What is your Street Race? This seemingly simple question delves into the complex social construct of race and its profound impact on inequality. Instead of focusing on race as a biological or cultural trait, “street race” highlights how individuals are racially perceived by strangers based on their appearance. This concept, championed by researchers, reveals hidden inequities that traditional measures of racial identity often miss.
Research demonstrates that incorporating the “street race” measure into studies of inequality brings to light disparities that would otherwise remain obscured by solely relying on self-identification (López 2014; López et al., 2018; Vargas et al., 2019). To gain a comprehensive understanding of race, it’s crucial to ask two key questions:
- How do you identify racially?
- How do you believe others perceive your race?
Crucially, when considering “street race,” it is about acknowledging the racial category assigned to you in public spaces. Reflect on the example of President Obama. When completing the 2010 Census, he marked only one racial category. This single choice is vital for civil rights data collection, enabling the detection of discrimination in housing, healthcare, and employment. Imagine President Obama seeking housing or requiring emergency medical attention – would his appearance lead anyone to assume he is white? This scenario underscores the significance of “street race” in everyday life.
The confusion between race and ethnicity further complicates the issue. As highlighted in the essay “The Census Bureau Keeps confusing race and ethnicity,” understanding everyday racism requires examining “street race,” not just ethnicity or cultural background. For instance, simply asking someone of Latin American origin about their ethnicity (e.g., Cuban, Puerto Rican, or Mexican) may overlook critical racial dynamics. Consider siblings from Puerto Rico: those with lighter skin, less likely to be perceived as Black or Brown, might experience different treatment in public compared to their siblings who are seen as Black or Brown. This disparity, based on “street race,” can be missed if we only focus on ethnic origin.
Critical self-reflection on our own “street race” is the first step towards comprehending the experiences of others. Even within the same family, individuals can be assigned different “street races,” leading to vastly different daily interactions and realities. By acknowledging and understanding “street race,” we can build bridges of empathy, unity, and solidarity.
The “street race” measure should be a fundamental standard in data collection. It is a vital tool for mapping injustice and striving for a more equitable world rooted in human rights. This understanding is not just for our benefit but for future generations, ensuring a more just society for our children, families, and communities.
Street Race Publications
Vargas, E. D., Juarez, M., Stone, L. C., & Lopez, N. (2019). Critical ‘street race’ praxis: advancing the measurement of racial discrimination among diverse Latinx communities in the US. Critical Public Health, 1-11.
López, Nancy, Edward Vargas, Melina Juarez, Lisa Cacari-Stone and Sonia Bettez. 2017. What’s Your “Street Race”? Leveraging Multidimensional Measures of Race and Intersectionality for Examining Physical and Mental Health Status among Latinxs Sociology of Race and Ethnicity. doi:10.1177/2332649217708798.
Innovative Multidimensional Measure of Race/Racialization as Analytically Distinct from Ethnicity or National Origin: “Street race” has been measured empirically in the following surveys:
- 2015 Latino National Health and Immigration Survey (N=1,473) RWJF Center for Health Policy; 2016 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey (N=10,145)
- 2016 The New Landscapes of a Majority-Minority State: Politics, Economy, Health, and Well-Being in New Mexico (NLMMS) RWJF Center for Health Policy (N= 1,505)
- 2017-2018 Visibilizing AfroLatin@s: Measuring Race Among Latin@s, AfroLatino Forum Survey, New York (in progress).
- See also, Reyna, Chandra. 2018. “’Street Race’ and Health,” In Brief, Contexts 17(2): 4-7.
López, Nancy. 2018. The US Census Bureau keeps confusing race and ethnicity, The Conversation, February 28, Republished in Salon, Associated Press, Newsela for teachers in K-12 Instructional Online Platform (Over 64K readers)
López, Nancy. 2017. Why the 2020 Census Should Keep Longstanding Separate Questions About Hispanic Origin and Race. Scholars Strategy Network.
López, Nancy. 2014. “What’s Your “Street Race-Gender”? Why We Need Separate Questions on Hispanic Origin and Race for the 2020 Census. RWJF Human Capital Blog. November 26, RWJF Blog
Street Race and Street Gender Questions used in 2016 The New Landscapes of a Majority-Minority State: Politics, Economy, Health, and Well-Being in New Mexico (NLMMS) RWJF Center for Health Policy (N= 1,505).
López, Nancy. 2013. An Inconvenient Truth: ‘Hispanic’ is an Ethnic Origin, not a ‘Race.’ Guest Commentary, August 24. National Institute for Latino Policy (NiLP).
López, Nancy, Christopher Erwin, Melissa Binder and Mario Chavez. 2017. “Making the Invisible Visible: Advancing Quantitative Methods Through Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality for Revealing Complex Race-Gender-Class Inequalities in Higher Education, 1980- 2015.” Special Issue: QuantCrit: Critical Race Theory and Quantitative Research Methods, Race, Ethnicity and Education
