Summary and Response From Jiarui Li

U.S. Urged to Reflect Wider Diversity In Racial and Ethnic Classifications

By STEVEN A. HOLMES

Published: July 08, 1994

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/08/us/us-urged-to-reflect-wider-diversity-in-racial-and-ethnic-classifications.html?src=pm

Summary

The author of the article “U.S. Urged to Reflect Wider Diversity in Racial and Ethnic Classifications” (The New York Times, July 8, 1994) indicates that the U.S. government is trying to reclassify people’s ethnic and races. Different groups of people hold different attitudes toward this decision. Many people agree with that. Some of them consider that their Federal aid might be changed by their “new” racial or ethnic backgrounds. On the other hand, some groups of people think that it is not easy to follow the Federal anti-discrimination laws. Federal agencies ask people to choose four races which are white, black, Asian-Pacific Islander and American Indian-Alaskan native, or they can choose “other”. People who are multiracial like Mr. Arboleda are difficult to tell their races or ethnics. They feel dissatisfied by defining as separated races. Therefore, in order to make the races more clearly, the Government is thinking about reclassifying some races, such as Hispanic. However, some professionals still doubt about the definition of the multiracial.

Response

In my opinion, I agree that it is difficult to define people’s races, but I think that people can choose their preference. In another word, those Federal agencies should do some surveys to find out which races people want to be, and they should take their advices and suggestions which are helpful and wise. However, I also think people like Mr. Arboleda should understand how hard to define that, and they do not need to feel uncomfortable with identity themselves on the census form because it is necessary to do those population statistics.