I just finished filling out the 2010 census. They say they are counting people. What they don’t say is that they are counting people and categorizing them. Making “demographics.” The problem I have with this year’s count is that they are so focused on counting and dividing races that they are leaving out one important race – mixed. There’s not a box for that.
So, the question is not a matter of what bloodline you are, but how you want society to count you. Let’s say, if you have a Hispanic mother and a Black father, you have to make a choice. Hmmm. What shall I choose? Does that give an accurate snapshot of the races in America?
In the matter of categorization, It seems that if a black person and a person of any other race produce children, their offspring are always counted as black. In addition, if two people of mixed race get together, their offspring are also considered black. Is this an 18th century rule? At what point does a person become so mixed they become “raceless?”
When will all this categorization become a problem, thus creating change? What about the blacks? Will they see it as a conspiracy by the whites to eliminate their minority status? A sneaky way of taking away affirmative action? Or will it become a issue for whites? Will they see it as a conspiracy by the blacks to “cleanse” out the white race?
America has always been a melting pot of races, who have always had to bang heads until they learned to get along. At some point I am hoping that we become a nation of just simply Americans.
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