Census answers puzzling

Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2005 | 8:38 a.m.

Something had been bugging Roberto Ramirez about a million-plus people across the nation who checked off certain boxes during the 2000 Census.

About a third said they were Hispanic, but from more than one place. About two-thirds said they were Hispanic -- and non-Hispanic. The two categories -- such as other issues related to cataloging Hispanics or Latinos, considered 12.5 percent of the nation's 2000 population -- perplexed the U.S. Census Bureau researcher and his colleagues as well.

"I thought, 'Who are these people and why are they doing this?' " said Ramirez, chief of a division at the bureau that focuses on ethnicity and ancestry.

So he set out to study them, and figure out at least a little better who they are, even if it is difficult to know why they consider themselves one ethnicity or another.

Although the total number of people in these categories -- just over 1 million -- is small in the big picture that is the nation's population, and only a small percentage of the nation's 35.3 million Hispanics in 2000, Ramirez said the issue of Hispanics considering themselves from more than one background is "something not studied or written about."

Ramirez also said this group is definitely undercounted, because the 2000 Census form did not encourage people to report on their multiple ethnic identities.

Understanding the issue better could lead to counting people better in the future, which is tied to federal funding decisions.

The researcher called the million people whose identity was unclear "a special group of people that ignored the instructions and said, 'I consider myself as having more than one origin.' "

He found two important things: This is a young person's thing, and a native-born U.S. citizen's thing. People under 35 tended to check off the boxes, and the great majority were born in the United States.

Ramirez explained that the 2000 Census was the first to capture data from a question -- "Is this person Spanish/Hispanic/Latino?" -- for future research. Five boxes can be checked off below the question and write-in lines are underneath the boxes.

About 300,000 said they were Hispanic, but indicated more than one additional identity, such as Cuban and Mexican. Eighty-nine percent of those people were born in this country.

Thirty-one percent of that group spoke English only.

The larger group, 679,000, were considered "part Hispanic." They checked off "No, not Spanish/Hispanic/Latino," for example, and then wrote in "Colombian" below.

Seventy-seven percent of them were born in the United States and 55 percent spoke English only.

Ramirez said this group could include the type of person who was born in a Latin American country, arrived in this country as a child, assimilated to U.S. culture and now considers him or herself both Hispanic and non-Hispanic.

The Census Bureau split the "part-Hispanics" in two for purposes of classification, considering half of them yes and half of them no. There are no plans to change this less-than-perfect system for now, Ramirez said.

Both groups are definitely a "multiracial, multiethnic" population that is more numerous than the census can count the way it is currently worded, he added.

Young. Bilingual. More than one origin.

Sounds like the millions who are making reggaeton, a Spanish and English-tinged mix of rap, reggae and Dominican rhythms, the nation's new hot sound.

At that suggestion, the researcher laughed and said: "They have to be identified in one category or another."

Timothy Pratt can be reached at 259-8828 or at timothy@lasvegassun.com.