<p>I am a junior in high school and need some help in what I should choose for race / ethnicity on my college and Navy ROTC applications. I've always thought of myself as bi-racial although I look more Italian than black or Puerto Rican (although I do have VERY tight curls). My father's mother was black and his father was Puerto Rican. I never met either of them (they died before I was born and he didn't have any other family). My dad looks more Spanish than black. My mother's family was all from northern Italy and I look more like her (including blue eyes). How should I list myself?</p>
<p>I don’t see how any part of you could be considered “Spanish.” Is hispanic the word you’re looking for?</p>
<p>Simply put: you’re black, puerto rican, and Italian. If you can’t list all of those on whatever list you’re choosing from then go with “Bi-racial.”</p>
<p>Pick whatever you feel. Since out of those you wouldn’t be misrepresenting yourself, pick what you identify as, even if its ‘bi-racial’. For example, Obama marks ‘black’ on his census forms ;)</p>
<p>Thanks Dnerd and Jayay90. I don’t mind checking whichever “boxes” are available, I just don’t want anyone (during an interview) to think I’m lying because I don’t look typically black / Hispanic. Should I bring some kind of proof (father’s birth certificate)?</p>
<p>Well they’ll probably wonder why you didn’t say you were bi-racial and didn’t just list the 3 main ones, but it shouldn’t be a big deal.</p>
<p>So, you’re 50% Italian, 25% Puerto Rican, and 25% Black?</p>
<p>I agree with the above posts. You should pick what you feel. If you can check more than one it really shouldn’t be a problem. If you can only pick one then I guess go with the majority, but you probably look multi-racial so people will probably wonder what you are not whether your this or that</p>