Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

Race

Census and Sensibility

A week or so ago I noted my frustrations with the race box on the census.  Mark Kirkorian suggests one way of dealing with it (the very one that our commentor "Cowgirl" noted she does):

We should answer Question 9 by checking the last option -- "Some other race" -- and writing in "American." It's a truthful answer but at the same time is a way for ordinary citizens to express their rejection of unconstitutional racial classification schemes. In fact, "American" was the plurality ancestry selection for respondents to the 2000 census in four states and several hundred counties.

So remember: Question 9 -- "Some other race" -- "American". Pass it on.

Categories > Race

Discussions - 7 Comments

I used to be able to honestly check the box for "Native American", but that seems to have gone out of vogue.

I have checked "other" and written "American" on every such survey, including the Census, that I've ever been given from college on--at least as far back as I can remember.

"Human" has been my usual response.

That's good. I'll take "Human". American is not a race. (Neither is Hispanic.)

National Geographic's Human Genome Project tends to show that "Human" is the only correct answer, anyway. Race and such ancestry is a muddle.

Just answer how many people live there and leave the rest blank.

Non-rhetorical question: Does anyone know for how long the U.S. census has asked about race?
My sense is that the government inquired about (and obtained) this information about Americans from pretty far back in history, not merely since the rise of identity politics in the 1960s.

https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/tab01.pdf

From 1790, including a question about free or slave black. We know why.

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