U.S. Census Race Form: Can you find at least 10 things wrong with it?
Let’s play a game called “How many ridiculous elements can you find in the 2010 U.S. Census Race form!” Study the photo above and chuckle. I’ll start, and you add on.
1.) There is no box at all for Arab or Middle Eastern.
2.) Where do Cape Verdeans (a Portuguese-creole-speaking island off Africa with a big population in Boston) check?
3.) “Negro”???!!!!
4.) Should European “Spaniard” really be under “Latino/Hispanic”? There are entire college courses dedicated to this debate, but if we’re talking about Latin American origin when we say “Latino,” “Brazilian” should be on the list. If we’re talking Latin origin languages, European Italians and Romanians should be on there, too.
5.) Why is “Asian Indian” its own category, but “Pakistani” is under the flippant category of “Other Asian”? They used to be the same country! Further, the whole tone of “Some Other Race,” is just downright sassy!
6.) Where do Haitians, Jamaicans, and people from the West Indies in general (who comprise large populations in New England) check?
7.) Overall, it seems that this Census form has the whole concept of Race and Ethnicity conflated and convoluted. From my studies, I’ve learned that “Race“ has to do with visual characteristics (ex: skin color, and face and hair characteristics), and is sometimes divided in the five categories: Caucasiod, Congoid, Capoid, Mongloid, and Australiod. “Ethnicity,” on the other hand, has more to do with one’s country or human-divided region of origin (ex: Canadian).
8.) Therefore, to be more accurate (though perhaps just as ridiculous), there should be a “Race” section addressing physical characteristics (ex: matching one’s skin color from a display… which would cause an uproar of course, but which would be more accurate), an “Ethnicity” section for country of origin (with follow-up questions for country of origin of parents and ancestors), and a “Language” section which would address the “Latino/Hispanic” question more completely.
9.) Now let’s take a moment to realize how different each country’s concept of Race and Ethnicity is! When my brother was volunteering at a school in Brazil, he witnessed, horrified, entire lessons dedicated to correctly naming the color of each little child’s skin. In America, it’s rude to discuss such things! But physical differences do exist, and it’s ultimately more accurate to describe them than to skirt around it like this bumbling Census form does!
10.) All right… You take it from here. What else can we say about our poor, misguided Census 2010 Race Form?
Aaaaaand this is why in France race does not appear on any kind of census (same goes for religion–another big no-no in France), it is against the law to formally collect this kind of data. Honestly I have never seen the point of collecting data on this because the labels are too confusing. I personally do not care how many people of so and so race live in America.
So interesting how different countries deal with race!
At last!!! The Census has decided to remove “Negro”.
http://www.scpr.org/programs/take-two/2013/02/28/30704/census-removes-negro-from-forms/
At last! Delia makes a good point below, though, about why it remained.
there’s actually a particular process for getting a race added to the census. arabs in particular have been trying to get added for several decades, but can’t quite get the political will. many have it right when they mention the strange historical remnants represented here. for example, back when the option was to be listed as black or white, arabs opted to be included with whites, because of the higher value and better treatment for whites at the time. there’s also the issue of all the non-arab middle eastern people, like persians, jews, copts, turks, berbers, or other groups in north africa. it also seems strange to me that there isn’t a race-related jewish question. i know that gets tricky and not everyone feels that it counts as a race or ethnicity, but many feel it does.
as for the word negro, that one is definitely controversial but has remained because many older african-americans have spent their lives identifying with that term. fun fact: at one time, referring to someone as an african-american was an insult, because it was insinuating that they should “go back to africa.”
there’s also the issue of haitians. while many identify as black, not all identify as african-american. and as far as data collection goes, some of the information that could be useful would make more sense when looked at alongside latinos, which of course opens up its own bag of worms. there are also many people who self-identify as latino, but may appear african american to someone who doesn’t know them. it also seems strange to me to smooth over latinos when there are so many different racial categories within that monniker.
i think my biggest issue with how we discuss race in the US (as well as in the census) is our inability to use precise terminology, or terms that are consistent. is the purpose to find out skin color, or ancestry/country of origin? what are we really trying to learn? both are useful, but these questions won’t necessarily give a clear answer for either.
glad to see so many people weighing in on such an important topic.
Fascinating background and insights!
Man, the cenus is sure outdated. They need to add a section that says “What do you look like?” to clear things up a bit. What do you do if you’re not on there? The “some other race” box is so disrespectful! They have to change things up by 2020!
Why does it say “Some other race” at the bottom instead of “Other race” it seems disrespectful.
I have not filled in one of these forms in years. Waste of time and money. Heard they have one coming up in the UK soon. That should be fun!
I had a really hard time filling it out. I’m multiracial… WTF do I check?
ohhhh so this is what that never opened envelope contained! (resulting in a knock on our door from one of those census people). I totally agree though! The same thing happens in MCAS and SATs. Why do they even need to know our ethnicities?
I would sue these people. Actually I’m about to look up how to sue the government right now.
Wow, I’ve NEVER noticed things like that before. I’ve always assumed since it was a government document that everyone had a catorgory they could fit into, but after reading your article on this, I see it isn’t true. BUT I think that there is something that could be done, such as a petition, a peaceful protest or some form of rebellion(wink, wink) that get this changed. No one should feel like their race is insignificant.
Oh man… If only you had a tenth grade teacher forcing you to do a zillion projects about rebellion… Hmm…
Funny you should mention your learnings of race from your studies. From mine, I had learned that there are three races: Negroid, Caucasoid, and Mongloid. The other three you mentioned I was taught to be subraces of the other three. Ethnicity is to define or identify with a region or perhaps a national origin.
