Wherein I Claim to be Multi-Racial

I am multi-racial. Whenever I get to check off racial categories on forms, especially government forms, I check all that apply. The census bureau defines the various categories for its purposes here:
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/meta/long_68176.htm.

Of course, the census data comes from self-identification nowadays. You are what you say you are.

I fit into several categories:

I am “White” because I have some “origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East or North Africa. “ I am mostly Scots-Irish, German and English, so I definitely qualify for this one.

I am “African American” because I have “origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa.” I haven’t found any slaves in the family tree yet, but I ascribe to the “Out of Africa” theory of the origins and migration of modern humans. Accordingly, my ancestors arose in Africa over 75,000 years ago and migrated into Yemen at some point. They were almost certainly dark skinned, given the climate, so I qualify for this category.

I am “American Indian” as I have “origins in any of the original peoples of North America”. I am affiliated with a tribe consisting of my family. I call the tribe the Varnell Cherokees. I am attached to this community. That’s how I qualify for this category. My degree of Cherokee ancestry is actually much smaller than I was led to believe as a child, and our pride in this heritage is disproportionate to the genetic material we carry.

I am “Asian” since my Cherokee ancestors’ ancestors are believed to have crossed the Bering Land Bridge some 10,000 rears ago or so. Accordingly, my ancestors were among the “original” inhabitants of Asia. Also, a number of my European ancestors’ ancestors may have sojourned in Central Asia before settling Europe.

I have not yet cracked the “Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander” category.

Oh, and I have remote ancestors from Spain as recently as the 13th Century, and I reckon that this makes me Hispanic.