "Wait a minute now, what about us?" Then, there is the spliting of celebrating both my Mother's and Dad's culture. Why is there not a selection that we can mark: HUMAN?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jacqueline Zarate Chediak on January 16, 2009 at 1:39pm: Hi Krista. Interesting perspective, however, just so you know, the so called EOE act is only that an act that was created so some lawyers could refer to it during a lawsuit to get money from employers. The data you are referring to is mainly to fill out quotas the government imposes to companies and for these to show a "balanced workforce," I was actually told by one of my previous bosses that the new hire had to be female and African-American to avoid a lawsuit from the person they were firing, and to "meet the quota" of the department. I couldn't believe that I (a Latino woman) was being asked to "discriminate" among candidates!
Now that I'm searching for a job, wonder how to respond to these questions. Am I going to be eliminated for not being a White Anglo or for being a Female or for not responding? This is like playing lotto!! LOL. Take care and good luck!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Krista on January 16, 2009 at 2:13pm: Hi Jacqueline. Nice to know I'm not the only one that doesn't know which to pick. It's a crap chute either way I guess. Good luck to you too!!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ulises Jorge on January 16, 2009 at 5:30pm: Hello Krista,

I'm kind of confused by your question, but I'll try to follow along. By what I can gather you were born and raised in the U.S. from northern European ancestry. If that is the case, you are not Hispanic or Latino. It seems to me that you are equating Hispanic or Latino as a race ("...take a look. I clearly have no Latino ancestry", please, correct me if I'm wrong). But in Latin-America a lot of people look just like you.

Those work surveys (and immigrations forms too) ask if you are Hispanic or Latino and then ask about your race for the simple reason that Hispanics or Latinos can be of any race. When I fill those surveys I select "yes" to the first question and in the race part I select either "black" or "multi-racial" if available.

African-American friends have often told me that I don't "act black". At first this confused me, since as I understood it "black" was a race and not something you could "act". But soon I realize that what they mean was that I was not behaving like an African-American, the reason being that I'm not African-American but a black man from the Dominican Republic. Asking me to behave like and African-American is the same as asking a while man from Argentina to act like a white man from Boston.

Having said that, I'm sure that whoever came with American affirmative action laws didn't think about the fact that someone like Boston Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell, born in Puerto Rico to a Cuban father from Irish and German descent could in theory (if he gets tired of making millions playing baseball) benefits from such laws since he is Hispanic.

Regards,

Ulises; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Julio Romero Aguero on January 17, 2009 at 7:40pm: Krista, I hope this answers your questions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Hispanic; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Maria Gomez on January 23, 2009 at 1:18pm: I'm confused. Are you hispanic or not?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Yelena Rice on January 24, 2009 at 6:49pm: Many Hispanic and Latin people look just like you, so your question confuses me. Hispanic means you can trace your roots back to Hispania, which geographically is the Iberian peninsula of Europe made up of Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, and other countries. Latino means you come from any Latin American or Caribean country, where there is quite a mix of races, many are natives of course, but most come from Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, etc. What binds us Hispanics and Latins together is traditions, language, and to some extent religion - in other words, culture. Surely you saw a selection for "Anglo" in the job applications - Anglo refers to people originating from England and the Germanic peninsula of Angeln (hence Anglo), where English language and to some extent religion are the common bonds. Since are of Norway and German descent, then you need to select "Anglo". Thanks and good luck to you!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Robert Abeldano on March 29, 2009 at 9:11pm: LMFAO! :) Your comments are hilarious. I say choose not to disclose. I did not know Rita Hayworth was considered White Hispanic.; ▶ Reply to This

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