Racial Profiling in the Census

[thongd4me 69]

I just found the racial profiling questions very offensive.

They have no more place there than questions about how many slaves are owned.

It seems that both Tiger Woods and Barack Obama are labeled as "Black" by popular acclaim.

However, neither Woods nor Obama would deny their Asian and White heritage.

It would make no more sense if Woods checked the Black box or the Asian box than if

Obama checked the Black box or White box. They shouldn't be forced to choose.

They are both fine human beings and counted as "1" each on the census.

I think the use of the census in some kind of misguided social engineering project is way off base.

Nobody should get entitlements on the basis of race, just on the basis of whether they need them or not.

My daughter is half Asian and White and she loudly proclaims herself as Asian,

yet she is no more Asian in behavior, Asian language ability or upbringing than Al Sharpton.

We are all the human race. When we start thinking otherwise, that's how wars break out.

[Darnell 8,478]

Well, there ARE entitlements based on race, alas. So - to COUNT the different races, via the Census, becomes important.

Sorry - that's not my original idea.

[Jenn! 918]

They shouldn't be forced to choose.

They're not. You can check as many boxes as apply.

And what is "Asian in behavior" exactly?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Multiracial is an option. So are free form responses.

[Peikko 1,575]

People looking for the outrageous will find it.

[thongd4me 69]

They're not. You can check as many boxes as apply.

And what is "Asian in behavior" exactly?

My ex in-laws in Japan are the judges of that, not me.

They said that the behavior of my daughter sucked.

I like to think of her as typically American, without regard to race.

If she went around Japan saying as she does here how Asian she was,

they would set her straight in short order.

To the Japanese, even Japanese who have spent years in America

are considered to some extent foreign because of the influences

and thinking they have acquired.

Edited March 19, 2010 by thongd4me

[Obama 2012 1,714]

This is why I checked 'other' and wrote in: 'American'

[Jenn! 918]

They said that the behavior of my daughter sucked.

Haha, well I do know that the Japanese certainly have high standards!

[thongd4me 69]

This is why I checked 'other' and wrote in: 'American'

I also checked other but you have me over a barrel for tact

[thongd4me 69]

Haha, well I do know that the Japanese certainly have high standards!

My ex took them to Japan by herself (their 3rd visit so they should have known better by then)

and she told me upon their return how embarrassed she was by what they said & did.

Teens of any nationality are classified as extra-terrestrials according to some scientific studies.

[scandal 951]

Census snapshots: An evolving portrait

Multiracial, gay and immigrant Americans question whether 2010 form captures country's fast-changing makeup

By Oscar Avila, Dahleen Glanton, Tribune reporters

March 14, 2010

Look in the mirror and what do you see?

When the census form arrives in mailboxes this week, the complex answers to that question will help paint America's evolving portrait, with repercussions for a decade and beyond.

For most people, the census will be a simple 10-minute process. For others in this nation of Barack Obama, Jessica Alba, Tiger Woods, Halle Berry, Apolo Ohno and Joakim Noah , questions of mixed race and ethnicity will prompt soul-searching over how to categorize themselves among a small but growing minority in the national fabric.

The census is a montage of self-portraits that will detail the ways a nation of nearly 309 million has changed since 2000, including migration, family size and housing patterns. While that data is easier to quantify, critics say a rote list of boxes and checkmarks can't adequately reflect all the racial and ethnic transformations.

On Chicago's South Side, the daughter of a black father and white mother will check both. Her brother will check black. Their children will write in "mixed" or "biracial."

A Brazilian immigrant will mark a box that says Hispanic, though she doesn't accept the label. A woman from Jordan won't check Asian, though she is. A man born to a Japanese mother and white father considers himself white only at census time.

Another respondent may check four racial boxes like the multi-ethnic Woods, who invented his own identifier: "cablinasian," a mix of Caucasian, black, Indian and Asian. Obama jokingly labeled himself a "mutt," but he won't find that box on the form.

Some bemoan the absence of a separate "multiracial" box to check. And beyond race and ethnicity, the form won't account for the principal factor by which many Americans identify themselves: There is no category for sexual orientation, so some gay activists plan to protest by affixing pink stickers on the envelope.

"The lesson is that, like reality, like our lives, census data are messy," said Jorge Chapa, a University of Illinois professor who has consulted for the Census Bureau. "But the messiness does reflect the growing diversity and our complexity as a people. It's closer to the truth."

