Legacy of Racism Makes Minorities
Distrustful of U.S. Census

Guest Column
by Greg Thrasher

May 16, 2010

There has been a lot of drama recently over the race selection options for completion of the U.S. census form. The controversies includes questions about the term Negro, as well as Arab Americans seeking their own option instead of being classified as white.

There also has been a concern that those here in the Detroit area charged with the mission to get every household to complete its census form are engaged in desperate drama and overkill in minority venues in their census mission.

What is interesting is how non-whites are concerned about how they are defined by race in America. In our nation, with our legacy of racism, for too long Black Americans were subject to the “one drop rule,” which was a racist notion that allowed whites to classify all non-whites as Black despite their own self identifications and demand for self-determination.

Many minority groups, because of the legacy of racial discrimination in our nation that was often practiced under the color of law by government officials and agencies, are very reluctant to engage in any national undertaking like the census. The very idea of providing any personal information to the government, despite the constant declarations of the importance and significance of the census data for funding various federal programs that would benefit them and their communities, remains a serious barrier for census officials.

Given this underlying suspicion and trust issue with many government programs, including the law enforcement apparatus of the federal government, with its own tortured history and relationship with many minority venues in our state, the entire notion of cooperating with the government on completing a census form is a huge ongoing hurdle for both the government and the citizenry.

Many minorities will refuse to accept any government designation and instead view the census as a violation of their heritage as well as personal privacy. Some people simply want to be defined as individuals and classified as members of the human race.

There is no question that those charged with the mission of the U.S. Census Bureau have their hands full from concerns about the motives and intentions of the collection of this data to the minefield of the racial selection query.

The census remains a fascination for people and the government in how to define and describe people. The census is a provocative exercise that will always be a feature of any government that catalogs and takes an inventory of its citizens.

What do you call yourself?

Political activist Greg Thrasher is director of alternative think tank Plane Ideas based in Detroit.