This just in from “The Huffington Post”:

“For most people, describing themselves on the U.S. Census form will be as easy as checking a box: White. Black. American Indian. But it’s not so simple for indigenous immigrants—the Native Americans of Mexico and Central America. They often need more than one box because their ancestry can cover multiple Census categories.”…

“Question 8 asks whether they consider themselves to be ‘of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin.’ The next question asks their race. The Census recommends indigenous immigrants from Latin America choose ‘American Indian or Alaska Native’ as their race, then write in the name of their community.”

This is good news for those of us with children from indigenous families in Guatemala, because our children’s heritage is different from Hispanic. The word we will write in is “Maya.”  Good for the Census Bureau for recognizing this important distinction.

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