Over the years, the census form has changed to reflect racial realities. A historic switch for the 2000 census allowed Americans to click more than one category, meaning that the son of a Kenyan father and a white woman from Kansas can now officially be both races. About 6.8 million Americans, 2.4 percent of the population, checked more than one racial box.

A Brookings Institution survey has shown a doubling of mixed-race marriages over the last two decades. A Pew Research Center report last month documented that younger generations were far more tolerant of racial mixing than their elders.

People who mark more than one race box are not counted more than once in the overall population tally. But they would add one additional person to each racial category they choose.

Susan Graham, executive director of California-based Project RACE, which advocates for multiracial families, said a hodgepodge of individual boxes is not sufficient to describe her children. She is white and was married to an African-American, and their children have a singular identity as multiracial American.

"The term ‘multiracial,' we believe, is important and should be on the form. Words are important," Graham said.

Researchers have found that people's self-identities can be fluid: Over the course of their lives, they can more strongly identify with various parts of their ancestry at different times.

Kenneth Prewitt, who directed the 2000 census, said some civil-rights groups have resisted the concept of checking more than one race out of fear that it will dilute their influence.

Prewitt said the "Hispanic" term, one used mainly in the U.S., is especially confusing. The term, which the Census Bureau first used in 1980, describes an ethnicity pertaining to Spain but can include white, black and other races. He would include one catch-all category merging Hispanics with other race identifiers, or eliminate all boxes and have everyone write in their preferred identities.

After all, is someone whose family originally is from Egypt an African-American? Does an Iranian have much in common with a Filipino, both Asian-Americans?

"We're basically taking a leftover measurement system and forcing it to do tasks that it is ill-equipped to do," he said.

article continues online, follow link.

[Darnell 8,478]

wow - Words are important. Go Figure.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

Just how is asking for data points about your genetic history count as racial profiling ? Here is the definition of racial profiling from wikipedia

Racial profiling is the inclusion of racial or ethnic characteristics in determining whether a person is considered likely to commit a particular type of crime or an illegal act or to behave in a "predictable" manner. It is often confused with the more comprehensive offender profiling and has been perceived to be directed most often toward non white individuals. Although this practice has been common for centuries, the practice became particularly controversial toward the end of the 20th century in the United States, as the potential for abuse by law enforcement came to light.

The US government is collecting data. They are not engaging in racial profiling. I wish people that want to pull the race card would at least do so intelligently. Have you ever read the story of chicken little ?

[alienlovechild 75]

The Census of 1880

Schedule 1. Free Inhabitants in _________, in the County of ________, State of _________, enumerated by me, on the _____ day of ___________, 1880.

_____________________, Enumerator.

Enumeration district No. ___________.

In cities: Name of street; house number

1. Dwelling houses numbered in order of visitation.

2. Families numbered in order of visitation.

3. The name of every person whose place of abode on the 1st day of June, 1880, was in this family.

Personal description:

4. Color – White, W; black, B; Mulatto, Mu; Chinese, C; Indian, I.

5. Sex – Males (M), females

6. Age at last birthday prior to June 1, 1880. If under 1 year, give months in fractions, thus, 3/12.

7. If born within the census year, give the month.

8. Relationship of each person to the head of this family – whether wife, son, daughter, servant, boarder, or other.

Civil condition:

9. Single.

10. Married.

11. Widowed; divorced.

12. Married during census year.

Occupation:

13. Profession, occupation, or trade of each person, male or female.

14. Number of months this person has been unemployed during the census year.

Health:

15. Is the person (on the day of the enumerator’s visit) sick or temporarily disabled, so as to be unable to attend to ordinary business or duties? Is so, what is the sickness or disability?

16. Blind.

17. Deaf and dumb.

18. Idiotic.

19. Insane.

20. Maimed, crippled, bedridden, or otherwise disabled.

Education:

21. Attended school within the census year.

22. Can not read.

23. Can not write.

Nativity:

24. Place of birth of this person, naming State or Territory of United States, or the country, if of foreign birth.

25. Place of birth of the father of this person, naming State or Territory of United States, or the country, if of foreign birth

26. Place of birth of the mother of this person, naming State or Territory of United States, or the country, if of foreign birth

http://usa.ipums.org/usa/voliii/items1880.shtml

[scandal 951]

The Census of 1880

11. Widowed; divorced.

18. Idiotic.

Wow, they had divorce in the 1880s? Who knew!

Idiotic