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Let the Census Know Your Identify –
by L. F. Somogyi, on 2010-03-22
Starting in March 2010, every residence in the United States and Puerto
Rico will get a census form. When you receive it, answer the 10
questions and then mail the form back in the postage-paid envelope.
Question 9 is where the census form lets you define your race, where
this means your heritage, nationality group, ethnicity and related
concepts.
How does the Census Bureau define race and ethnicity?
In general, the Census Bureau defines ethnicity or origin as the
heritage, nationality group, lineage, or country of birth of the person
or the person 's parents or ancestors before their arrival in the United
States.
(Official
Census definition.) Because of the wording of “race” used on the form, you may not think to complete Question 9 and provide information about your identity as defined by your heritage, nationality, ethnicity - but you can and should.
For example, a person who is of Hungarian heritage might only check
“white” and not write in “Hungarian” as their race at the end of
Question 9, because the words ethnicity, origin, nationality, or
heritage are not explicitly used, though these are included in the
definition of “race.”
Why aren’t all the races listed explicitly?
By way of explanation, the US Government says there are too many “races”
to list on the form, so they focus on the defined primary ones. There is
no explicit effort on the part of the Government to collect good
information on race (ethnicity, origin, nationality, heritage, etc) as
reported and perceived by Americans who don’t fit the categories that
the Government deems consequential.
But it is important to put down your race as you wish to identify it
because the Census will take it into consideration if you do.
Why fill in your heritage, nationality, ethnicity?
Because being counted is what the Census is all about, it is important
to fill in the information even though it is not one of the explicit
ones listed. Knowing there is a significant group who identify
themselves as a specific heritage, nationality, ethnicity lets our
representatives in Congress know they should keep our interests in mind
when they vote on policy and deal with matters of foreign relations that
are of special interest to us around the world.
The Census makes language assistance available in 59 languages
Even though they don’t list all the “races,” the Census makes language
assistance forms available in 59 languages, to help people fill out the
English language version of the census form.
You can see the available Language Assistance Guides under References
and Tools here:
http://2010.census.gov/2010census/pdf/LAG_Hungarian.pdf
You can see what the Census document contains in English here:
http://2010.census.gov/2010census/how/interactive-form.php
Where do I fill in my heritage, nationality, ethnicity?
Question 9 is where you have the option of listing your race, in other
words your nationality or ethnic identity, by filling it in. What you
fill in will be recorded as part of the results.
This is how Question 9 looks, as shown on the interactive web page that
defines the census form:
If you have questions….
It is always important to provide useful information to help our free
and democratic form of government make the right decisions on our
behalf. The census form Question 9 is one piece of important information
that you can provide that will help.
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Revised: 03/22/10. Copyright © 2010 International Services Center, Cleveland, Ohio |
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