Interesting article on the arbitrariness of race in the U.S.

[Northstarmom]

<p>By Amitai Etzioni </p>

<p>"Which people make up a distinct race and which are considered darkskinned constantly changes as social prejudices change. Jewish-, Slavic-, Irish-, and Polish-Americans were considered distinct races in the mid-19th and early 20th centuries—and dark races at that, as chronicled in great detail in Matthew Frye Jacobson’s book Whiteness of a Different Color: European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race and in a well-documented book by Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White.”…)</p>

<p>The capriciousness of racial classifications is further highlighted by the way the U.S. Census, the most authoritative and widely used source of social classifications, divides Americans into races. When I ask my students how many races they think there are in America, they typically count four: white, black, Asian, and Native American. The Census says there are 15 racial categories: white, African-American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, “other Asian,” Native Hawaiian, Guamanian/Chamorro, Samoan, and “other Pacific Islander,” and as of 2000 one more for those who feel they are of some other race…</p>

<p>The Census changed the race of Indian- and Pakistani-Americans from white in 1970 to Asian in 1980. In 1930 the Census made Mexicans into a different race but then withdrew this category. Similarly, Hindu made a brief appearance as a race in the 1930 and 1940 Censuses but was subsequently withdrawn."
[The</a> American Scholar - Leaving Race Behind - By Amitai Etzioni](<a href=“http://www.theamericanscholar.org/archives/sp06/leavingracebehind-etzioni.html]The”>http://www.theamericanscholar.org/archives/sp06/leavingracebehind-etzioni.html)</p>

[mommusic]

<p>Fascinating. You wonder what some of the reasoning is. Chinese, Japanese, Korean all different races? Who knew??? If Asians were doing the classifying would they make Italians different from Germans? </p>

<p>When I was growing up “Negroes” were black and Spanish people were white. Now in some areas people consider Hispanics to be some other race…they’re not sure what, but it’s not “White.” </p>

<p>Someday maybe we’ll all be a little bit of everything and it won’t matter anymore. And maybe things would be better if the gov’t stopped classifying us so minutely.</p>

[ucsd_ucla_dad]

<p>It shows how silly so much of the classification is. It gets further convoluted when people of the ‘basic races’ (rather than ethnicities) intermix yet still end up getting classified or classifying themselves as a particular one. </p>

<p>It’s kind of amusing to see some people now are scrambling to try to get classified as certain Native American tribes so they can partake in the gambling windfall some of the tribes are getting.</p>

<p>As long as people, governments, institutions, and businesses continue to want to track races and ethnicities for various purposes such as to ensure anti-discrimination, to artificially achieve a certain racial/ethnicity makeup, etc., I guess the categorizations will continue and there’ll continue to be problems with what the breakdowns actually ought to be and how do they really should be defined.</p>

[tokenadult]

<p>Thanks, Northstarmom. I do hope that as the United States develops we get more and more into the habit of regarding all our neighbors and compatriots as fellow human beings.</p>

[bluebayou]

<p>I think he is incorrect; there is no differentiation of Asians in Asia. According to the census, who follow the OMB def:</p>

<p>

"The revised standards will have five minimum categories for data on race: American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and White. There will be two categories for data on ethnicity: “Hispanic or Latino” and “Not Hispanic or Latino.”

</p>

<p>

The “Asian” category is defined as “A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.”

</p>

<p><a href=“https://ask.census2010.gov/cgi-bin/askcensus2010.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=7262&p_created=1217430161&p_sid=5rCOHVhj&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=7484&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MjcsMjcmcF9wcm9kcz0mcF9jYXRzPSZwX3B2PSZwX2N2PSZwX3BhZ2U9MSZwX3NlYXJjaF90ZXh0PXJhY2UgY2F0ZWdvcmllcw**&p_li=&p_topview=1[/url]”>https://ask.census2010.gov/cgi-bin/askcensus2010.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=7262&p_created=1217430161&p_sid=5rCOHVhj&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=7484&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MjcsMjcmcF9wcm9kcz0mcF9jYXRzPSZwX3B2PSZwX2N2PSZwX3BhZ2U9MSZwX3NlYXJjaF90ZXh0PXJhY2UgY2F0ZWdvcmllcw**&p_li=&p_topview=1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[tokenadult]

<p>I think he is referring to detailed categories from the 2000 census (which I never saw, because I was living overseas that year). Your quotation, bluebayou, mentions the main “minimum” categories, which are also used in federal data tracking in college admission. The FAQ thread on race self-identification in college admission </p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/568159-race-college-admissions-faq-discussion-2-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/568159-race-college-admissions-faq-discussion-2-a.html&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>refers in the second post to the current federal definitions, with links to the webpages maintained by federal authorities. I learned about some of those links through the kindness of other participants here on CC.</p>

