Why not have a box for "Americans?" It's who we are, after all.
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The census asks each of us to check a box called "race," perpetuating the notion that we're a nation of hyphenated people different from each other. Yet the very definition of race is "a family, tribe, people or nation... unified by shared interests." So why aren't we members of the "American race?"
I was born in Oakland, a fourth-generation native Californian. My sons were born in Reno and Las Vegas; they are native Nevadans. We three were born in America, so we are native Americans, aren't we?
The census has a box for American Indians, African Americans, Native Hawaiians and Alaska natives, but no box for native Americans, the people born here and proud of it.
With no "American" box, my race choice on the census is limited to one, "White." My great grandmother immigrated to America from a small town in northern Italy, and my skin color is light, yes, but I don't think of myself as a "White," and I certainly would 't say, "I'm a member of the White race," ever.
My sons sport natural tans, 2 shots of espresso with a dash of cream. A Census worker would call my sons "Black," but they are blessed with an inherited mixture of many ethnicities, including African, Mexican and Italian, but mostly, American. My oldest son sometimes calls himself a "Blaxican," to remind a few narrow-minded Latinos at his high school that he shares their ancestry, despite the color of his skin and the kink of his hair.
Why must my sons and I label ourselves "black" or "white?" And if we must pick a color, why not "red, white and blue?" We were born in America, and America is the culture we've known since our birth. Yes, my sons and I can claim a variety of cultures, inherited from ancestors long gone, but why are the nationalities of dead people more important than our own nationalities at birth? My sons are fourth generation Americans. We are proud of that fact.
So what race box should we check? According to our federal government,
The Census Bureau collects race data ... based on self-identification. The racial categories included in the census form generally reflect a social definition of race recognized in this country, and are not an attempt to define race biologically, anthropologically or genetically.... People may choose to report more than one race to indicate their racial mixture, such as “American Indian and White.” People who identify their origin (emphasis added) as Hispanic, Latino or Spanish may be of any race.... You may choose more than one race category.
We could check every race box for every ancestor then, if we wanted to. I don't want to. I just want a box that says, "American." To use the government's words above, I "identify my origin" as America.
America is a melting pot... isn't it time we melted?
This article is part of the series, Fight for the Right America.
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(Photo: K. Anderson)
Comments
Oh Kelly, this is sooo good! My husband is always saying, the reason patriotism is slacking off is because so many people think of themselves as American second to their other country or race. You wanna be here? You want all the advantages? Start being proud you're an American!
Plus, I know "REAL" African American citizens, actually from Africa, who do not like it at all when Americans who have never been to Africa and can't trace their family back to Africa call themselves African Americans.
Oh, P.S...have you stopped by any of my articles yet? We originally met at LinkedIn and exchanged links. Come see me at x-19341-Tampa-Faith--Politics-Examiner (add all the http stuff at the front just like on your own link, of course. I hate that we can't put URL's here!).
Yes, Sheryl, I've subscribed to your Examiner page! Your hubby is right... we need to remind people they are AMERICANS first!
If you look back through history you will see that our Gov. causes most of the race problems that we have ever had in this nation.If you look at our political system it actually creates a divide of people. Now if we were a united people as we should be on most all issues our so called leaders would have to do a lot different. Are you seeing the reason to keep us divided so they can stay in office. If we were united no one in the world would want to mess with the U.S. The terrorist do things that actually helps create the divide and we are all falling for it.
You are American, or you are not. You may have a cultural background (heritage) from somwhere else but this does not make you from there. Great write-up Kelly!
Questions on the census form are there for a purpose. One big reason for the race question is the enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. Some areas would try to create voting districts that would isolate minorities or to dilute their voting strength. That is now illegal. How can the law be enforced if you don't know the racial makeup of an area?
I wrote in American.
Joseph, you said a reason for the race question is to prevent redistricting that would "isolate minorities or dilute their voting strength." That was back in "the day." Today, getting the minority vote is a desired objective, esp. among Democrats. They want to know where "blacks" and "latinos" live to target ad campaigns, redirect stimulus funds, promote amnesty and open borders... basically, TO BUY MINORITY VOTES. If NO ONE KNOWS the actual racial makeup of a district/community/town/city/state, today's abuses can't happen. Having a "blank" canvas ethnically evens the playing field for all. I still contend, we are all Americans if we were born here. There should be a box on the census that asks, "Were you born in the United States of America?" and that's it, IMHO. No other "race" questions.
People live where they live, period.
