As an Egyptian-American, I often am puzzled as to what to mark as my race on government censuses, tests, etc. The NAEP (http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/) test had an appalling and blatant lack of options -- you were either white, black, Asian, native, or Hispanic. When the proctor was asked, I was told to mark myself as white. The recent AIMS (Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards) test had the same problem, lack of an "other" option.
Many people do not fit into simple categories (white/black/Asian/Hispanic). Telling these people to say that they are different from what they are is erasure of their culture. People should be allowed to proclaim their race.