Report Shows How Racial Identities Affect Latinos

An analysis of census data released today found that Latinos who defined themselves as “black Hispanics” report having lower incomes, less education and fewer opportunities when compared to those who define themselves as “white Hispanics.”

The report, “How Race Counts for Hispanic Americans,” was prepared by State University of New York at Albany sociologist John Logan using data from the 2000 Census. Logan said his analysis should better illuminate the similarities between blacks and Latinos and color differences within the groups, topics he said are often glossed over in the national discussion on race.

The 2000 Census for the first time asked Latinos to classify themselves as “white,” “black” or “other.”

To figure out socioeconomic differences among Latino groups, Logan studied respondents’ own identifying terms. He said the study revealed stark differences between white and black Latinos.

Logan’s analysis found that 17.6 million Latinos described themselves as white, and 939,000 described themselves as black. Logan created the term “Hispanic Hispanics” to categorize the remaining 16.7 million Latinos who described themselves as being either of another race or a combination of races.

The country’s “black Hispanics” have a lower median income, higher unemployment rate and a higher poverty rate than the other two groups, the report found.

Black Latinos are more similar socioeconomically to African Americans than to white Latinos. Blacks and black Latinos have similar median income and poverty rates, the study noted.

Compared to other Latino groups, black Latinos are much less likely to be immigrants. They are much more likely to speak English in their homes, the study found.

While Dominican Americans and Puerto Rican Americans living on the East Coast make up the majority of black Latinos, the study found that nearly 250,000 Mexican Americans define themselves as black. Logan said many are of indigenous or Caribbean backgrounds.