A Note on American Demography and cultural exchanges

In the talk ("E Pluribus Unum? What Keeps the United States United") that I am privileged to give to participants in the Library of Congress's laudable "Open World" program, which brings up-and-coming young persons from former Soviet republics to America, I touch on the subject of US demography, on a non-expert level meant for an audience coming to America for all-too-short short homestays, usually for the first time.

Here's a footnote to the talk:

In an effort to explain why the U.S. is increasingly becoming a "post-racial society," despite our lingering racial tensions, I note that "black," "white" and "asian," according to the US Census, are considered "racial" categories, whereas "hispanic" is considered an "ethnic" category.

I have, in all honesty, a difficult time explaining to my post-USSR audiences why this racial/ethnic categorization exists (e.g., the Census talks about "non-hispanic" whites, but not "non-black" whites).

After listening to the NBC national news this evening (June 19) I realized that my layman's demographic confusion can perhaps be forgiven: in his broadcast, anchorman Brian Williams, noting that right now in America  more "asian" immigrants are coming to America than "hispanic" ones, referred to "hispanic" and "asian" both as "racial" groups, evidently contrary to the Census racial/ethnic "wisdom" on the subject.

I called NBC about this, and its polite operator said it would be brought to the company's attention; I did not mention the minor issue of "racial/ethnic" capitalization.