I teach adult ed ESOL, and managed to fit the required Census 2020 lesson in the last week before the spring break. First class after break (online of course!) most of my students reported that they had received their letters and had completed the Census online. We had practiced in class with copies of the paper questionnaire and with
a sample online version.
I wrote White, also.
Just did my form. Easy peasy.
My husband is Mexican American. When it came to the race page there was no good answer.
As with many Mexican Americans, the world does not consider him white. The native american choices were for those enrolled with their tribe. My husband is not enrolled and does not have knowledge of Mayan, Aztec etc. There is no good choice for mestizo.
I read a paper several months ago that I think may have been a precursor to the census questions. The paper was around what the proper term was for referring to ethnicity. I am going to get pieces wrong but here is my summation:
Black and white should not be used for an individual, it is too broad. These terms should be used for a group of people all of the same/similar “color”.
African American should only be used for citizens of the US. A person visiting from Nigeria is not African American, they are Nigerian.
European American should again only be used for citizens.
Ultimately the goal is to drill down as far as possible. If someone immigrated from Italy they are an Italian American as opposed to European American.
When there is too many to name, too many generations have past then direct back to African, European, Australian, Asian American.
I think the ultimate goal is to get rid of the “colors” in government documents and this is a first step.
Things can get more complicated than that. For example, if someone born in Italy had parents who immigrated to Italy from Ethiopia, and then that person moved to the US and became a US citizen, is s/he (a) Ethiopian American, (b) Italian American, (c) European American, (d) African American (these are not necessarily mutually exclusive)?
What does it matter where my ancestors were from? We know from 23 and Me that many of us have the wrong information about that anyway. There is too much emphasis on identity politics anyway, I’m all for putting us in one big group instead of encouraging us to think of ourselves as being in a lot of different special groups.
Maybe we need a skin tone sensor. Who cares how it got that way? I was born in the US or not. My parents were born in the US or not. Beyond that it shouldn’t matter.
My DS graduated in December, got a job, and moved 3 hours away. I asked if he got his census thing in the mail & he told me yes, that he’ll get to it eventually. I informed him that if he doesn’t do it, people will come knock on his door & talk to him to get his answers. So he decided to get it done tonight, cause he doesn’t want to talk to people. Gotta love my introvert kid!
I finally heard from the Census today, July 18, about working on the Census. I applied and was told I could have the job back in January. They originally were talking about starting in late May, but of course that was delayed due to the pandemic. Didn’t here a word until I got a phone call today. I told them I was no longer interested. I don’t want to go door to door talking to people, even if I am wearing a mask, in 95 degree weather.