ACTIC)N COUNCIL --------------------------------POVERTY RACE RESEARCH -------···-·-- November/ December 1994 Volume 3: Numhff 6 Racial/Ethnic Categories: Do They Matter? The July 15, 1994 New Yorker on the subjectin our January/February scientists. government agencies that col­ r.arried a very important article, by staf{ issue. Per our usual practice, we willbe lect data, and, of course, to advocacy writer wwrence Wright, titled "One asking several social scientists and groups in the various minority commun­ Drop of Blood. "discussing the meaning activists to submit their commerits;and, itiesconcerned with group entitlements. and utj/ity of racial and ethnic categories, again as usual, we will be happy to Census statistics are crucial for so particularly as these are defined by the con.siderother, unsolicitedcommeruaries many reasons. '"Con�ional districts US government, as they are used in data from P&R readers. rise and fall with the shifting demo­ collection efforts, and as various ad­ graphics of the country," as Wright vocacy groups view them. With Mr. Lastfall, the HouseSubcommittee on notes. And programfunding of all sorts Wrights permission, we present a con­ Census, Statisticsand Postal Pcrwnncl, is a function of how many people are siderably shortened. descriptive version chaired by Rep. Thomas Sawyer (D­ placed in each category-"the numbers 'Jj his essay, quoting from and para­ OH), held a series o(hearin gson modifi­ drive the dollars,.. MSawyer puts it. tJhrasing it liberally (quotes not attri­ cation of the existing racial categories The government agency responsible �uted to anyone else are Wnght s). Those used by the Census and on the larger for determining standard classifications -vho want a completecopy of the 8-page question of whether it is properfor the of racial and'ethnic data is theQff,ce of Wright article should send us a SASE governmentto classifypeople according Management & Budget. OMB's 1977 Given the importance and topicality to arbitrarydistinctions of skin color and Statistical Directive 15, which controls ifthis issue,we will presenta Symposium ancestry.Toe �ue is of deepinterest to (Pleasetum IO J)<lge2) HELP!!! CONTENTS: Racial/Ethnic P RRAC's 50 I(cX3)-tax exempt-status is up for renewal at the end ofthis year, following I RS 's 5--yearadvance ruling period.To meetthe IRS's regulations Categories . .. .. 1 about funding diversification, we need to increase the proportion of "public ReparationsSympoelum: money" in our budget. Only a portion of our foundation grants counts as "public TheodoreM. Shaw ... 3 money," but every dollar of your contributions is golden for that purpose.Almost JeanneMlrer . .. .. .. 4 all of you have received our recent Big Mailing, with the PRRAC Nen,,,·ork JohnY. Tatellhl ...... 5 Directory, the Sept. i Oct.issue of Poverty & Race, and our funding appeal.If you haven't already done so, please consider sending us a tax-deductible donation RonaldL Trosper .... 6 beforeDecember 31- in time to claim it as a 1994deduction, intime to support john& powell ........ 7 PRRAC's IRS renewal application. PRRAC is an important institution, AdvoccyReports ..... 10 providing valuable servicesto our Network, as your lette� and comments let w know. We now urgently needsome material demonstration of that regard-S25 GlassCeilings ......... 11 would be very helpful. Thanks in advance. PRRAC Update ........ 13 ChesterHartman Resources ............. 14 Executive Director overty&.Race ResearchAciion COW1cil • 17Jl Conmc1icut Ave. NW • SuiJe207 • Washington.DC20009 • 202/�87-9887•FAX 202/387.()764 (CA TEGOR!£S: Continuedfrom /J'lKt! I) gory. Wright obs.er'\'cs, ..threatens to applied only to peopleof African descent. undermine the concept of racial classifi­ And it is. of course. a racist rule, no these categories for all federal forms and cation altogether.� two-way street: one did not ju mp over to statistics, recognizes four general racial Some. of cour,;e.ugue that would be the white community by virtue of having groups in the US: American Indian or no "threat'' at all... \1 uJtiracialism hasthe "white blood." (Wright notes that the Alaskan Native; Asian or Pacific [s­ potential for undermining the very basis rule may still be the law of the land, lander; Black: and White. With regard to of racism, which is its categories," asserts according to a 1986 Supreme Court ethnicity, Directive 15 also recognizes G. Reginald Daniel of UCLA. But the decision.) Hispanic Origin and Not of Hispanic impact on present programs could be America, to be sure, has always had Origin."The categories ... as Wrightnotes, catastrophic. Schooldesegregation plans "Black"leaders who were to some extent .. ask that every American fit· himself or would bethrown intothe air. Legislative _.. white" -Booker T. Washington. Fred­ herself into one racial and one ethnic districts would ha,·e to beredrawn ...The erick Douglas.W.E.B. DuBois, Malcolm box." entire civil rightS regulatory program X, Martin Luther King, Jr., LaniGui.nier, Rep. Sawyer makes this trenchant concerning housing.. employment and Douglas Wilder and Louis Farrakhan