>>What do you mean technically? The expressions are "Asian American" and "African American" exactly because they are purely geographical attributes. So these two truly are what my tagline says, and if they said otherwise on the census, they lied.
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>Dragan, you of all people, know why ...

...but pretend that I don't. These guys know where their continents are and I trust they mean what they say... for the sake of the argument.

>For the United States Government, "Asian American" and "African American" are "racial categories", not geographical attributes, so that is why I used the word "technically", I don´t know what the latest trends in political correctness in the States are, so I have to proceed with caution.
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>By the way, I just found out that I am a "White Hispanic" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_ethnicity_in_the_United_States_Census)
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>Amazing, considering that my ancestors of two/three generations ago did not know a word of spanish, as they where from Northern Italy, Basque Country and Barcelona, and they spoke Friulian, Italiano, Euskara and Català.
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>I guess the US Census Bureau should simplify things, cut to the chase, and really find out what they really care about: just two checkboxes: WASP / NON WASP, or maybe even simpler: Like US / NOT Like US
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>Just kidding, I am just mocking all the euphemisms and doublespeak when it comes to races in the US. For us down here, simple people, a black is a black, a white is a white, and an oriental is a chinese (I know, that last one is really an over simplification, but that is how it is)

The issue of races is the peak of doublespeak, though. The purebred WASP whites can be equally screwed by the system, and even fare worse than the supposedly sub-prime-raced guys who get them screwed. It's a matter of economic position, starting position and vertical mobility. Even though much of the mobility is still available, it's not what it may have been once; not only are the chances higher then ever that those born on the bottom and those on the top will stay where they are; it's also that the distance between them has grown. The low are lower, the high are higher. What used to be 20:1 is now 400:1. Squared.

But the whole nation somehow prefers to feel classless and enjoys a race division instead, which may be a simple divide et impera. Goad the Romans (those Latin speaking guys) against the Scipions and charge for tickets, then haul the gory underwear to an Asian laundry. They won't understand that they are on the bottom of the same kettle.

Also sprach Marx :).