Lou/John, you're right, people are waking up to the abusiveness of a government gone wild with corruption. Signs were just the beginning. Choosing to answer the census with just the number of people in your household (the only question required by law, btw), and your race as "Other" with "American" written in, is another way to tell politicians who think they know what's best for us that they don't. We know how we feel, and it's time we tell them, in all the ways we feel comfortable. Bumper stickers, signs, tea parties, census forms, voting booths, tax returns... whatever works for you!
It's pretty obvious that the reason you wrote this was because your children are mixed and you are ashamed of them, as well as yourself, which you should be. The genetics of a mixed child are warped and cause anomalies. Great job in life. Way to keep it in your pants long enough for a nice respectable man to have it.
Doesn't the census presume we're "American?" Part of its purpose is to better understand what "American" means. It doesn't box bi-racial people in; rather, it allows them to freely choose with which group they most closely identify. The only reason I can see one objecting to wanting their ethnicity accurately represented in the statistics of our nation is if they believe the only "real" Americans are White.
I definitely agree with you that we should be considered Americans first, but I think its a little short sighted and maybe detrimental to say that ethnicity and race do not matter. We are all Americans and we all share a general, unified destiny...but we are not all the same. We have different backgrounds, heritages, and futures...and they all go into our own American identity. Just because silver goes into a melting pot, at a very basic level, it still has a heritage of being silver. I think it's important to acknowledge our ethnicity, background, heritage...it's that diversity that makes it great to be American.
Folks, racist comments like Gregory's absolutely WILL be left on my wall, to show that bigots and white supremacists like him still exist in the world. Let's hope Gregory Drewery is his real name, so he can be "unsheeted" and "uncloaked" on the Net. Amazing what happens when employers and interested peeps do a google search of your name... comments like these will come up, and everyone will see what you really are, Gregory.
My children are proud Americans with multiple heritages, as I explained in my article. They tell their so-called "black," friends that I am the whitest sistah they'll ever meet, and not to mess with MamaKel. Clearly, Gregory Drewery, you have never met me, or my children.
The only person who should be ashamed, Gregory, is you... and your poor mother.
Jonathan, that diversity IS what makes us great Americans, no one here suggests otherwise. But why are we hyphenated Americans? Why can't we be "Americans with interesting ancestry." We come here, we melt, and we become something new, better, stronger. We shouldn't be divided, we should be united. Don't we live in the United States of America? I would rather be called a "Nevadan" than a "White."
Max, you wrote: "The only reason I can see one objecting to wanting their ethnicity accurately represented in the statistics of our nation is if they believe the only "real" Americans are White."
Did you even read the article? How is my ethnicity accurately represented by the word "white?" Did you miss the entire point of the article?
And how did you come to the conclusion that I or anyone suggested that the only "real" Americans are White?
Do you understand the term, "DOH?"
BTW, Gregory, if you'd bothered to read my bio, you wouldn't have made the equally offensive comment, "Way to keep it in your pants long enough for a nice respectable man to have it."
God has a very special place reserved for people like you. Hope you like tropical climates.
I grew up believing America is the great "melting pot." Having our mixture of cultures and working through these issues makes us quite a country. I know of countries where the government wants to know your religion and even places this information on a national card if you are citizen. I know of countries where religion is taught in the state schools to children as young as 8 years of age. (Many readers probably think this is only true for certain countries for which there is a conceived stereotype, but I ask that you do a simple internet search and you will see that there are even so-called first world countries that require this.) Concerned, I have now seen where certain foreign groups in America are telling their members to put their race as "other" on the Census application, but instead of putting "American" they are being advised to write in other nationalities. This seems like something that divides. I seem to remember a famous quote, "United we stand, divided we fall."
From an officially recognized cultural organization's website in America (very likely there are similar recommendations from other sites):
"It is very important for us to know how many >>>> are living and voting in America to become a political force to reckon with. Depending on the results of Census 2010, over $400B in federal funding will be available to state and local projects, including diversity programs. In addition, depending on the enumeration of >>>>, the Census Bureau may decide to include a “>>>>” box in the 2020 Census. So it is really important for each and every one of us to be counted as having >>>> heritage."
This is just another perspective and I am not trying to single out any one cultural organization. We are all human beings. Best wishes to all.
I agree with most of the article but one thing bothers me, your son calling himself "Blaxican". I find it strange that when it comes to people of mixed race, those with white heritage regularly gloss over it.
Even with Obama, people seemed more focused on him being "black", than his mixed ancestry and that he was raised in various cultures, making him a great example of the melting pot that America touts itself as.
