I trust everyone has completed and mailed their census forms by now so nobody gets into big trouble. I rarely delve into political-type topics with my writing, but I must say, I got a bit caught up in the census drama this year. Between the controversy over the Hispanic community's boycott of it, to the hullabaloo over the added and outdated "Negro" reference, it apparently caused quite the flurry of emotion.
And as usual, the whole "race" portion of the form gave me pause as well. It was nice in the 2000 census when "they" finally figured out many Americans didn't fit into just one box. However, I (and thus our children as well) have never even fit into two boxes and once again I had no way to fill the form out with complete accuracy.
People have guessed my racial background to include everything from Mexican to Egyptian, but in fact I'm a conglomeration, a potpourri, I'm MULTIracial. Just between my two parents my racial background includes White: English, Irish, Scottish, Dutch; Native American: Cherokee, Ojibwe, Seneca, Potawatomi; and Black.
According to the current census form, while I was finally able to check multiple boxes, I was only allowed to claim ONE of my Native American groups. I know it may seem petty, but this stuff drives me nuts!
You know what I think? Either give everyone all the boxes they need, or better yet, just forget it! A part of me wonders why all this race information is necessary anyway. I mean we live in America, the great melting pot, right? So, I ended up pulling one Native American group out of my mental hat and wrote that one on the form. Maybe for the next census, I'll pick a new one and really mess stuff up. Heh, heh.
In honor of all our completed censuses I thought I'd share this humorous video regarding "race" which my mom sent to me. Enjoy!
4 comments:
LOL that video cracked me up!!! BAHAHAHHAH!
Ahem ... now, what is this consensus thing you are talking about? I've never heard of it.
In Australia, they just ask you to write what country you were born in on official forms. They don't ask about race at all.
Oooh, that is very interesting. I wonder if the U.S. is the only country that requires all that extra info?
I've noted questions on aboriginality but nothing else unless you were born in another country. (Australia)
Sounds like it was a long, drawn out form to fill out though - and why not mess with them if they don't give you enough boxes!?
I almost posted on this topic too, Holly. Because the whole "Hispanic is not a race" thing kind of irritated me. Race is an artificial concept anyway, so what makes some races official and others not? And beyond that, isn't the concept of race getting to be kind of ridiculous anyway. Aren't we all just human? It seems pointless really. Anyway, I just thought I'd throw my 2 cents in. Great video btw!!
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