Lots of good stuff in the wake of my call for all of us to write in “American” as our race in Question 9 of the census form. The headline for this post is from the New York Times, believe it or not — though it’s from 1850. Jeff Jacoby included it in his Boston Globe column, which also quoted Thurgood Marshall’s observation a century later that “There is no understandable factual basis for classification by race.” I hereby yield to the wisdom of the New York Times and Thurgood Marshall!
Hans von Spakovsky also addressed the issue at the Heritage Foundation’s blog, linking to my USA Today op-ed, where he rightly points out that the race question “is a conglomeration of political correctness and half-baked, liberal social policy theories and assumptions that have absolutely nothing to do with hard science, biology and genetics.” Hans referred to a Civil Rights Commission report on race in the 2010 census that I was unaware of, which includes the following recommendation:
Because many people regard their race, ethnicity, or ancestry as a private matter, we believe that those who do not wish to disclose such personal information to the Census Bureau should be treated with dignity and respect. Current law states that “no person shall be compelled to disclose information relative to his religious beliefs or to membership in a religious body.” 13 U.S.C. § 221(c). We recommend that Congress amend subsection 221(c) to add the same protection against compelled disclosure of information on race, ethnicity, or ancestry. Currently, the Census Bureau has opted not to ask a question on religion, but there is nothing in the 13 U.S.C. § 221(c) that prevents it from doing so, and under the amendment we recommend, nothing would prevent it from asking a question on race, ethnicity, or ancestry provided that no penalty would attach to the failure to respond. No person should be penalized for acting on his belief that race, religion, ethnicity, and ancestry are private matters and should be of no consequence to the federal government.
Amen.