Latinos and Whites

In my morning paper today I read a report by two Associated Press writers named Juliet Williams and Elliot Spagat. They claimed that "Whites and Latinos each currently represent 39 percent of the state's (California's) population."  I will start by saying that I deeply appreciate their correct use of "currently" instead of the incorrect use of "presently." But I have a problem. I know three Latino neighbors living on my block. All of them are white. Their children are white. They speak English. I have known Latinos of African descent and of Asian descent. I met Jews in Mexico City. Argentina has many citizens with Irish ancestors.  I used to know a black man from Central America who had a British accent--he asked me what "black culture" meant. I responded by looking confused. I suppose what we have here is a form of category error, in this case the contrasting of categories that are not mutually exclusive. Maybe William Faulkner was right: he thought that racism might eventually be eliminated by intermarriages.