Thread: Census Bureau only concerned with some people’s nationalit

Census Bureau only concerned with some people’s nationalities
By: Meghan Cox Gurdon

March 11, 2010

Questions we ask reveal where our interests lie. What we don’t ask about, we probably don’t think about. And if the subject is something we don’t think about, we likely don’t regard it as important.

This statement of the self-evident is partly, I think, what underlies the objection of so many Americans at being asked, by the U.S. Census Bureau, to declare their race.

It’s not just repugnant for the millions who believe that American-ness trumps any of the other categories into which we might fit. It does not only offend those who genuinely believe with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that Americans ought to be judged not by the color of our skin but by the content of our character.

When it comes to the census, only some strands of the American story apparently are worth pulling out for a closer look.

This year, the census has just 10 questions, ending with: Where do you come from and what is your race?

If you are “white,â€

An old friend of mine from sac, while Caucasian, always answers African American. After all, the scientific community agrees that ALL HUMANS originated in Africa.

This racial dividing is meant to keep us seperated and against each other as Americans. For a nation and a people divided is a nation and a people conquered.

I could care less what the color of someone's skin is. My concern, is that if they are from a foreign country, are they 1, a newly arrived American Citizen, or 2, a temporary legal guest, or 3, an American generational Citizen (anscestors came here). If the person doesn't fit any of those criteria, please don't the door hit ya' where the good lord split ya'.