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| World Cultures Based on Alphabet Used |
Black
White, non-Hispanic
Hispanic
Asian
Those are the typical categories for census data these days. They are racist and discriminatory! Here's why.
1. It is a gross and inconsistent confusion of categories: confusing race (color) and nationality.
2. The categories themselves are too generic (not clear or specific enough) and the selection of categories is too narrow, too limited.
First, on the confusion of categories, black and white are colors. Are we concerned with skin tones (which may vary greatly in the same race, family? The question here is about race. Negroid and Caucasian are examples of races. And what do you do with the mixes? There are people who are very black with Caucasian features. And there are people who have Negroid features and are very fair. Again, those combinations of features vary greatly. There are large numbers of Hispanics who technically fit in any of the four categories above, even the White, non-Hispanic category (a truly "Catholic" [Universal] culture). What makes you American (or "Anglic," to coin a consistent term) as opposed to Hispanic? Are second generation Hispanics Hispanic? What about those of mixed marriages (Hispanic with White, non-Hispanic or Hispanic with Black, non-Hispanic)? I am a second generation White Cuban-American. But my "White" is white or not white depending on who you ask or the season of the year. My 35 nephews are all half Latino but all pass for "White, non-Hispanic." So, your "White" is not as white as you pretend.
Next, the categories are too generic. The "Hispanic" and the "Asian" categories are neither about race or nationality but a great confusion of both. There are a large number of Asian Hispanics from a number of different Latin American countries. For example, La Caridad Restaurant in NYC is owned and operated by Chinese Cubans! Where do the Samoans or the Hawaiians fit: dark skin, Asian, white-non-Hispanic?
Furthermore, the categories are too selective. What do you do with the European or the Semite or the Native American Indian. Is an immigrant from Spain or Italy White while one from Cuba of the exact same race Hispanic? With what logic does a second generation Italian claim to be White and a second generation Hispanic must claim to be a spic!
The US Census Bureau has made quite a bit of progress in this regard but still has a long way to go. If we have a category for .2% of the population (Pacific Islander), we should have a category for every other race in the nation. The Jewish race presents a problem similar to the Hispanic; it is a universal culture, quite akin to the Hispanic in that it's origin and continuation are essentially bound to it's religion. And don't think that just because the Census blatantly omits any mention of religion it is not subliminally aware of the reality. Everyone is very conscious of the fact that the vast majority of Hispanics are Catholic.
If you tell me how many Hispanics and Pacific Islanders there are you should also count the number of Jews and White Non-Jews! The inclusion of some categories and arbitrary and illogical exclusion of others and the sloppy mixing of categories all amount to one thing. Discrimination, domination and control and perhaps, ultimately, anti-Catholicism, the last accepted prejudice. Get the Hispanic ashamed of his origins and make him want to shed his "ghetto" image, including his Catholic religious and moral convictions, the way the Irish and the Italians have largely done.
Perhaps the "Black" and "White" categories should be rejected altogether and just make it a question of place of birth, place of parents' birth, nationality heritage (e.g. African-American, Native-America Indian, Jew) and maternal language.
