What do you think made so many people go above the expectations to specify their race? Do you agree that it's the result of a more diversified America?
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Resisting Race Labels in the 2010 Census
In 2010 21.7 million people went deeper than just labeling themselves as "Arab", "Haitian", "Mexican", and "multiracial" on the census. Along with their checked boxes for "other", about half a million black people wrote in more specific answers such as African-American, Afro-American, African, Negro, mulatto, brown and coffee. These people feel that they did not fit white, black, Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian/Alaska Native, government-defined labels. This news is said to be the cause of a more "diversified America". Carolyn Lieber, a Sociologist professor at the University of Minnesota stated, "It's a continual problem to measure such a personal concept using a check box .The world is changing, and more people today feel free to identify themselves however they want.."
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I think so many people went above the expectations to specify their race because it is extremely important to them. People are proud of where they came from and what their family had to do to get here. People want others to know that they can't just be labeled as one specific ethnicity, everyone is a mix and are proud to say what they are. I do agree that people wanting to specify their race is the result of a more diversified America. The more diverse this country becomes, the more ethnicity's and races there are. People are proud to say where they have come from and with more people wanting to say that, the more specific they will be on the census.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kayla. People are proud of who they are and they won't settle for being "black" or "white" they want to be specific about who they are because those ethnicities listed aren't specific they are very general and people want to known for who they are. Also people don't necessarily fit into one category so they don't want to put down just one. I think that the fact that America is becoming more diverse is definitely the cause of this because if everyone here was Western European we would probably all say we are white because we'd all be very similar in background. However, since there are many different ethicities and people are from all over the world there are tons of possibilities of background so people want to be specific about who they are.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both Bobby and Kayla. People of color want to be recognized for more than just the color of their skin. They want people to know that "of color" can mean many different things and originate from different places. I think that the people who did this also felt that America was being ignorant. There are not just a few races and they were trying to show that you can't just categorize people who don't fit, into a category of other; it seems careless. I know personally how hard it is to identify with race, so I think that they were showing that many people do struggle with identifying and want to feel a sense of identification when labeling what they really are. I think that America starts to recognize the differences within race, we could really see the diversification we could have. There might be no need to even be labeling what race we are at that point because there would be some many options out there. I think that America shelters the diversity behind these few options to choose from.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kayla, Bobby, and Jurnee. People want to be able to represent their race. They are proud of their background and want to express it. People should not have to try to fit into one of the main races just to fill in the race category. They should be able to choose from a wide variety of races. It is not fair to say that all people who have black skin color are “black” for their race. Just because people look the same, it does not at all mean that they are from the same race. People should be able to express what they are and not have to be under such a large category. I do think that the more people want to be specific on their race, the more diversity our country has. In a way, that is a good thing. Our country has so many different types of people which makes it America, the melting pot; if people can not express their race then what is the point of having a race? Therefore, I think there should be many more categories for people to choose from.
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