The big news from the 2000 U.S. Census is not who has the most numbers so much as it is that the old categories are worn out. And that is good news indeed. PNS commentator Emil Guillermo is the executive producer and host of NCM-TV: New California Media -- The New America Now. His e-mail address is emil@amok.com.

In the immortal words of James Brown, "Say it loud, I'm (blank) and I'm proud!" Blank?

These days it's hard to say. The national conversation on race is about to change, dramatically so. Even the Census Bureau threw its hands in the air this year and said quite frankly, "What do you call yourself?"

For years, I've eschewed "Filipino American," or the more census- correct "Asian Pacific Islander," for my own term, "As-panic." It's the best of all worlds. The name Guillermo leaves me with a heavy Legacy -- I want to honor the Spanish in me, but why should the conqueror get all the credit?

So I also honor the geographic space of the Philippines, in Asia, hence my term, "As-panic."

Self-identification is the trend. And that's good for me, because my shares just went up. Part of me is No. 1. This past week, the Census folks announced Hispanics now outnumber blacks in this country, 35.3 million to 34.7 million.

At least, that was the number of people who marked "black" on the census form. When you count the people who marked down that they were a mixture of black and something else, say Asian, AKA the "Tiger Woods category," then blacks are still larger with 36.4 million.

But the number is enough to put the fear of God into traditionalists. Can we still see the so-called "race issue" as black and white? Or is it now Brown vs. the less black and the fewer white? And where do Asian Americans fit in?

The confusion reflects the diminishing importance of blood ties. Thanks to the official "Say-what-you-are-standard," it's just not as important. The veracity of what you are isn't in your veins. It's in your culture. Your environment.

Who you are is what you've learned to be. I'm an As-panic. (I like the hyphen because it connotes a bridge). Eminem wants to call himself a "wigger."

The Census says, "It's all good." The fact that there is no "Hispanic race" makes a conversation on race even more irrelevant. Hispanics are Mexcians and Cubans as well as blonde Venezuelans and Euros from Spain.

The various ethnic groups called Hispanic share a bit of culture. But do they share a drop of blood? What we're left with is a real view of America, one in which the old labels really don't work.