I’m a 10th grader in high school and I have quite good grades with a lot of rigor. My mother is of mostly european descent (American), but my father is half Brazilian and half mauritian (of mixed African, French, and Indian descent) and he is British. I was born in the UK, but I’ve lived in the states since I was seven and I have dual-citizenship.
I recently moved to the whitest town I’ve ever lived in, with a whopping 92% white-identifying population, 6% Hispanic, and the other 2% is comprised of African-American and Asian. Although I appear pretty white, I feel different and people can see that I’m “something”, as they put it. I’ve always made friends with minorities quite easily and they usually accept me faster than white kids…
I have many, many questions to ask, and I’m quite unable to get any answers from the people around me, so I hope this community can help me out
As a Brazilian, can I (and should I) check the Latino (and apparently Hispanic) boxes on racial and ethnic forms for college admissions?
Should I negate my asian/indian background for admissions, as asian/indian students are ORM?
What even is race?
Why are the options so odd?
My father is of African descent, but he isn’t american, and I am significantly lighter-skinned than he is, can I qualify as AA?
I honestly feel as though this is a moral dilemma (not to over-exaggerate).
Personally, as opposed to others, I would count yourself as Latino first off, given that Brazilians are counted as such.
Race is an ever changing definition, but general it is a group of people sharing the same culture, history, language, and possibly genetics, and may or may not coincide with an ethnic group. It’s very odd.
Now, onto to the sub matters. In the college admissions race, you ought to give yourself any right advantage you can that’s within legal means. This doesn’t mean cheating or lying naturally, but I would say your fair skinned complexion does not deny you from being African American. Some of my 100% Nigerian cousins are very light. As for excluding your Indian heritage, I don’t have any qualms doing so given the college climate, but that would be up to you really. You could potentially click multiple boxes of White, Latino, Asian, and Black/African-American if they are available.
Yes Brazilian is considered hispanic even though the language is not Spanish. This was the subject of some debate but Brazil is one of the heritages eligible for the National Hispanic Award Competition.
There is an entire thread devoted to race and ethnicity, so I would read through it to see if it answers any of your questions. Also do a search on here for Brazil and you will find the debates.
As ^ just because you do not look like your father does not mean that you are not African American (it does not matter that your father is not American, he is still of African heritage). Do you know the relative percentages of your father’s heritage?
I personally would not check the Asian/Indian boxes unless anyone seeing or talking to you would assume you were Asian.
