Well, its not my identity crisis at all. I'm perfectly comfortable and confident in my skin. I know who I am and "what" I am but the US census bureau apparently disagrees.
When I first got the census letter survey in the mail I was excited to fill it out, proud to be a 27 year old Chicana in a nearly all white neighborhood. I had no delusions that I'd sway the minority population, just hoped to proudly represent. But, as I got to the "Race" question on the census form I was baffled. It asks me to identify with one of the races but I'm not white, black, Asian, pacific islander, Korean, Vietnamese, or Native American.
I mulled over this for a week and decided to fill in the "other" section so I wrote "not white". Supposedly if i fill it out wrong I may get a visit from a census worker. Until then I'll be busy sunning my skin to the appropriate shade of brown.
I am not white.
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