The Hispanic category was a Frankenstein’s monster, an amalgam of disparate ethnic groups with precious little in common. The 1970 Census had included an option

The Hispanic category was a Frankenstein’s monster, an amalgam of disparate ethnic groups with precious little in common. The 1970 Census had included an option to indicate that the respondent was “Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, [or] Other Spanish.” Central American origin here. According to 23andme I could be anywhere from a quarter to a third Amerindian, and brown enough to have never been called or mistaken for white. Technically, we could be as "Native American" as many, well, Native Americans who have tribal affiliations, except we lost that continuity of culture over the course of 400 years of Spanish shenanigans, so we're not considered Native Americans. We also, depending on the country, tend not to look white. I wouldn't mind being just American and claiming that but small talk always devolves into some indirect form of "well, where are you really from?" and they certainly don't mean what US state I was born and raised in. It's a messy classification system that we're just forced to deal with. Choosing what "race" I am on a form is like signing a Terms and Conditions page I didn't read, solving a captcha and entering a 2FA so I can get on with my task.