<p>Ethnic background (meaning where grandparents and great-grandparents were born) is 1/4 Argentinian, 1/4 Russian, 1/4 Czech and 1/4 Austrian. Family members also live in South Africa and Mexico.</p>
<p>Most defining and unifying background is that D is Jewish. Older family members speak Spanish and Yiddish if not English. However, religion is separate from ethnicity and certainly people can be defined as Polish Jews and Polish Catholics, but in either case can check Polish for ethnic background. So I am going to take religion out of the ethnic background equation. Obviously I would say I am American without hesitiation, with religion not a consideration.</p>
<p>If you ask D about her family background, the first thing she will mention is her grandmother who speaks Spanish and was born in Argentina (since it is special to her and she was her primary babysitter growing up) and her great-great Uncle (?) who was a famous Austrian writer and wrote Song of Bernadette.</p>
<p>I did make a phone call to determine her ethnic background as defined by the National Hispanic Recognition program for the PSAT. I did not do it based on whether D feels part Hispanic (she does) but since it is only a part of who she is, I felt unsure about her checking just this label and no others.</p>
<p>After several conversation with the program they assured me that her 1/4 Argentinian background meets their criteria for Hispanic and she should “check the box.” They said that Hispanic can be of any race and can be 3/4 non-Hispanic.</p>
<p>So is this “gaming” the system because now D may be eligible for scholarships as a “minority” student?</p>
<p>^My friend has a similar issue, but hers is more that she doesn’t identify with anything except Jewish, which she doesn’t really think is the same thing as “white”. It’s more complicated than that but I didn’t really get it when she explained it to me…</p>
<p>D is a textbook example of why we would separate race and ethnicity. She is ethnically Hispanic and racially white, although she could also check Argentinian (for race, you can select two).</p>
<p>Then again, you have to breakdown the rare racial diversity of Argentina, arguably the most colorful country in South America. You can find White people there with blue eyes and blonde hair (due to the US rejection of Jewish Holocaust refugees who settled in Argentina) and find Black people with green eyes and fine hair. They all speak perfect Spanish.</p>
<p>Unrelated to MIT, but in schools that have race affirmative action, I’m pretty sure Pacific Islanders get a leg up compared to Asians…</p>
<p>I’m from Taiwan, but I honestly have never considered myself Pacific Islander…why would I? Really, Pacific Islanders are like Polynesians, Micronesians…etc. Chinese, Japanese, and Korean are definitely all Asian. I’ve heard the argument for Filipino being either way but I think they’re still considered as Asian, per the wikipedia definition.</p>
<p>My friend wants to know what he would be considered if he was 100% Moroccan? Would that be considered black (cause technically it’s african-american) or would he be white (because it’s north africa)?</p>
<p>Jewish identity is tricky. I don’t know a single descendant of Polish Jews – starting with myself – who would say that their ethnic background was “Polish”. When my ancestors lived in what is now Poland (or Lithuania, or Belarus), “Polish” and “Jewish” were mutually exclusive categories, no less so than “black” and “white” in the U.S. (Actually, a good deal more so, since there was less intermarriage.) In Europe then, and to a large extent still, Jews were considered a nationality without a specific nation, like Romany, or Armenians, not a religion. And, from within Judaism, that is consistent with how Jews view themselves.</p>
<p>So from an ethnicity standpoint, the correct answer for Jews is “Jewish”, not Polish or whatever.</p>
<p>JHS… I agree that for Jews ethnicity and religion are intertwined in the sense that Jews are united by their religion worldwide and often lived together in distinct communities through choice (or not) in various nations. And you can say that Jews share certain traditions regardless of where they live.</p>
<p>But I think it is wrong to say that a Jew’s ethnic background is based on religion alone. I would imagine you can say that Catholics share common traditions regardless of their ethnicity (nationality), but you would still have Catholics distinguish their ethnicity based on their nation of origin…ie, French Catholics or Irish Catholics or Italian Catholics. So why is it different for Jews?</p>
<p>Furthermore, look at America today. I am foremost an American and I happen to practice Judaism. Being a Jew does not define me more than being an American. And when one travels abroad with their American passport, one’s ethnicity is American.</p>
<p>Furthermore, on applications and such, Judaism is not there to be checked as an ethncity (since it is a religion.) So what should a Jew who lived in Russia or Argentina check for ethnicity? I know my Russian grandmother would have considered herself Russian and my Argentinian mother-in-law Argentinian. So my daughter, being asked what her ethnic background is, has no problem checking those same countries of origin.</p>
<p>With all due respect, I don’t think it’s that simple. I mean, there are African Americans and Native Americans who are persecuted for their race, but chances are, there aren’t many people who are persecuted because they were born in January or May or October. I mean, you yourself even stated that </p>
<p>@Nikkor. How does being persecuted make you think longer what race you are?
Chances are, if you are being persecuted for your race, it should be easier to know what race you are.</p>
<p>I also think a lot about ones ethnic/ racial identity is determined by how people identify you.</p>
<p>Even though someone may be 1/4 black or 1/4 Asian, society will often automatically label someone as black or Asian without much regard to the other 3/4 of their background. If they keep being identified as being black, someone will probably use that as their primary identity in time.</p>
<p>Same with the question of ethnicity and Jewishness. Often Jews were labeled as a separate ethinic group even if they would have preferred to be integrated into the mainstream of their country. Certainly Germany is a good case in point.</p>
<p>So, my skin tone is brown and genetically I’m Indian. Though, the vast majority of my friends are White, all of my girlfriends have been White or Hispanic, and in school, I am treated like a white kid and identified among them. Though, I am definitely brown.
So, my identity is “white”, but my ethnicity is Indian.
What am I supposed to check?</p>