Hey all,
I am a Hispanic student, yet my skin is rather fair. Of course, Hispanics come in all colors and races, but there seems to always be a 50/50 chance for me to someone to assume that I’m Hispanic (they are either surprised to find out my ethnicity, or they’re confident of my ethnicity because of my skin being somewhat tan). In the past, such as on standardized testings, I would, of course, mark Hispanic as my ethnicity (my family is from Mexico), but simply put white for my race.
Recently, however, I received my results from my 23AndMe test (as cheesy as it may sound) and found that I am roughly 40% European (mostly Spanish/Southern European) but about 45% Native American (specifically indegenous Mexican).
This brings me to my question- when given the option to mark my race (for future college applications, etc.), should I start boxing Native American alongside white? I did find out from my mom after receiving the results that her grandfather (my great grandfather) was indeed 100% Indigenous, but because of my lack of any tribal affiliation/ties, it might not make much difference or even be correct to mark it down. I doubt that I’ll be eligible for many Native-related scholarships, but I have yet to apply for college, so I’m wondering if it will even be worth marking down an additional box for those applications.
All comments/thoughts are appreciated. Thanks!
While I personally find the term to be misleading, for the purposes of college admissions, in general the term “Native American” refers to the indigenous peoples of the United States. And the Common App asks for tribal identification from a list of tribes as defined by the US government.
You can certainly say you’re a mixed-race hispanic. Keep in mind that each college is free to define what it considers a hook and decide (where allowed by law) how much of a bump (if any) each hook is in the process.
You can certainly mark it down then just indicate “indigenous peoples of Mexico”. It’s the truth and the school can factor it in as they wish. I agree with you, though, it won’t get you the same boost as being a registered member of a NA tribe in the USA.
So, you could indicate Hispanic/Latino for ethnicity then white and NA for race, indicating that your NA is from Mexico.
Mexican people are a product of the indigenous people mixed with the Spanish. You did not grow up as a Native American, did not learn the culture, been misidentified as being NA and therefore, did not identify as such so you really can’t identify as being NA. You have no tribal affiliation and to try to identify as NA after a DNA test is trying to milk the system, IMHO. I only say this because I am in the same position and had similar thoughts. Sorry, but I don’t think you should start checking off NA in addition to checking off white and hispanic.
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