Census to Change Categories on Race

Scholarly perspectives on the mixed race experience.

Interracial families face unique challenges because of the historical legacy of white supremacy, the long-standing social barriers against interracial marriage, and the cultural norm of racial homogeneity in marriage patterns. For interracial families, racial socialization is complicated for important several reasons. First, parents bring different racial identities, experiences, and ideologies to their relationship that may result in different ideas about how to racially socialize their children. In addition, the politics of race in our society are such that their mixed-race children exist in a marginal and undefined space. There is no clear community of mixed-race people or a comprehensive understanding of the mixed-race experience that can be used to guide racial socialization of mixed-race childrenin a positive, cohesive manner. Unlike white or black children, most multiracial children do not have a parent with whom they can directly identify as a multiracial person. Unless a parent is also mixed-race, the majority of mixed-race children learn about race from on or more adults who cannot completely understand their racial reality. This means that most mixed-race children rarely have the luxury of being raised by a parent whose on racial identity and socialization process are relevant to their experience.

Rockquemore, Kerry Ann, Tracey Laszloffy, Julia Noveske. “It All Starts at Home: Racial Socialization in Multiracial Families”, In Mixed Messages: Multiracial Identities in the “Color-Blind” Era, edited by David L. Brunsma, 207. Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2006.

Census to Change Categories on Race

Census to Change Categories on Race

The Associated Press
2012-08-09

The Census Bureau wants to make broad changes to its surveys to keep pace with changing notions of race. The changes would drop use of the term “Negro,” leaving a choice of “black” or “African-American.” It would count Hispanics as separate from blacks and whites. It would also add write-in categories that would allow Middle Easterners and Arabs to specifically identify themselves. The census director, Robert M. Groves, says research during the 2010 census found that making these changes increased response rates and improved accuracy. The government currently defines Latino as an ethnicity. Census forms now instruct people to indicate if they have Hispanic origin and then check a race box such as “white” or “black.”

Tags: The Associated Press

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 9th, 2012 at 22:33Z and is filed under Articles, Census/Demographics, Latino Studies, New Media, United States. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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Mixed Race Studies

Census to Change Categories on Race

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