[Texasmama]

<p>Very interesting article indeed. Thanks, Northstarmom. As my screenname indicates, I grew up in Texas. It’s hard to believe now since Hispanics are the largest minority here, but when I was growing up, my life was all about black and white. I was part of the first magnet school that integrated our school district in 1972. Hearing Barack Obama’s race speech made me realize again that the black/white paradigm is outdated. I hope we will be able to drop it, but holding on to it is all about political power. I don’t think I’ll see it go away in my lifetime.</p>

[bluebayou]

<p>Tokenadult: the link I posted was also used for the 2000 census, since it’s an OMB directed dated 1997. The author is confusing ethnicity and race.</p>

<p>Under 2000 census info:</p>

<p>

Data on race will be shown using several different options. For example, in the Public Law 94-171 (redistricting) file, data will be shown for 63 racial categories. These include White alone, Black or African American alone, American Indian and Alaska Native alone, Asian alone, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, Some other race alone and 57 possible combinations of the above six categories.</p>

<p>In data products where it will not be possible to show 63 racial categories, such as the Demographic Profiles, data will be shown for seven mutually exclusive and exhaustive categories. The seven categories are White alone, Black or African American alone, American Indian and Alaska Native alone, Asian alone, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, Some other race alone, and Two or more races. The two or more races category represents all those respondents who reported more than one race.</p>

<p>A third option provides data about people who reported a race either alone or in combination with one or more other races. For example, the White alone or in combination category consists of those respondents who reported White, whether or not they reported any other races. In other words, people who reported only White or who reported combinations such as “White and Black or African American,” or “White and Asian and American Indian and Alaska Native” are included in the White alone or in combination category. Using this option there are six alone or in combinations groups: White alone or in combination; Black or African American alone or in combination, American Indian and Alaska Native alone or in combination, Asian alone or in combination, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone or in combination, and Some other race alone or in combination. If the number of people in these six categories is calculated, it will equal the total number of responses and will generally exceed the total population.

</p>

[Marian]

<p>If these data are being collected for medical reasons – e.g., relating to susceptibilities to diseases based on genetic heritage – then maybe a larger number of categories makes sense.</p>

<p>For example, putting people from the Indian subcontinent in the same category as those of Chinese or Korean heritage is just weird. Their genetic heritage – as indicated by their physical appearance – is obviously different.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, it’s interesting to see the government struggle with the classification of Hispanics, many of whom have ancestors who originated on more than one continent.</p>

[mommusic]

<p>

Meanwhile, it’s interesting to see the government struggle with the classification of Hispanics, many of whom have ancestors who originated on more than one continent.

</p>

<p>Good point, Marian.</p>

<p>WWII displacement caused a number of Germans (both Jewish and non) to migrate to S. America. Hispanic? Hardly, though some of their children may be.</p>

<p>And I know Russian Jews who are quite oriental in appearance–their ancestors came from closer to Asia than Europe.</p>

<p>The more you think about it, the sillier these classifications are.</p>

[tokenadult]

<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Strange Fruit: Why Both Sides are Wrong in the Race Debate: Kenan Malik: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Strange-Fruit-Sides-Wrong-Debate/dp/185168588X/]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Strange-Fruit-Sides-Wrong-Debate/dp/185168588X/) </p>

<p>A good book I am in the middle of reading. The author’s political perspective is quite different from my own, but he gets into a lot of details of the science, with lots of references.</p>

[Northstarmom]

<p>Probably most African Americans in this country also are part European and/or part Native American.</p>

<p>Important to realize that “race” is an arbitrary classification. </p>

<p>"
Are all systems of human racial classification around the world the same?
No, because human racial classification is a cultural construction; there is no universal system of classifying race. Rather, each culture has its own way of determining race. Some systems are very similar, like the racial classification systems used in the U.S. and Japan, while others are different, like the one used in Brazil. For example, concepts of race in the U.S. and Japan are very rigid and fixed from birth. In contrast, race in Brazil is fluid and flexible. Race in Brazil is determined in part by an individual’s parents, in part by an individual’s phenotype, and in part by an individual’s socioeconomic status. As result, a person’s race in Brazil can change as they become wealthier or poorer. In the U.S. or Japan, a person’s socioeconomic status does not affect their race."
[Cultural</a> Anthropology|FAQ](<a href=“http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072500506/student_view0/chapter5/faqs.html]Cultural”>http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072500506/student_view0/chapter5/faqs.html)</p>