Why does it matter what box I choose? Do you realize that box makes me feel less American? Like I am an “other” that doesn’t really count as American. I was born and raised in America. My heritage began in Puerto Rico but my roots are grounded in America.  It does not matter what box I check! We are all Americans.

With our different backgrounds we are not statistics, we are people. We are not African-Americans, Indian,  American Indian, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, White (non-Hispanic), Black (non-Hispanic), Multiracial, etc. we are all AMERICANS. We are Americans divided by labels, we are Americans that are categorized and grouped according to our race, but we are all AMERICANS.

My daughter came home one day and said “Mommy we have to do a project on our culture, I chose a Thanksgiving feast because we are American.” This made me think about how we classify and…