I belonged to a diversity group a few years ago. I left after a disagreement about this very thing. Another member of Russian descent was questioned about not becoming a member of our community's Russian population "group". She was uncomfortable with that and hesitated to answer. I voiced that I could understand why she might not want to - that while she honors her cultural background, she would rather become part of the fabric of the America she came to, and avoid persons who would want to stay separate. I was pounced upon and told by another person from Haiti that I was being racist and that it was of paramount importance to retain who you are, even if you are living in this country. We will never, ever, overcome racism until people who immigrate here "melt" into their reasons for coming here in the first place. I should be Hungarian-English-French-German-American if we keep this up. Ludicrous and the government continues the farce. It says American on my census and no phone number!
Oh come on! Just fill in your race and call it the day. If you were born in the US or have papers stating so then you are American. American is a nationality, not an ethnicity and a race. The Census is looking for your ethnic Race, not your nationality or your species type (human race). Please just mark other if you are mixed and if you are not just put white black hispanic or whatever other race it asks for. Stop trying to be politically correct and fill out the damn thing.
And then there are families like mine - been here since the early 1600s, mixed with Angolan Africans, Western Native Americans, etc, etc. I'm not "white"
When a question of race comes up on any info grabbing paper from my children's school to now the census ...I always check OTHER and write in "HUMAN"....we are all in the same race...maybe one day the info paper writer person will get the hint.
Sara, me too! Generation after generation of multi-racial mixing has made my family a true reflection of American's melting pot. My sons have melted into true red-white-and-blue Americans! "White" is insulting, IMHO.
Recently, I found the 2010 Census form hanging on my door. As I began filling it out, I came across a dilemma. The U.S. government wants to know if my children are adopted or not and it wants to know what our races are. Being adopted myself, I had to put “Other” and “Don’t Know Adopted” for my race and “Other” and “Don’t Know” for my kids’ races.
Can you imagine not knowing your ethnicity, your race? Now imagine walking into a vital records office and asking the clerk for your original birth certificate only to be told “No, you can’t have it, it’s sealed.”
How about being presented with a “family history form” to fill out at every single doctor’s office visit and having to put “N/A Adopted” where life saving information should be?
Imagine being asked what your nationality is and having to respond with “I don’t know”.
It is time that the archaic practice of sealing and altering birth certificates of adopted persons stops.
I consider myself Caucasian, but whereas white is not a race but a color, and whereas only three recognized human races are Caucasian, negroid and mongoloid, and whereas all three races originated in Africa, and whereas the question is used for the immoral purposes of distributing government benefits according to race, I opted to identify myself as African American. It seemed the only moral and correct answer.
Both of my parents are from Latin countries, in the census I can only write in "colombian" or "hundurian" but I'm both. I couldn't write that down because it was to long. I'm first generation American so I just wrote in Latin American.
I was bothered by the census race questions for 2 reasons- One was the obvious resistance to being "white" or "black". I believe that if the government wishes to specify whether one has Chinese vs. Vietnamese descent, they should also be equally interested in whether one's ancestors Ethiopian or Southern African, Irish or Italian, Swiss or Russian etc. Genetically, there can be more differences between 2 "white" people than between a white person and black person- so why do they insist on race and not culture? Why should funds be distributed in accordance with race, not employment, poverty or education level?
The second thing that bothers me is that this information could be used against people. Remember the Cold War, how the "Reds", i.e. those with Russian ancestry, were suspected? Or the Japanese internment camps? Or worse, Jewish camps under Nazi reign. I LOVE America, but don't have absolute naive trust in any government or public figure.
Great column.
I checked "other" and wrote in "Human". Science has recently proved *(see link below) via DNA that every single person on this planet is descended from a single tribe in Africa. No such thing as race, we just have different levels of melanin in our bodies.
Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey - A National Geographic Film. It's actually on youtube in 13 parts.
I couldn't agree more, my ancestors founded towns in this country. I have to take it a step further though. I believe we can all get along great, if the government and the liberals in education stay out of it. We are a melting pot, of good unique people, but we are equal when it comes to getting a job or applying for a loan. That is, if we all check American. Possibly, we could have employers not be alloud to ask race, height, weight, or any appearance questions on application. Then, make it a requirement to have independent company interview prospects on abilities of job requirements. The same could be made of bank loans, county, state, and Gov. assistents programs. You see how easy the government could make it so most of us can live together in peace and harmony. It's not only hard for ethnic groups; it's hard for all Americans. We don't like the race card being thrown at us any more than someone likes being treat bad for the color or handicap. We all are racist, just now days no one will admit it. I don't mean about color it could be about someone that has a tatto, peircing, big nose, blonde hair, someone with a hillbilly accent etc.. No one is perfect, no one likes everyone. Even, the best preacher is bias. My point is we are all Americans; we all want to live here, because it's a great country. I just think it's time for the big government to get out of our busniess and help us to create a way of life that is equal, not people that act and think the same.
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