There’s a big problem with how the census measures race |
There’s a big problem with how the census measures race
The Washington Post
2018-02-06
Richard Alba, Distinguished Professor of Sociology
Graduate Center, City University of New York
 Activists hold signs during a news conference in front of the Supreme Court in 2015. (Getty Images) |
Will the 2020 Census be accurate? A number of observers have been worrying about that question for several reasons. For instance, the Justice Department has been trying to insert a citizenship question on the census form; such a question could discourage many immigrants from completing the form. As a result, cities and regions with large numbers of immigrants could see their populations seriously undercounted, with troubling results for political representation, services and funding.
But there’s another reason to be worried, one that hasn’t gotten much attention. The Census Bureau just announced that its 2020 form will not fundamentally change the questions it uses to ask about ethnic and racial origins. This may seem like a minor technical issue — but it will have major real-world implications. If it does not incorporate already-tested improvements into these questions, the census will deliver a less accurate picture of the United States.
And as a result, census statistics will continue to roil the public discussion of diversity, by exaggerating white decline and the imminence of a majority-minority United States. Political figures and pundits who oppose immigration and diversity could exploit that, peddling an alarmist narrative that doesn’t fit with the long-standing reality of mixing between immigrant and established Americans….
Read the entire article here.
Tags: Richard Alba, The Washington Post, U.S. Census Bureau, United States Census Bureau, Washington Post