Friday, January 08, 2010

Hey, Census Bureau? You Forgot to include "Cullud!"

So, the census form for 2010 gives us the option to check "Negro" for race.



That image is from the linked article.

I can't decide whether the folk at the Census Bureau decided, "Hey, we have a black president; let's remind people how far we've come!" or "Grumble, grumble, let's remind them of their place in the not-so-long-ago past."

Because--and I can't speak for everyone--"Negro" certainly invokes thoughts of a much different era.

4 comments:

Anita said...

Happy New Year; I'm glad to see your posts.

I sometimes think the Dine, Hopi, Apache, Lakota, and every other tribe and pueblo of "Native Americans" should be counted individually by their origins and maybe some multiplicity of designations could be provided for all of the other arbitrary categories of people who are lumped together--by the government for the government's convenience, by the way--until the pages became so unwieldy they chucked it all in and started calling us all Americans.

Anita said...

People ought to be referred to the way they wish to be, is my point. I support your disgust with the Census Bureau's unwillingness to accord the respect that people deserve and have requested.

summer of sam said...

some of my favorite people are negroes. i've been meaning to blog about this, and maybe i will soon, but i think it's important, given this post-racial climate, to use terms like negro. i need to think about it more.

elle said...

Hi, Anita!

Summer, I saw your thoughts on FB about it. I'll be honest and say I suppose it's not so much the word itself as the time period I connect it with.

Revelations and ruminations from one southern sistorian...