Latino is Not a Race: Understanding Lived Experiences Through Street Race

This expert issues brief discusses the impact of recent changes to the race and ethnicity questions on the Census and federal surveys, and advocates for the addition of a new question on street race.

Though the “Latino” identity remains essential to our shared political mobilization, we must continue to recognize the ways our differences have also created disparities within our community.¹⁸ An essential first step in fighting inequities and creating space for the needs of the Afro-Latinx population is to improve current federal estimates of how many Latinos are racialized as Black and subjected to anti-Blackness.¹⁹ The inclusion of street race does not do away with racial self-identification, but rather acknowledges the continued oppression of visible minorities. By asking about ethnic origin, racial identity, and street race, we can capture data on how race is encountered and experienced in the daily lives of the U.S. population and fight against institutional racism and anti-Black discrimination.