I decided to tweak my Myspace profile under the ethnicity category. Although I am more Asian than anything else, I just didn’t feel totally honest having that as my official race on my profile. I feel like I am excluding other parts of my close family who are also a big part of who I am by just putting down one race. However, I do not want to put down “Other” as my ethnic background, either. I put down EurAsian, Hapa, Caucinasian (I’m Irish/British, 1/8 American Indian, and 1/2 Korean, among other categories) and Amerasian (which is arguable since there are different definitions for the term “Amerasian”).
Some people think it might be ridiculous to have these terms for mixed races. They might think it’s going too far or getting too specific. But really, would those people feel comfortable denying one of their parents or grandparents? Those people also probably don’t realize or forget that Hispanic is an ethnicity that is a mix of other ethnicities (Amerindian, Spanish, sometimes African/Black descent).
Taken from http://www.projectrace.com/aboutprojectrace:
Biracial and multiracial people do not have a box to check on forms. Being forced to choose only one race forces us to deny one of our parents. It also requires us to do something illegal, since we are defining ourselves as something we are not.
Multiracial people should have the option of recognizing all of their heritage. “Multiracial” is important so that children have an identity, a correct terminology for who they are. “Other” means different, a label that no person should bear. Also, without proper racial and ethnic classifications, multiracial people are “invisible” in the health care system.
Project RACE advocates for multiracial children and adults through education, community awareness and legislation. Our main goal is for a multiracial classification on all school, employment, state, federal, local, census and medical forms requiring racial data.