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Racial distinctions in census could muddy the subject 03/13/2001 Associated Press
WASHINGTON – The latest census paints the nation with a palette rich in racial diversity – 63 possible categories, as opposed to just five in 1990 – and the government calls it the clearest impression yet of America.
Yet census-watchers wonder whether all the racial categorization could end up obscuring distinctions it was meant to clarify, and whether, as a result, programs designed to redress inequities could be hurt.
"We could end up diluting the reality that white Anglos tend to be more advantaged than any other group," said Jonathan Entin, a demographer at Cleveland's Case Western University. He is among those who advised the Census Bureau on how to classify race.
Releasing national race figures Monday, census officials acknowledged that some of the responses to the newfangled questions could skew the statistical count.
The numbers showed an America more diverse than ever, with rapidly growing minorities.
Hispanics now rival non-Hispanic blacks as the country's leading minority group, as the Hispanic population jumped by about 58 percent over the past decade to 35.3 million in 2000.
The number of non-Hispanic blacks may have increased by as much as 21 percent from a decade ago, to 35.4 million. The non-Hispanic Asian population surged as much as 74 percent, to 11.6 million.
The number of non-Hispanic whites was up 5.3 percent, to 198.2 million.
Direct comparisons on race were impossible between the 63 new racial categories and the five categories in 1990.
"Some people think it muddied the waters; some people think it's helpful information," said John Long of the bureau's population division.
Racial categories in the census have huge political significance, helping to determine $185 billion in government spending from voting rights enforcement to classes in English as a second language.
The most sensitive issue is how to classify the "double race" respondents, who never before appeared on a census. About 2.4 percent, or 6.8 million of the country's 281 million people, checked off more than one race.
For example, someone who was simply "white" in the last census but had a distant ancestor who was half-Indian can be recorded this time as being of both races.
Nathaniel Persily of New York University's law school calls this the "Cherokee grandmother phenomenon," whites with fuzzy recollections of Indian ancestors who are now free to advertise the supposed relationship on the census form.
The problem, some demographers say, is that too many responses like that could artificially inflate a racial group's numbers in a particular area of the country.
If the count of American Indians in a certain county grew from 10 percent to 40 percent, thanks to many whites reporting themselves as part Indian, it would be harder to make the case that the community needed special government protection or, say, a taxpayer-financed cultural center.
That would be especially true if the whites who identified themselves with the minority group were wealthier than the core group itself. The community's income levels would appear higher than they are.
Entin, the census adviser, said such a situation would probably require the government to step in and calculate how "Indian" respondents are.
"That has uncomfortable overtones," he said.
On Monday, census officials admitted they may just have to tread that minefield. Figures released showed a 40 percent increase in American Indians – to 4.1 million from 2.5 million – when the single and double race categories are joined.
Claudette Bennett, the top racial statistics official at the Census Bureau, said officials would conduct field excursions over the next two years to determine the motives of such respondents.
Another sensitive area is the decision to keep "Hispanic" a separate ethnic category, leaving it out of the newly expanded racial categories. That is done because Hispanics can be of any race.
The vast majority of the over 15.4 million people who filled in the box marked "some other race" were Hispanics, according to the figures released Monday. But their designations – "Hispanic" or "Latino" or "Mexican" – cannot be classified as races, meaning those numbers won't be counted into the racial statistics.
The Census Bureau was forewarned about this problem by a 1998 trial run in Sacramento, Calif. Younger Hispanics tend to consider Hispanic a race in its own right and told researchers then that they filled in the box as a measure of defiance.
Some of those who filled in two races this time said the difficulties were worth the payoff.
"It may dilute numbers, that I see myself as Asian-American," said Matt Kelley, who founded "Mavin," a Seattle-based magazine targeting multiracial readers.
"But prior definitions were too narrow. We should create a new definition of what it means to be American."
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