Census Changes Could Make Whites Less Than 50 Percent Sooner

*There’s a good infographic that circulated in social media networks recently, done by NPR it showed how much the “race” question had changed on census forms since 1850. For instance, those who we now refer to as African-Americans had the option to choose from Black or Mulatto back then. Forty years later, in 1890 the choices for them included Quadroon and Octorooon; right around 1930 the Census settled on Negro.

That same year the option for Mexican first appeared in the Census form. That option evolved to Hispanic in the 2000 form. Ten years later that option was drilled-down to choose a race to go with the Hispanic culture/ethnicity identification, so you could be Hispanic and white, or Hispanic and Asian, etc.

Now this. The next census form, in 5 years time, could come with even more options for Latinos and people from the Middle East. What I find interesting is that this story talks about what the proposed changes will mean for whites, and how the prediction that whites will soon be less than 50 percent of the population will come to pass sooner than thought. But what about the people who will find themselves lost in the tangle created by the new questions? I know many Latinos of Lebanese descent.

Writing about the NPR infographic, Gene Demby wrote “The graphic underscores the political and social slipperiness of these identifiers, which we tend to think of as fixed, scientific truths in everyday life.” And there’s a quote in this AP story that takes the slipperiness of the Census questions from the perspective of non-whites: “If you are going to classify me as white, then treat (me) as white.” VL


associated_press_logo_1By Russell Contreras, Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — 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.

[pullquote]”But I don’t think these new questions would diminish anything. It would just give us more information about our diverse populations.” -Census Director John Thompson[/pullquote]

Census Director John Thompson told The Associated Press this week that the bureau is testing a number of new questions and may combine its race and ethnicity questions into one category for the 2020 census. That would allow respondents to choose multiple races.

The possible changes include allowing Latinos to give more details about their ethnic backgrounds and creating a new, distinct category for people of Middle Eastern and North African descent.

Click HERE to reaed the full story.


[Photo courtesy of NewsOne]

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