Why are many Americans challenged when asked to address the question, "Who am I?" in terms of race and/or ethnicity?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

People are now more willing to accept and advance identities that do not fit neatly into mutually exclusive categories. Hence, increasing numbers of people are identifying themselves as biracial or multiracial or, at the very least, explicitly viewing themselves as reflecting a diverse racial and ethnic identity. The diversity of the United States today has made it more difficult for many people to place themselves on the racial and ethnic landscape. It reminds people that racial formation continues to take place. Obviously, the racial and ethnic landscape, as they have seen, is constructed not naturally but socially and, therefore, is subject to change and different interpretations. Almost every nation faces the same problems.

The United States tracks people by race and ethnicity for myriad reasons, ranging from attempting to improve the status of oppressed groups to diversifying classrooms. Besides the increasing respect for biracial identity and multiracial identity, group names undergo change as well. The old 1950s statistical term of "people with a Spanish surname" has long been discarded, yet there is disagreement over a new term: Latino or Hispanic. Like Native Americans, Hispanic Americans avoid such global terms and prefer their native names, such as Puerto Ricans or Cubans.