Word: censuses
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...Census revealed that New York City...
When I filled out my Census form last spring, the issue of my calves never came up. What did arise, however, was a new option that allowed Americans to claim identity in more than one racial group. When the result of this historic change was released last week, it showed that an unexpectedly large number of people had taken advantage of this choice: nearly 7 million, or 2.4% of the population. While the complexity of the outcome has sent demographers scrambling, I celebrate its promise...
...Census 2000 didn't ask for these details, and unless I missed it, did not include an essay portion. But after years of research, the Census Bureau, by introducing its Check All That Apply option, did advance its stated belief that race is not a static concept. Critics of CATA see it variously as a threat to social justice in its perceived dilution of nonwhite constituencies, or as race obsessed, or as a flaccid nod to the burgeoning ranks of mixed-race Americans. But I think the Census people were savvy. Or, really, credit goes to their overseeing agency...
...most likely have repercussions that are impossible to anticipate. And the numbers are indeed fuzzy. Many people--possibly 70% or more of African Americans, for example--could have checked more than one box but did not, for a host of reasons. Moreover, by asking people to self-identify, the Census Bureau's tabulations don't begin to measure the way race is typically assessed in our society. In my day-to-day life, it is thousands of unofficial, unsolicited enumerators who make the call on my race by way of offhand remarks, furtive glances, head wiggles, bullhorned street sermons...
Despite its imperfections, the new Census has taken a giant step toward recognizing that race is profoundly contextual, both in its origins and applications. "It's very clear that race is fluid, it's changing, it's dynamic," says Nampeo McKenney, who retired from the Census Bureau after a 40-year career that culminated in overseeing the CATA model. She means this in a global sense; I find it personally true from moment to moment. I can't stand the smell of chitterlings, but neither can my Aunt Ruthie, who won't allow them within a mile of her kitchen...