The Dreaded "Other" Box

[kimpossible]

While not hapa specific, the article has some interesting definitions of what racial mixes and intermarriages constitute a person's legal race.


No "Multiracial" Category in the Census

Groups Charge That a Multiracial Classification Would Weaken Government's Ability to Enforce Civil Rights Laws


In July, the federal government announced that it will permit individuals to check off more than one racial cat-egory on the 2000 Census form. The decision represents a compromise between some mixed-race Americans and conservative groups who have promoted the addition of a "multiracial" category to the census form and those who oppose such a change. Major civil rights organizations have contended that a multiracial category would threaten the collection of data necessary to enforce civil rights laws by undercounting the number of Americans of African descent. The following article, taken from the testimony of Harold McDougall, director of the Washington office of the NAACP at a congressional hearing, presents some of the dangers that a multiracial category might pose. The hearing was on Federal Measures of Race and Ethnicity and was held by the House Subcommittee on Government, Management, Infor-mation and Technology of the Government Reform and Oversight Committee.

more (http://www.jointcenter.org/census/multiracial.htm)

[nonamerasian]

Isn’t the Black and African-American category one for the most part? It is on most forms.

If so, the amount of Black-Americans were already discounted a bit with Blacks of Hispanic descent not counted as Black-American (or are they), people from other countries with a different concept of race, and, regardless, other “Blacks” who change their “race” every few forms and have been doing so for years.

But, their worry of 70% of African-Americans fitting into the multiracial category shouldn’t bother them. I’ve met quite a few very Caucasian-looking “Blacks” who only claim their Black side and many other Blacks who don’t pass as anything else who do precisely the same.

This will be more of a problem for other groups.

This will probably change with time as it seems more people with each generation are claiming their multiracial identity, but I don’t think they have to worry about 70% of African-Americans changing their races today.

As society changes, so should the categories, as they’ve been for years. I’d prefer people just check all they feel apply, but I’m not all that opposed to a multiracial category.

Interesting article, nonetheless, particularly the part that seems to say that a multiracial family becames mono-cultural within a generation.

If that were the case, would proponents of that concept then do away with the Hispanic category if they were to get their way?

Talk about drastically changing data.

[kimpossible]

It would be nice if it was all about self-identification but that's really only part of it, another huge chunk is how you're perceived.

I'd agree with that. Had I not looked Asian at all or not had a foreign born mother or been in touch somewhat with some Japanese culture, I probably would have identified as simply white. But some of the nice white and black kids in school let me know that some my features were Asian by calling me chink or gook and telling me to get out of America and go back to my country.

I'm a quad. I usually identify on a personal basis as slightly Asian white girl but I'm usually copasetic with whatever someone else feels more comfortable with if they need to categorize me. When it comes to racial selection on a form, I usually check other.

[BeTheReds]

When it comes to racial selection on a form, I usually check other.


I you realize though what happens when you choose other, don't you?

[kimpossible]

I you realize though what happens when you choose other, don't you?

No.

[coagulated fat]

No.
Me neither.. I usually check Other.

Enlighten us.

[BeTheReds]

No.


When you choose other, the statistics just writes you out of the equation. Like say there are 50 black people, 50 white people, and 1 other. It means that in that place taking the stats there are 50.5 whites, and 50.5 blacks. Even if other happens to be 1/2Hispanic and 1/2Japanese

[hapakristina]

i choose OTHER when it's an option, if i can't choose asian and caucasian in such a question. i don't feel it would be right or accurate for me to select any one racial group either, since i'm not any of those race groups (asian, caucasian, hispanic, african-american, etc).

[SunWuKong]

err... don't they let you choose "all that apply"?

[hapakristina]

not on everything, unfortunately. :(

[BeTheReds]

err... don't they let you choose "all that apply"?


These days, yes. Most places do...

[BeTheReds]

split and merged with the other "other box" thread

[nonamerasian]

err... don't they let you choose "all that apply"?

Not consistently.

I've even seen forms without a space for Blacks. They'd have "African-American" in its place, neglecting every other Black.

Then I was shown a form which said "White/Caucasian (non-Hispanic)," "African-American/Black (non-Hispanic)," a couple of more choices that didn't specify non-Hispanic, and then "Hispanic." I forget the exact wording in the parenthesis of the last, but it somehow specified that it didn't didn't include Whites or Blacks.

Where does a White Ecuadorian fit in that form? How about a Black Guatemalan?

Some forms are just plain crappy, but they are getting better in general.

[rice cracker]

Well, on mortgage forms at least you can specify what "Other" you are, or choose to not furnish the information.

[>:^|]

Well, on mortgage forms at least you can specify what "Other" you are, or choose to not furnish the information.

But then your lender will mark what he or she believes to be your race. Our county does this as well for certain things.

I've been marked as "White" twice by other people when I refused to specify and although my birth certificate doesn't list my parents as White, I'm listed as White? :confused:

I like the fill-in-the-blank race the best, although as somebody who collects these stats, the fill-it-ins are a pain to work with.

[rice cracker]

But then your lender will mark what he or she believes to be your race. Our county does this as well for certain things.

I've been marked as "White" twice by other people when I refused to specify and although my birth certificate doesn't list my parents as White, I'm listed as White? :confused:

I like the fill-in-the-blank race the best, although as somebody who collects these stats, the fill-it-ins are a pain to work with.

You're right about the filling in part, I forgot all about that. Although, if they check the box marked "I do not wish to furnish this information," can the loan officer legally override that and put what they think? In my LO class the instructor told us to only do that if the boxes were left blank. I can see having to hazard a guess for race on some of the older loan processing software where you can't submit a file until all the fields are filled, but I believe in Loan Handler (which is what I use) you can indeed leave it as, "Do no wish to furnish" or input what "Other" the client has put down.

[nonamerasian]

But then your lender will mark what he or she believes to be your race. Our county does this as well for certain things.

I believe some doctors do that. At least, I believe the last one I went to did.

There are a few siblings in my family who don't fit each other's "racial" phenotype.

If race is being used to be help find a diagnosis or whatever, it is odd that a doctor would rely on his eyes to determine his patent’s race.

I also know one of my teachers did that way back in school when asked to fill out forms on his class's make-up. It was based on looks.

[AliBabaIncorporated]

If race is being used to be help find a diagnosis or whatever, it is odd that a doctor would rely on his eyes to determine his patent’s race.
well, the trouble is, for mostly unmixed people, eyeballing will probably assign you to the right group. And here in the medical case, racial group is just used as a proxy for your probability of carrying a certain gene which may make you more susceptible to a certain disease, or react better or worse to a certain medicine.

But for people with recent mixed ancestry, detailed racial information is probably useless since it doesn't get you to the root of which genes the person has which might affect how he reacts to a certain kind of medicine. Basically doctors are saving money by looking at race instead of doing something we don't really know how to do yet and is too expensive in most cases: sequencing the guy's DNA to out whether he has the genes which might e.g. cause negative reactions to a certain medicine. If we could do that, then the doctor wouldn't care whether the guy looked black, white, or Asian, or whatever, he'd only care about the portions of his genome directly related to treatment, which he might have acquired from some ancestors he doesn't even know about.