CHAT: US ancestry [was Re: FWD [OT but interesting]

        Slightly off topic of this conversation, but...
        I'm one of the PC support people in a research hospital, and I'm
friends with the manager of a small research group.
        She said that in a lot of the new forms from the NCI (National
Cancer Institute), "Hispanic" is no longer a race. It is in a new category
called "Ethnicity". From what I gathered, at this time, "Ethnicity" is
either "Hispanic" or "Non-Hispanic".
        So, now a person who would have previously been "Hispanic" is
"White-Hispanic", "African-American-Hispanic", "Native American-Hispanic",
"Australian Aboriginal-Hispanic", etc. Similarly, one must specify "Asian -
Non-Hispanic".
        I think it started out as a good idea, but didn't work well.... She
said everyone really dislikes the new forms. When people respond "Hispanic"
to "Race", the surveyor has to inform them that they are not Hispanic, but
White, Black, or Native American. Similarly, they are supposed to ask Asians
and other if they are Non-Hispanic.
        "No, Miss Lopez-Rodriguez, Hispanics don't exist anymore. Please
pick a new race."