As for the census, you see before you the effects of government bureaucracy. Folks, this is where the tax money is going! I could have saved the census a lot of time and money by suggesting the following: Use the basic races, but make the ethnicity section a fill-in-the-blank. Make the person identify him/herself. If it’s offensive, we have nobody to blame but ourselves.
I also agree that we should not be so afraid of talking about race & ethnicity. It’s all there, front and center. What are we supposed to do, not notice? From what you learned, Lillie, the Ghanaians definitely notice.
Since science has proven that we are all the same i dont see the need to continue classifying people on fickle things like race and ethnicity. Racial and Ethnic classifications are still with us today mainly to perpetuate some form of superiority of races and ethnicity over the other. The sooner we measure and count people on economic and education conditions the sooner we move into society that regards human beings as equal. Individuals can continue to refer to themselves to whatever they prefer but as long as they know that from state point of view they will regarded plain citizens.
So true. This phenomenon has been noted elsewhere: justanogeezer.blogspot.com
Ha! We had almost exactly the same issues with it!
Great minds…
Great post Lillie! I used to teach a lesson on country-specific definitions of race in my EFL class back when I was a teacher. Your take on the subject really highlights how ridiculous this whole thing is. I’m tweeting this post as well
These are all sort of legacies of US history.
Samoans gets a special mention because American Samoa is a territory. Same with Guamanian and Chamorro. The Philippines used to be a US territory. We were in wars with Vietnam, Korea, and Japan so they get special mention. India and China are just big so they get a special mention too. Everyone else is lumped together because they have no lobby group who wants special treatment for their group.
I’m not sure there is any set way to define “race”. The British used to think of the Irish as a separate race. The Nazis thought of Jews as a separate race. Some Arabs think of Persians as a separate race and vice versa.
In Asia, groups which we would lump together as “asian” would consider themselves to be totally separate races from each other. African tribes would think the same thing.
Race, as it is used in the US, if often just a shorthand for ethnic group.
This is what you get when you design by committee. Is this data even actionable? This is why I cringe when people want anything taken over by the government… yes social programs are great, but have you ever worked with a bureaucracy? I bet they had a sub-committee to appoint the sub-committee to design this form. And someone took meeting minutes and had them approved by the committee secretary. So they could put the word “negro” on there. Brilliant.
It’s the “and so on” that I find funny. Like, who was the official goverment person that proofread that and though “that’s acceptable. No need to sound official.”?
I, for one, am outraged that the Whites don’t get an “and so on” As a Pasty-white Irish-American i feel glossed over.
Lastly, I find it funny (funny interesting) that the Chinese and Japanese and Vietnamese get there own check boxes, but the Thais and Cambodians are just “others”.
Bureaucracy is funny.
EXACTLY!!!!
You obviously have way too much time on your hands.
Ooo, sassy comment, Samson! Listen: the way Race is lived in America (and the rest of the world for that matter) deserves MORE time for discussion and communication, not less!
For race, I wrote in “Fabulous” and I have the picture to prove it.
(Lillie, how do I post a picture?)
UTTERLY AMAZING. And true. No clue how to post a picture here in the comments section. Maybe do the link to an online pic? This better be student-appropriate, oh Fabulous One!
Holy heaven, Seth: You weren’t kidding! Photo proof here: http://www.facebook.com/aroundtheworldL?ref=ts#!/photo.php?pid=35545054&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=106736722696904&aid=-1&id=1004378 .
girl I know it’s confusing, I WORK FOR THE CENSUS and it’s hard to explain this to people. The categories that made the final cut are there because they are what get people to answer the most. As in, yes a lot of older blacks identify with negro over AA.
I’m not defending them but just letting you know what we learned in the trainings. It is what it is. At least you can pick more than one category or write in whatever you feel describes you best (or skip the question all together)…
But here are more official answers from the guide book:
White: anyone with origins from peoples of Europe, middle east, north africa. Examples listed are Irish, Italian, Arab, Polish, Lebanese.
Black. Negro, AA: anyone from origins of black racial groups of Africa. Ex: afro-americans, kenyans, Haitians
Am. Indian/Alaska Native: originals peoples of north AND south america (INCLUDING central america) AND who maintain tribal affiliations. Ex: blackfeet, navajo, spanish american indian.
Asian: all of those sub-categories are created so that people will respond to them. That’s why it’s a little all over the place. But essentially when they tabulate all the sub-categories, they will all be under Asian. This includes those in the Indian sub-continent and Pakistanis.
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander/Chamorro: all those names are also sub-categories for a larger category for those of the pacific islands.
Other Race: you can check this box if you feel you are something not listed there, want to name something else, are mixed race, etc. Most Latino categories get counted here too.
Hispanic Origin (question 5): it’s to count the number of latinos in this country as latinos can be of more than once race or origin…
Did that help to clear some things up?
Jade,
This is super helpful and makes it all a TAD less ridiculous. BUT– do you agree with your dear sister that “Spaniards are NOT Latino”??
Lillie, thanks for you great post.
As Spaniard who lived in the US for a while I experimented that perplexity when applying for my Social Security card.
White: anyone with origins from peoples of Europe, middle east, north africa. Examples listed are Irish, Italian, Arab, Polish, Lebanese….? YES I’m white.
Spanish / Spaniard? YES, I’m from Spain.
By the way, in Spanish, at least in Spain, the term “negro” is not unpolite.
We also say “tiro al blanco” to refer to “target shooting” and we “blancos” are not concerned LOL