What’s in a Racial Identity? American Latinos All Over the Map, Study Finds

Latinos who view themselves as white are more likely to be better-educated, earn more, register to vote and vote Republican, according to a national study to be released today on how Latinos identify racially.

The study by the Pew Hispanic Center also found some notable regional differences not yet fully understood. For example, in California, 42% of U.S.-born Mexican Americans identified themselves as white, compared with 63% of their ethnic counterparts in Texas.

The analysis of Census data and recent surveys is perhaps the most detailed in a relatively new field of research on how Latinos adapt to the rigid racial categories they encounter in the United States. It is the first to probe the differences between Latinos who consider themselves white and those who say they are of some other race.

In many Latin American countries, race is a flexible concept and can change with a person’s status in society. Historical and contemporary evidence shows that a Latin American strain of racism favors lighter-skinned over darker-skinned people, but as an old Caribbean proverb says, “Money bleaches.”

In the United States, Latinos are an ethnic group made up of people of different races, often mixed, and with a variety of ancestral homelands. In the 2000 Census, they mainly selected two racial categories to describe themselves. Forty-eight percent identified themselves as white, and 42% chose “some other race.”

Latinos who perceive themselves as white appear to feel that their place in American society is more secure, the report found.

“Latinos are taking a broader view of race -- one that extends beyond physical features and also encompasses degrees of achievement, belonging and inclusion,” said demographer Sonya M. Tafoya, the report’s author.

The Pew center is a nonpartisan research organization based in Washington that studies the U.S. Latino population, focusing on public opinion as well as social and economic issues.

The report reinforced earlier research that found surprising variations in racial self-identification according to where Latinos lived in the United States. Apart from the distinction between Mexican Americans in California and Texas, regional variations prevail among other Latino groups as well.

For instance, 81% of Puerto Ricans living in the island commonwealth identified themselves as white in the 2000 Census, while 46% of those living on the U.S. mainland did so. And among Cubans, those living in Florida were much more likely to say they were white than those living in California.

The Pew study found that Latinos who said they were white were more likely to describe themselves as American than those who said they were of some other race.

When given the choice of identifying themselves as American on the one hand or Hispanic, Mexican or some other national origin identifier on the other, 55% of the Latinos who said they were white picked American. Among the rest, 36% did so, according to Pew survey results.

One-quarter of Latinos who said they were white cited discrimination as a major problem, compared with one-third who said they were of some other race. They were also less likely to be high school dropouts, live in poverty and be unemployed.

Among U.S.-born Latinos, 85% of those who said they were white were registered voters, compared with 67% of those who said they were of some other race. And 22% of those who said they were white also said they were Republicans, compared with 13% among Latinos of some other race.

“The growing Hispanic population may compel a reassessment of the common view of a racial or ethnic group as a readily identifiable category of people who share a common fate and a common identity,” the report said.

Tafoya said it was not clear why Mexican Americans in Texas would be more likely to identify themselves as white than those in California. One possible explanation could be a defensive reaction by Latinos in Texas to that state’s history of Southern-style segregation, she said.

Another explanation could be that many Latinos in California see themselves as outsiders as a result of the divisive battle over Proposition 187, the 1994 ballot measure that sought to deny some public services to illegal immigrants until the courts struck it down. Or perhaps California is more tolerant of diversity and people are more comfortable about identifying themselves as nonwhite.

“It is doubtful that skin color is the entire explanation,” Tafoya said.

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Latino divide

Latinos in the U.S. who consider themselves white are more likely to be better-educated, have higher incomes and speak English only, compared with those who consider themselves some other race. Here is a breakdown for U.S.-born Mexican Americans in California:

Education

Less than high school

Say they are white: 26%

Say they are some other race: 30%

High school

Say they are white: 23%

Say they are some other race: 28%

Some college

Say they are white: 35%

Say they are some other race: 32%

Bachelor’s degree plus

Say they are white:16%

Say they are some other race: 10%

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Income (men only)

$35,000 or more

White: 31%

Some other race: 23%

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Language spoken

English only

White: 40%

Some other race: 28%

Bilingual

White: 59%

Some other race: 71%

Remainder speak Spanish only

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Source: Pew Hispanic Center