There you are, filling out your college application, government survey, or job application. You come across the question that you have seen millions of times and seems like a ritual to answer; Check the box that represents your ethnicity. And it’s partner question; check the box that represents your race. No matter what your race/ethnicity, there is always one option you can select: Other or I prefer not to answer. Although it may seem as if everyone is being represented, how can you tell who somebody is based on a selection of other? Yes, it is important to know the representation of the options presented and many times, the survey is specifically for finding out this information, being asked this question on college and job applications may seem a bit strange. This also brings up another question, what if you identify as more than one race or ethnicity? What constitutes one over the other? The way you look? The way you act? If you ask me, this question is way more vague than it appears.
Being of caucasian, latino, and African American descent, I have always been slightly confused as to how I should answer this question. Would it be wrong for me to put the fact that I am a different ethnicity than how I look? Although, is that not what the question is asking? Who I truly am? As we learned in my World Cultures class this past semester, a term for a situation like mine is “otherness.” If you ask me, it seems strange to clump all of the options of those who are not represented into one indistinct category of “other.” People who may select this box may be something not as highly represented, such as Native American, or simply may have more than one option apply to them, such as myself. Either way, not having the option to chose the race or ethnicity that applies to you can bring a feeling of not belonging or the notion that who you are is out of the social norm.
As you may or may not know, in the United States, there is a concept known as hypodescent. Hypodescent, rare outside of the United States, is the action of assigning a “race” to a child at birth. The race that is assigned is not necessarily what the child looks like, but it is the minority race among the child’s two parents. Just as it has been brought up multiple times in today’s culture regarding gender expression, assigning a “race” to a newborn child who has no say may seem unusual. As we grow up and become a part of the culture we live in and learn who we are, we may choose to express ourselves outside of who we were once assigned.
Asking somebody to identify with a race or ethnicity and having them check one box may seem like it gives an accurate representation as to who is being surveyed, however, this is not the case. Whether it be someone who is not able to find who they are among the options, or having somebody chose the option that is not who they identify as can actually cause more confusion and an inaccurate representation. The idea of “otherness” may seem like an easy solution to identify those who are not as “common,” but who is to say that a certain race and ethnicity are not as important as those who have the option to check off who they are?
