”The evolution of the word negro from colored, to black, to African represents a progression of self-awareness. As a free people, we have a responsibility to educate ourselves and rediscover our Identities. Knowledge of self is the key to unlocking the door to the future.” - Richard B. Moore
The form for the 2010 Census arrived by mail a couple of days ago and we opened it up to fill it out. You have to answer a series of questions for every person living in the house: names, birthdates, gender, etc.
But this year, the questions that address the matter of race / origin have been reformulated. In my opinion, one of those two questions has been changed for good, and the other one for bad.
The first one is the one that addresses the “Latino” subject:
I’ve always complained that here in the US the “Latino” word is used as a race, not origin, and we, the Latinos, know that we can be of any color. This time, the Census people (whoever they are) finally got it right and made the necessary changes to address the subject of Latin origins. However, I still don’t think that the term "Latino” used as a short form of the correct word Latin-American is well employed since it can lead to confusion. Italians for example have also “Latin” roots but are not considered “Latinos” here. But well, at least they made a correction…
Now, regarding the following question that addresses the race issue, that is where I think they “metieron la pata” as we would say in Argentina, that is to say, they messed up: 
This time the guys in charge of writing the form, decided to include the word “Negro” as a synonym of the black race. Big, big mistake I think. That’s the word that was used here in the US quite a while ago, and brings back bad memories of slavery and discrimination, and as if that wasn’t enough, one of its derivatives, the N-word is one of the worst racist insults that anyone can use.
There are people that still defines themselves as “negroes” but is a minority and usually the term preferred nowadays in the US is “black” or “African American”.
By trying to be inclusive, the Census people created a bit of a controversy among the black community and this big mistake will probably cause that many of them will refuse to fill out the form and that may have an impact in the results of the 2010 Census.
I hope that for the next Census in 2020 they listen to people’s opinions and change that word.
Links:
US Census 2010
Should the Census Be Asking People if They Are Negro? - Times.com
Use of word Negro on 2010 census forms raises memories of Jim Crow Slate.com
When Did the Word Negro Become Taboo?
The history of the N-word in America by The African American Registry
Outmoded word Negro should be retired – Miami Herald
Then & now, I’m a Negro: The people who used that word gave it majesty – NY Daily News
Creation of The Negro
AliciA
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Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackRecently, I found the 2010 Census form hanging on my door. As I began filling it out, I came across a dilemma. The U.S. government wants to know if my children are adopted or not and it wants to know what our races are. Being adopted myself, I had to put “Other” and “Don’t Know Adopted” for my race and “Other” and “Don’t Know” for my kids’ races.
Can you imagine not knowing your ethnicity, your race? Now imagine walking into a vital records office and asking the clerk for your original birth certificate only to be told “No, you can’t have it, it’s sealed.”
How about being presented with a “family history form” to fill out at every single doctor’s office visit and having to put “N/A Adopted” where life saving information should be?
Imagine being asked what your nationality is and having to respond with “I don’t know”.
It is time that the archaic practice of sealing and altering birth certificates of adopted persons stops.
Adoption is a 5 billion dollar, unregulated industry that profits from the sale and redistribution of children. It turns children into chattel who are re-labeled and sold as “blank slates”.
Genealogy, a modern-day fascination, cannot be enjoyed by adopted persons with sealed identities. Family trees are exclusive to the non-adopted persons in our society.
If adoption is truly to return to what is best for a child, then the rights of children to their biological identities should NEVER be violated. Every single judge that finalizes an adoption and orders a child’s birth certificate to be sealed should be ashamed of him/herself.
I’d really like to know how Uncle Sam wants adopted persons will sealed identities to answer the race question. Does the U.S. Government want us to lie or does it expect us to be psychic?
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