An NBC News story sought to analyze the complexities of racial and ethnic identity, especially for Latinos in the United States, highlighting recent changes in government data categories. As some of the examples, the article tells of Monica Sanchez, a Seattle-based speech therapist of Mexican-American descent, who shared her frustrations in filling out official forms that often don't include options suitable for her racial identity. She expressed the discomfort of choosing only "other" as her racial identification, feeling that this contributes to diminishing the importance of Latino identity.

The recent changes in standards adopted by the Biden administration reflect a response to these concerns, with the inclusion of “Hispanic or Latino” as a distinct racial/ethnic category and the introduction of a checkbox for people of Middle Eastern or North African descent. However, there is debate about whether these changes are enough to capture the complexity of Latino identity, especially considering the experiences of discrimination and exclusion that many Latinos face in the United States.

“Previously, Latinos had a two-part question for their identity in federal forms: They were asked whether they were Hispanic or Latino and then asked to pick a race: white, Black, American Indian or ‘some other’. The issue was that many Hispanics like Sanchez didn’t see themselves as white or Black or Asian, but just ‘Hispanic’.”

The NBC story highlights the importance of census data in informing government policies and programs, as well as in understanding racial and ethnic disparities in society. However, it also points out the challenges of properly categorizing diverse racial and ethnic groups, especially those with mixed or complex identities.

“Researchers, […], have examined factors that may explain why many Latinos do not feel fully comfortable identifying as white, regardless of their skin color. In 2021, roughly a quarter of Latino Spanish-speakers said they had been criticized for speaking Spanish in public, and 20 percent of Latinos said that they had been called offensive names in the past year, according to a 2022 report from Pew Research. Among darker-skinned Latinos, the numbers reporting discrimination are much higher: About 4 in 10 Latinos said they experienced discrimination from non-Latinos as well as from other Hispanics”.

While some advocacy groups and academics applaud the changes as a step in the right direction, others express concerns about the possibility of diluting data on racial differences among Latinos. The article highlights the importance of ensuring that Latinos are able to properly identify themselves on census forms, without being limited by simplistic or inappropriate options.