In sociology, race is a complex and socially constructed concept. However, when legal systems attempt to codify these nuanced social constructs, they often force individuals into rigid categories. This categorization primarily serves the purpose of tracking and analyzing data related to specific racial groups. Black and white are 'races' that are codified standards recognized by the United States government, along with Asian and Native American. However, Latino is not considered a race but an ethnicity – an 'ethnicity' distinctly different and primarily highlighted on various public and private documents unlike others. Considering this, we can comfortably say that the Latino identity is complex but could be considered a race and should be federally recognized by the United States.
As we understand the history of Latinos from our current racial lens, Latinos are primarily made up of mixtures of federally recognized races: predominantly white, indigenous (Native American), and black. This creates a unique racial identity throughout Latin America characterized by diverse phenotypes and cultures. The current American system would have these people, who are "racially mixed," be forced into specific categories that misrepresent the complexity of their identity, genetic makeup, and cultures.
Some argue that race is primarily based on one's phenotype, and we should categorize people's race solely by their phenotype. It is true that Latinos can look phenotypically different, and some argue that due to this diversity, they cannot be considered a race. However, in the context of Asians, as complex as they are, under the United States racial system, a Japanese person and a person from India are racially the same, but they phenotypically do not look alike. As we understand it from government standards within the United States Department of the Interior, an Asian is defined as: "A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam." This definition primarily highlights that the Asian race isn't specifically based on phenotypic attributes. This highlights an argument that race is predominantly based in regionalism and not by phenotype, although you can assume someone's race by using their appearance.
Now to flirt with the idea that race is predominantly determined by phenotype: In the United States, Latinos are also sometimes referred to as 'brown,' which is an interesting distinction that highlights that they are neither racially black, white, nor indigenous. Brown is a color that is not legally recognized in the United States as a race like the colors white or black. Socially, brown people, or in Spanish – colloquially – Morenos, are recognized, but they too have to conform to the United States racial system and identify with black, white, or Native American by choosing one or multiple (depending on the documents). When comparing the average Latino person to the average white American and black American, we can see phenotypic differences between them, which is socially acceptable. On average, Latinos have distinct physical characteristics that phenotypically make them more alike than different. They're distinctly different from Native Americans, black Americans, and white Americans.
If we consider how social constructs change according to what is socially acceptable, it would not be impossible to say that Latino is a race and that Latinos have a right to affirm their racial identity. Using regionalism and phenotype, we can affirm that Latinos are a distinct race. Other people can see that Latinos are, on average, phenotypically different, but many Latinos also identify themselves as not being strictly white, Native American, or black. They affirm that they are distinctly different from all three while acknowledging that they have various mixtures of two of the three or all three federally recognized races. In my opinion, Latino should be accepted as a federally recognized race – just as Asian is broad with phenotypes and heritage, so is the Latino race.
Historically, different groups, particularly nationalistic groups like Mexicans and 'Spanish,' have been treated differently. They were 'othered' by the dominant racial class in the United States, white Americans, and were treated distinctly different from other racial groups like Native, black, and white Americans. Segregation also had its effect on Hispanic groups. In the case Hernandez v. Texas (a 1954 murder trial where Hernandez was found guilty after an appeal), Hernandez's team asserted that people like him, Mexican Americans, were a "class apart," but were deemed legally white, yet substantiating their difference from other white people. The level of discrimination they received asserted this perspective, and he was given a proper retrial with a jury of his peers – who ultimately found him guilty. This case paved the way for a better understanding of who Mexican-Americans were but also overly simplified their existence in a legal sense.
Considering that Mexican-Americans were deemed 'white' for many decades thereafter and the Census has shifted Mexican-Americans from being 'white' to being Latino (as an ethnicity) suggests that the identity of Latinos, as a whole, is extremely fluid and difficult to classify.
The identity of Latinos continues to shift, but as the population of Americans continues to mix racially, we will likely see growth in acceptance of multi-racial people. This will then lead to society blurring the lines of what it means to be white, black, or Native American. In my opinion, it would be acceptable to recognize Latinos as a race given their ancestral history and regional perspectives.
