Census - Race confusion

[RonBoyd]

It is interesting that the Census Bureau asks a question that they don't even know how to answer. I am speaking of the question about Race.

Should I go with my Father's Ancestry and enter "Other - Celtic" or perhaps "Other - Highlander"?

Or should I use my Mother's Ancestry and put "Other - Saxon"? Or should I consider that more recently (1650s) those particular Relatives found the Native American female quite attractive... and receptive to their advances?

Maybe I should go back to Greco-Roman times and put "Other - Barbarian."

I suspect that my Species is Homo Sapien which would make me a member of the Human Race but I have no proof of that. I wouldn't want to lie.

Or am I completely off-base and this question is merely an attempt to get me to choose "Us" or "Them"? In which case, I am even more at a loss.

 

[bbbamI]

I'm not sure of my race since DH filled out the form, sealed and mailed it before I looked it over.

 

[Gumby]

I say go with 4x400m relay.

 

[REWahoo]

I say go with 4x400m relay.

For even greater diversification you could go with the medley relay. "Different strokes for..." well, you know...

 

[FIREd]

One of DW's friend had a question about his kid's race. One of the parents is white, and the other is Asian. He didn't know how to classify his kid, so he called the Census Bureau.

He was told to enter the kid as Hawaiian... Because "Hawaii is half way between America and Asia"...

 

[RonBoyd]

He was told to enter the kid as Hawaiian... Because "Hawaii is half way between America and Asia"...

 

[RonBoyd]

I'm not sure of my race since DH filled out the form, sealed and mailed it before I looked it over.

OMG!!! He can see into the future? How does he know what will take place on April 1st two weeks in advance.

 

[dessert]

I was underwhelmed by the form too. I can't believe that we also received a letter the week before to let us know that the census would be coming soon. I filled it out and sealed it up in just a few minutes as my DW and I are the only people in the household. I also wondered what all the complaining was about. I know that the govt. could just GOOGLE me up and come up with more information than I gave.

 

[kyounge1956]

One of DW's friend had a question about his kid's race. One of the parents is white, and the other is Asian. He didn't know how to classify his kid, so he called the Census Bureau.

He was told to enter the kid as Hawaiian... Because "Hawaii is half way between America and Asia"...

I haven't opened mine yet but I thought the general rule on "race" was check all that apply, if there's no box for "other". I wonder if I should check more than one...I'm black, but my great-grandmother was English and it's quite obvious that there is more than a little European ancestry on my mom's side of the family.

 

[kyounge1956]

It is interesting that the Census Bureau asks a question that they don't even know how to answer. I am speaking of the question about Race.

Should I go with my Father's Ancestry and enter "Other - Celtic" or perhaps "Other - Highlander"?

Or should I use my Mother's Ancestry and put "Other - Saxon"? Or should I consider that more recently (1650s) those particular Relatives found the Native American female quite attractive... and receptive to their advances?

Maybe I should go back to Greco-Roman times and put "Other - Barbarian."

I suspect that my Species is Homo Sapien which would make me a member of the Human Race but I have no proof of that. I wouldn't want to lie.

Or am I completely off-base and this question is merely an attempt to get me to choose "Us" or "Them"? In which case, I am even more at a loss.

I have heard that some folks are writing in "American".

 

[tuixiu]

Just fill it out tomorrow and put "Irish"

 

[ls99]

I always put Hun for race. In every census.

 

[FUEGO]

The Asians definitely got hooked up on the Census form from what I recall. All kinds of different choices, and suggestions for where you could be from. They even had Cambodian as a choice.

This thread reminds me of the funny "race" choices when helping BIL fill out his marriage license yesterday. He and his fiancee are both Asian, born in Cambodia. But the choices provided were strange: Asian, Asian Indian, Chinese, Indian (Am. Indian listed separately), Korean, Other Asian, Native Hawaiian, Vietnamese. Wasn't sure whether he should be Asian or Other Asian. So we went with Asian.

I noticed they had Caucasian and White listed separately. Heck if I know which one I should pick.

When filling out my daughter's kindergarten enrollment forms, they had a check boxes and said "pick all that apply", so now my daughter goes into their "multi-racial" category. This race stuff is confusing. I'm just hoping my historically oppressed child can get some minority scholarships one day.

 

[ziggy29]

I think many of us could probably enter "Mutt". I know I'm a mutt.

 

[REWahoo]

Aren't we about at the point in the US where we can all enter "minority" - and be correct?

 

[Alan]

I think many of us could probably enter "Mutt". I know I'm a mutt.

I think all of us can. If you've watched any of the American ancestry programs such as "Who do you think you are?" and see the results of the genetic DNA typing you realize that most everyone is a "mutt". Even the head of African American studies at Harvard, Henry Louis Gates Jr, was amazed when he discovered he was over 50% white.

 

[FUEGO]

Aren't we about at the point in the US where we can all enter "minority" - and be correct?

I don't think so. I want to keep the pool of eligible minorities as small as possible. And up those odds that my little minorities reap huge rewards from minority scholarships and maybe even start a company to extract large amounts of wealth from the government if they were to set up qualified minority owned businesses. I mean it wouldn't be fair to just make everyone a minority after all would it? I'd say we focus on keeping the quotas and set asides in place as long as possible for those historically oppressed groups. Not that this would be self serving in any manner.

 

[ziggy29]

I think all of us can. If you've watched any of the American ancestry programs such as "Who do you think you are?" and see the results of the genetic DNA typing you realize that most everyone is a "mutt". Even the head of African American studies at Harvard, Henry Louis Gates Jr, was amazed when he discovered he was over 50% white.

YouTube - We're Mutts

 

[unclemick]

X - I put in my Nat Geo mitochondrial haplogroup.

That ought to confuse them.

heh heh heh -

 

[kyounge1956]

X - I put in my Nat Geo mitochondrial haplogroup.

That ought to confuse them.

heh heh heh -

yeah—they may think you are female
Shouldn't you have put in your y chromosome group instead, or doesn't National Geographic give you that info?

 

[unclemick]

yeah—they may think you are female
Shouldn't you have put in your y chromosome group instead, or doesn't National Geographic give you that info?

Yep - got that one too - a boring N. Just to stir things up in ancient times(before Nat Geo) I used to put Laplander(based on family legend) but now they have lawyers - Saami lacks the same cache.

If I read right - the female mitochondrial test goes way back in time and doesn't change as fast as the male.

I waiting for the day when they drop race and ask which haplogroup or which lawyer you have.

heh heh heh - A little strained humor.