observation: ..We are unique in this education," Wright notes, ..would have are a few of the more prominent names. country in the way we describe and to be reassessed ... Those who are Both whitesand Blacks acceded in defin­ define race and ascribe to it charactc,­ ing such pern>nsas Black. isticsthat other cultures viewvery differ­ What would be the consequences of ently." Noting the various immigr�J1on Nearly eve,ycensus since moving_ t�ward recognizingthe true ex­ waves the country has experienced,h1- 1790has measured race tent of -multiracialism in- the US? How, cluding the current streams, Sawyer goes dl"erently. for example, would an affirmative action on to say that the racial categories ·and progt'arif be implemented? ..Suppose," distinctions used ..inevitably reflect the posits Wright, ..a court orders a city to temporal bias of every age.That becomes hire additional Black police officers to charged with enforcing rights laws problem when the nation is civil make up_ for past discrimination. a itself see the Multiracial boxas a wreckingball Will undergoing deep and historic diversifi­ mixed-race officers count? they at 1rmari'\'oe action."While no Will cation." aimed aff count wholly or in part?" And the multi­ one knows how many multiracialpersons racial category obviously leads to even in fact would opt for chat new category, greater fraeti..Qnalization, the children "'merely placing such an option on the as Multiracial ism of multiracial unic,ns further subdivide. c:ensusinvit� peop�to consider choos­ One obvious problem the existmg more and more people,from all racial with it,.. saysWrighL He notes that when As classification system mixed-race ing is per­ the Census listed -Cajun" as one of and ethnic groups, marry outside their sons, whose numbers are vast ?Ut not group,t� phenomenon interuifies."The several examples under the ancestry precisely known. There have been pro­ continua{ modulation of racial differ­ question, the numberof Cajuns jumped posals to add Multiracial"category a .. to nearly 2,000o/o. ences in America is increasing the jumble the c:ensus. The proportion of people created by centuries of ethnic intermar­ Multiracialism. of course, is the story who now check the Black box but could, riage," notes Wright. of America ever sinceColumbus and becauseof mixedgenetic heritage,check his The following examples illustrate the men stepped on our shores. Clearly, Multiracial, is at least 75% and may beas political-scientific jumble: "At times," slavery fueled the process,as white slave­ high as 90%. proposed cate- notes Wright, have countedas 'races' 1rus new owners, in order to enlarge the slave "we differentnational groups, such as Mex­ population (as well as gratify their own icans and Filipinos. Some Asian Indians lust) fathered tens of thousands of were counted as members of a 'Hindu' Powny & Rllce 107>3591) is mixed-race"Negroes." (ISSN race in the censuses from 1920 to 1940; publi.9hedsix timesa yearby the Poverty Census categorieshave constantly con­ RaceResearch Action Council. 171 l they & fused and been confused about race. then becamewhite for threedecades. Conn.Ave. NW #'11)7,Wasbiogton, DC ... Canada dropped the race question ..How unsettled this country has always 20009,'102/ 387-9887,fax: 2f1J.J 387--0'764. from its census in 1951 and has so beenabout its racialcategories evident far Chester-Hartman,F.ditor, Catherine M. is resisted all attemptsto reinstitute it... In Dom. Editorial is DO in that fact that nearly every census Assistant. Thcle since the US, the American Liberties charge for the newsletter,but donations [the original1790 Ceruus] has measured Civil Union tried to get the race question are encouraged. Articles, articlesugges.­ race differently."'\\-tth regard to the most droppedfrom the 1960Census, and New tiom, and generalcomments arc wel­ volatile racial category, until recently we Jersey stoppedentering raceinformation come, as uc notices of publications, had "that peculiar American institution conferences, job etc. for our on birth and death certificates in 1962 opcninp, knowninformally a.sthe 'one-drop rule'," Section. Articles and 1963. But beginning in 1964, the Resources generally which definedas Blacka personwho had - may be reprinted, providing PRRAC Rights era laws, notably the l965 gives advance permission. as little as asingle drop of that mythical Civil substance, "Black blood."The measure (Pleasetum 10 page8) 2 • Poverty & Race • Vol. 3, No. 6 • November/ Decem.Nr1994 1; ... Reparations: A Symposium (Part 3) We offerfive additional commentaries on rhe reparations issue. In our July/ Augurr issue we pub fished, as our lead artide, an nterview with economistRichard America, who has writ ten abour and advocated widely for reparations to the Black commwiityJor he historical injustice and long-term disadvantaging effects of slavery. A supportive commentary by CongressmanJohn Conyers ·whose bill, H. R. 40. calls for a study of slaverys legacy and recommendation of remedies) and a '1riendly dissent" by Temple '.fniversity sociologist Howard Winant accompanied the interview.