My Favorite Talking Point

Here is what I think of ethnicity :)
Here is what I think of race >:(

Why?
Because ethnicity ties a person to a certain culture, a history, a language group, a religion or a tradition that is similar across a common people but open to personal interpretation
and because race is associated with discrimination, generalization, apartheid, racism (obviously), bias and stereotypes. 

I've always avoided describing myself as Latina vs. White vs. Poptart vs. Shoelace vs. whatever. In America, there's this huge thing where you're always supposed to identify what "race" you are, (probably so they can adjust your income accordingly later). Race is a human construct. Do you think cavemen in the Himalayas thought they were better than cavemen in the horn of Africa? Of course not. They didn't care. Race stems from this desire we have as humans to belong, and the more categories you fit into, the safer you are, right?

Quiz time:
My mother is 100% Italian (4th generation US-citizen)
My father is 100% Puerto Rican (1st generation US-citizen). My father's family also has lots of Dominican, Corsican, some Lebanese and some Syrian. 
I only speak English. My father's first language is Spanish but he never taught it to me.
So:
what race am I?
Yeah, I gave up too.

When I go to Japan, people will obviously ask me what I am, since Japan is 99% Japanese (that's a hard fact, not a quip) and I am always asked if I'm "mixed". It shouldn't matter. If they say "It's cool that you're American!", that's ethnicity. If they say "it's cool that you're white" , that's race. I'd rather be known for an ethnicity I understand than a race I can't identify with. 

In a room full of "white" people, I feel Latina because my skin is dark, my hair is thick and wavy, my hips are wide and my last name ends in a Z.
In a room full of "Latin(o/a)s", I feel "white" because my skin is pale, I only speak English, and besides a pig roast we threw in May, there's never been anything more traditionally "Hispanic" in my life than chips and salsa. 

Hopefully, there will be kids in Japan that can relate. 
Just no "Are you Mexican" questions.
I really hope that's just an American lack-of-exposure phenomenon.