The Census Bureau is considering changes to its race and ethnicity questions that would reclassify some minorities who were considered “white” in the past, a move that may speed up the date when America’s white population falls below 50 percent.  Census Director John Thompson said this week that the bureau is testing new questions and may combine its race and ethnicity questions into one category.  That would allow people to choose multiple races.  The possible changes include a new category for Middle Eastern and North African descent and allowing Latinos to give more details about backgrounds.  Brookings Institution demographer William H. Frey says the changes would give people more options to define their race and ethnicity.  The Census Bureau has estimated that the population will have more minorities than whites for the first time around 2043 or 2044.