More Hispanics in El Paso check ‘white’ on Census
More people in El Paso see themselves as both Hispanic and white, new 2010 U.S. Census figures released last week show.
It could have been outreach efforts by civic groups, or a different mindset among white-collar and younger Hispanics, but at least 84 percent of Hispanics in El Paso County marked the “white” box on their 2010 Census forms. Less than 73 percent of Hispanics checked that box in 2000.
County officials and advocacy groups reached out to Hispanics in advance of the latest count to explain that most Hispanics in El Paso are white.
“We are becoming more and more educated,” said Christina Bennett, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, in El Paso.
Texas State Demographer Lloyd Potter on Thursday said El Paso’s growth is attributable to a young population of Hispanics with high birth rates, an influx of military personnel and immigration from Mexico.
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Acosta explained to civic groups before the April 1 count that race and ethnicity are different concepts. Race has to do with biological descent. Ethnicity is about cultural heritage.
The Chicano movements in the 1960s influenced the Census Bureau to count Hispanics as a cultural group, Acosta said.
Censuses have been asking the Hispanic origin question since 1970. Unlike the 2000 form, Census 2010 explained that “Hispanic origins are not races.”
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It seemed odd for José Luis Mauricio, leader of a group of Mexican businessmen who are moving El Paso, to check “white” as his race.
“It felt kind of funny. You feel kind of uncertain,” he said.
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