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Would you refuse to check box on your race for the govt?

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by dr dij

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Students at local high schools are now refusing to check an ethnic background box on school forms, which is giving govt wig/wogs the willies.

Will this destroy the govts efforts at discriminating positively or negatively to a specific ethnic group? Will that force the end to us looking at ourselves as specific ethnic groups? Will some govt employee who manages the database have his head explode over this?

in some cases there is no obvious box to check, for example student who is italian and nigerian. or student who is african american plus cherokee. another student looks 'white' but identifies with his 1/4 heritage of other origin.

They actually ask for '3rd party observers' to check the students ethnic background for them at times. That seems particularly bizarre and creeps me out, having someone else decide my ethnic background by looking at my face for 30 seconds or looking at one of my last name which comes from only one parent:

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/nation/story/82548.html

If you are not 'white' are you willing to give out your ethnic makeup? Should it really matter?

for that matter, if you ARE
'white', do you check the box for your 1/64th black or asian or american indian ancestor?

I don't have a problem with proclaiming my (not large percent) american indian ancestry. 'Scalp you all' if you get me PO'd by questioning it.

I was called on it once as I applied to Stanford long ago and on reply form they asked for my Bureau of Indian Affairs office # :)

I think this scares the govt as if everyone did this they pretty much couldn't do anything about it (except mandatory genetic testing?)

23 replies

by boxfiddler

[i]Will that force the end to us looking at ourselves as specific ethnic groups?[/i]

Not likely, until our daily inputs stop framing us as [b]Asian-American, African-American, Latino, et al.[/b]

I'm of the opinion this is purposeful. Divide and conquer.

etu
Oops. Forgot to say Good For Them. :D

by charliespencer

"Not likely, until our daily inputs stop framing us as Asian-American, African-American, Latino, et al."

If framing is being done, those framed are doing it themselves. No one else can declare you a Hyphenated-American without your cooperation.

by nicknielsen

Back in the day, when they left a blank line, I would write "human" on the line.

If I couldn't see any reason why they should need to know my race, I entered "400 high".

by maxwell edison

..... that a census worker knocked on my door to [i]randomly[/i] verify some information. [i]Randomly?[/i] Yea, right!

I never check the box and always refuse to answer the question.

by jamesrl

Back in the good old days, Canada used to do door to door enumerations every election. We created votes lists. It was a good student job to have, and I'd done it a few times.

One election I was made a supervisor, and given a group of enumerators to supervise. I got some cyptic note on one house's entry, and there wasn't enough information to process. I tried getting one of my staff to go, but no one was available, so I went to do it myself.

When I got there, I soon understood the issue. The forms we filled out were two part and one part went to the voter/citizen. There was a checkbox for gender. The individual was clearly someone in the middle of a transition between one gender and another. I made some small talk while I tried to figure out which box I should tick, knowing that most voters look at the form to make sure their name is spelled correctly.

Finally I plucked up my courage, checked a box, handed the person the form and left. I kept waiting for someone to call me as I walked down the sidewalk, but nothing happened. I'm pretty sure that was the first transgendered individual I'd met.

James

by .martin.

In Australia, only ask if I consider myself to be of aboriginal or Torres Strait inheritance.

I personally think it is stupid.

by locolobo

must belong to the human race. I used to do that too.

I used to know someone who was 1/256th Cherokee. He had a card stating he was a member of the tribe. So I guess he could check native american.

by jmgarvin

I've no idea what all I've got bumping around in my DNA. If my wife and I have a kid, God knows what it'll be, other than human.

I guess, skin wise, I'm white. My wife is Hispanic/Native American and, if legend is correct, probably part African.

Race is pointless anymore and we should just do away with it. If anything I'm an American and realistically I'm just human.

by charliespencer

sometimes race does matter. I'm referring to medical traits more likely to occur in some races than others. I'm also using the word 'race' in the biological sense, not the political sense that incorrectly interchanges 'race' with 'ethnicity' or even 'religion'. 'Italian', 'Latino', or 'Jewish' are not races.

The number of people who report their race as 'Black' (or whatever term the form will offer) can have a major impact on how much money the government spends on sickle cell anemia research. That's why your answer should be based on your dominant biological background, not the one-quarter or one-eighth of your heritage you 'identify with'.

Me? Depends on my mood that day, but if I answer I pick 'White' or 'Caucasian'. I never put 'Latino', despite my one-quarter Mexican background; medically it makes no difference.

by tig2

I'm not much of a runner though so I suppose my answer would be, "last".

I know what my heritage is and will sometimes tell someone else. Frankly it doesn't strike me as a burning question though.

I have no idea how to answer the question on forms so I don't choose to.

by maecuff

Good for them! Race shouldn't matter. It DOES matter, but it shouldn't.

A good reason for ever collecting race data? Equal opportunity issues.

I'm sure that many people have strong feelings about this. Why should I lose out on a job because THEY have to fill a racial quota? And I agree. That kind of sucks. The job, promotion, whatever should go to the best qualified applicant. However, until ALL employers stop discriminating based on race, sex, etc. then this is how it is.

by jck

When a job gives me the EEO forms with an application and they say it's "optional" to do, I never fill them out.

Race has no bearing on your ability to do a job, and should not be a factor in your employment.

Same goes for school.

by jamesrl

I don't mind providing the information to the census because there is some statistical purpose in understanding things at the macro level.

But I also believe that its becoming more and more irrelevent as we become a multicultural society and we become happy Heinz 57 mutts.

Many of the distinctions are silly anyways. I'm sure people from Italy and Spain consider themselves "white" but both countries have had substantial influence from North Africa. (thats not meant as an insult).

My ancestry is Scottish on both sides, but I am sure there is some English blood in there somewhere.

I will reiterate my stance that "race" in most contexts means nothing. Genetically the whole human populations is as diverse as black labradors and golden labs - which is to say, not much. Most of what people consider to be racial is cultural differences, not racial.

James

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